Archive: News

Doug McEver was on the Lansing Town Board from 2002 through 2005.  He left the board to run for County Legislature, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Mike Sigler.  This year he's vying for a seat on the Town Board again, motivated primarily by the recent controversy over retired town employees' benefits changes.  He has lived in Lansing for 15 years.  He has six children, two with his current wife Betty.

McEver started his career in management at the Woolworth Corporation, then in 1990 he left to start his own Allstate insurance agency.  He met with the Lansing Star last weekend to talk about his ideas for the Town and why he is running.

Lansing Star: Why are you running for Town Board and what makes you the best choice?

Doug McEver: I've been on the Town Board.  I think I'm the best choice because I've already been involved.  I already know the ins and outs, the requirements, the schedules, a lot of the committees and committee members.  I know the budget and how the budget process goes.  I know how much money we have, and how much we're supposed to have in reserves.  But the biggest reason I am running this year is because of what is going on with health care for retirees and employees of the Town of Lansing.

Around February of this year they voted to eliminate health care entirely and then start a new project that would save them a ton of money.  They looked at it and looked at it and found out in March that they could not get rid of it, because in 2005 the Town board had placed a law freezing all of that on the books.  In May they removed the law so they could remove the health care.  But by that time so many people were involved that they were afraid to do it the way they started to do it.  They went through a lot of processes and came up with the consortium.

At this point I was already running for Town Board and I thought at this point the consortium is the best deal.  They're going from $650 per month per employee and retiree down to $380.  The retirees and employees are no longer paying $127 per month -- it's down to $93 per month.  It's Blue Cross/Blue Shield and it's an excellent package.  So they opted in.

Now I'm glad I stayed in the race, because on September 30th they opted back out again.  And they did it at one of their 12 o'clock in the afternoon meetings that nobody knows about.

LS: You're referring to the Tompkins County health insurance consortium?

DM: Yes.  I thought that was the best plan they had available.  Some of the others they had to choose from some of the retirees weren't going to be able to afford.  It would actually increase the amount of money that they would have to pay and it wasn't saving the Town the money that they thought they were going to get.  By saving half the money it was going to save more than what they were looking at to begin with.

I'll tell you the honest truth -- if we have to save off the backs of the retirees, then we're wrong.  These people put their time in. We made them promises.  They can't afford to turn around and buy from the Federal government and buy the supplements at probably four and five hundred dollars a month when they were paying $120.  They're on fixed incomes from 20 years ago.  Not today's money -- if they were retiring today they could probably afford to do it.  But their retirements are all on 20 or 25 year old programs.  They're not getting additional money from us.  Maybe Social Security gives them a little bit extra, but ours is fixed.

I'm sorry, you can save a lot of places, but not there.

LS: Are town taxes too high or low?  Also, the budget process happens around now.  Do you think the departments are cutting enough or being asked to cut too much?

DM: We're basically a service oriented town.  There is very little fluff out there.  For example the Town and City of Ithaca do a lot of environmental stuff.  We don't do those, so we don't really have a lot of fluff out there.  Can we go up?  Yes.  Should we go up?  I don't think we need to.

The biggest thing you've got to look at when you're on the Town Board is what is it going to cost in the future to run the town?  Right now we're losing approximately 25% of sales tax money.  That in and of itself is not a problem.  However retiree programs from the State retirement program are going to go up 61% next year.  Should we be prepared for that? 

Well, we have.  We've done that over the last 12 to 15 years.  We have approximately $1.8 million in reserves.  According to State requirements we only need 20%.  According to our bankers to maintain our bond rates we need 40%.  That's 1.2 million so we actually have $600,000 more than we need.

We only need it for two to three years.  We need to take $75,000 to $125,000 out of there for three years.  So we can keep that 40% there, maintain our services, and also take care of increased requirements of salaries there for salaries.  it was put there for a rainy day.  If this isn't a rainy day I don't know what is as far as the economy is concerned.

Would I take any jobs away?  I don't think so.  There is only one place I think there might be an extra employee.  In the Highway Department the reason they may now have a possibility -- I'm not sure they do.  I'd have to talk with (Highway Superintendent Jack French) before I know for sure -- is that they just dropped plowing the Village of Lansing.  That's going to save us somewhere in the neighborhood of $45,000 to $50,000 in expenses.  It will be mostly overtime expenses.  My presumption is that the people we have employed doing that are also the ones we have paving, repairs, and maintenance on our roads the rest of the year.  So I don't think that we do have an extra job to get rid of.

The next question is -- we've got a planning department -- we are in the process of losing the existing manager because he's been called up to go back into service.  He'll be gone for 13 to 15 months or something like that.  Of course he gets his job back and he maintains his benefits while he's gone.  Unfortunately for him -- it's not just towns, but it's cities and corporations and small businesses -- they're only required to keep the job available, so his household is going to lose income.

There are federal laws out there to defer mortgages and car payments, but his family is still going to hurt.  I think the Town should set something up as a reserve.  It's only happened once in the last eight years, but it's a shame that it has to happen to one person that really needs to have that money at home to take care of the family.  It's a shame the federal government doesn't set up some sort of fund to take care of that.

The Planning Department doesn't have anybody extra in it.  The staff in the Supervisor's office -- no, I don't see anywhere where we can cut back unless we want to get rid of services.  That's what the public has to tell us.  We can't tell the public.


LS: Let's talk about development.  How do you view development and the Town's role in shaping it?  And what is your vision for a town center and do you see it in the near future, the far future, or no future?

DM: The Town has been trying to develop something since I've been in the Town of Lansing, since '94.  Probably before that.  The problem you have with the town center is you need to have available land in a certain area to develop businesses, not housing.

LS: There are two obvious available plots pretty near each other.  There is the town land across the street from the ballfields, or Kingdom Farm, which came up with a grand plan a few years ago.

DM: Kingdom Farm is too far away from where the town center should be.  The town center should be where the three corners are, right there at the T.  Kingdom Farm is so far away you aren't putting sidewalks and lights in for people to walk back and forth.  There are two other areas.  One is Cayuga Vista, which is already starting to be developed.  They've got a couple of businesses there already and now it's turning into residential / business / questionable income developed properties...

LS: Possible apartments...

DM: There are definitely going to be apartments there, and definitely houses.  it will be one unit house per quarter acre lot, supposedly going for $460,000.  I don't know anybody in the Town of Lansing or anybody anywhere that's going to come to live in the Town of Lansing on a quarter acre for $160,000.

My presumption is that apartments are going to go for a lot less in value, and then you're talking about potential increased school taxes.  The reason you want businesses is number one, services for the public, and number two, it decreases the public school taxes.

By going to a community center situation with Cayuga Vista, the taxpayers going to actually lose money in the long run.

On top of that we've changed all of our rules for zoning just for this project.  We don't have a waste water treatment system.  They're putting in a private one that supposedly will never cost us a dime to repair.  Well, I've seen this in other areas of the state and eventually the municipality finally takes it over.  And it costs.

We have to have a bond out there, and the bond has to remain there for the rest of the lifetime of the people that own it.  The bond has to be be gone over to the public or to the next person that owns the land, the apartment buildings, or whoever buys it out.  It's got to be bonded and kept bonded.  If we have to take it over then we have a million dollars there that we can collect interest off of to pay for that product.

It seems like the final vote on that will come before I could get onto the board.  So the best we could do is reopen it.  Then the challenge will be in the courts and that's a lot of money to the Town of Lansing, so it's rather difficult to even suggest that.  As a steward to the Town, to start a lawsuit that we're probably going to lose anyway is a foolish move.

As far as where should it be, one of the biggest keys is keeping businesses in the same general area.  The second you cross over the Auburn/Ridge Road there are no businesses on that side except for a funeral parlor and one sub shop.  All the other businesses are on the south side of that intersection.

There were several plans suggested.  One was moving all the ballfields (across the street).  There is more acreage.  You could double the ballfields and wind up putting up a soccer field and a football field and practice fields.  On top of that you could put up park land.

There was one rendition, I think in 2003, when an architect actually drew a building for storing equipment for the kids in the winter months.  We thought it was fabulous.  The cost was, well, a lot less than the golf course they were talking about at one time.

Then we could sell the land, on the other side where the ballfields are, to developers at almost 3/4 of what it cost to put the building over there.  The problem we had was there were so many people involved in building those ballfields, they objected to moving them.  They put a lot of sweat and time into them.

LS: What would be your ideal?

DM: My ideal would be in three steps.  Number one, put the ballfields in first.

LS: Across the street?

DM: Right.  Once the ballfields are there and the old fields aren't being used after a few years, then put the developer in.  In the process the next step is where the old fire department and Cortland Cement and paving is, there is a space where you can run a road all the way over to Drake Road if you need to.  Pick up the land and develop that way.  I think that would be part of the town center. 

After that develop on the north side of Cayuga Vista.  The north side would be an excellent place for a grocery store.  We now need another gas station, because three was what the town used.  Three worked well and everybody was making a decent living.  But this is going to have to be a high tech gas station where leaks are minimal.  Woodsedge needs to be bigger.

Once those things are started up and the ballfields are running well and people are happy with it, then we can turn around and develop the remaining portion where pharmacies and doctors' offices could be where the current ballfields are.

LS: So you see commercial development from the old fire station area pushing east back past the town hall?

DM: That's correct.  Then north on East Shore Drive up to the Cayuga Vista area.  Maybe not all the way south on Auburn Road, but you can probably put some stuff along three quarters of a mile up that road.  You could have apartment buildings.  There is a lot of open space there.  It would probably take 20 to 30 years before it got to that point.

LS: Should the Town try sewer again?

DM: Absolutely.  Sewer is a prerequisite to having business.  But a standalone plant is what really should be going on.  Scott Pinney's been looking into it for the last year, year and a half.  I've been looking into it for the past six years.  Prices could come down tremendously with a standalone plant.  The largest portion of that last (failed sewer) project was $11 million for the trunk, eight pumping stations at a half million to three quarter million dollars apiece.  Out of $18 million we had $12 or $13 million for the trunk and pumping stations to connect up with someone else.

The original EPA rules in, I think, 1992, said that once you have a structure that will put out less than 2200 parts per billion, then you can have a permit or hook up to someone else.  Well, we now have 1,000 parts per billion, so it's considerably less.  Back then  4500 was the best they had.  So they put a moratorium up and said intelligent people in the industries, come up with something that's acceptable.  Well, they have.

(With a standalone system) we would control what we put in the ground.  We were planning iron pipes, digging deeper than we had to because that's what Cayuga Heights wanted.  They had certain requirements that we use all metal.  There are plastics out there that are about 40% less cost.  Instead of lasting 20 years they last 40 to 50 years.

It would behoove us to look at that, because $7 million to hook up the same amount of people would probably go down to around $5 million.  And they'll last twice as long.  We've already proven that our soil is so acidic that the pipes don't last as long as they say.  They're hitting 18 years and that's a problem.  So we have to look at it intelligently as a standalone plant that will save us money.

LS: What about natural gas drilling?  Can or should the town do something to contain its consequences, and should the town renew its agreement with the drilling companies.

DM: Unfortunately the town already did last month. 

LS: You're saying it shouldn't have?

DM: I'm not saying either way.  It's an iffy thing in my mind.  I'm looking at both sides, not being a professor or and engineer, or a major landowner.  So wouldn't gain anything on either side.  I look at it like I do with most things that I read in the newspaper -- with skepticism.  I'm not sure whether they're doing it for sensationalism.  I want to know for myself what's going on.

Do they actually put a lot of stuff in our water?  There hasn't been any proof.  Even in Wyoming after 20 years of researching well water, the stuff that's in the water is the same stuff that could be put in by people flushing through their septic systems.  And the quantities are the same.  This is what the EPA is saying.  This is what I've read.

I guess it goes right to the bottom line.  The towns and municipalities have no authority to decide whether they're going to drill there or not.  It's the DEC.  Would I like the EPA to have it?  No, because the EPA is just as flutey as the DEC.  They have just recently in a 500 - 600 page decision given the municipalities the right to decide where the wastewater goes.  Whoop-de-doo.  It goes to the municipality that has a sewer system.  Therefore the Town of Lansing is really not going to be involved in it.

We might have the right to determine how much money they have to put in bonds to be used to repair our roads.  That's a max.  We can voice our concern to the DEC in official letters.  Is the DEC going to listen?  I doubt it.  I've watched them before with other programs, lake source cooling especially.  Did they change anything?  Did they increase it?  Did they make Cornell do anything?  No.

We have to make sure that the DEC's permit money is enough to pay for our roads to be restructured.  To make sure the DEC follows up on testing before and after, so if there is any damage that drilling immediately stops.  We're lucky in this county that the land we have lease agreements on is only 39%.  That's a large amount but it's not 60% or 65% that some other townships have.

So the drilling sites look as terrible as the pictures in Wyoming from 25 years ago?  no, they don't.  I've been to one in Smithton, NY that started in 2008.  I was near the area in June of that year.  I saw the rig from about a mile away so we drove up.  It was a Saturday afternoon.

From the gate it started to get loud.  The guy at the gate was kind, he put me in a hard hat.  For 100 feet around the rig it was muddy, but not bad.  Last year I went up again because the rig had moved.  There's this box there that's probably five feet tall by ten feet by ten feet.  Green grass all the way around it.

LS: So they restored the property?

DM: Yes.  I talked to a few of the neighbors in the area the first time I was there and asked if they had any problems. 'No.'  Any problems with your water?  'No, not yet.'  Last year?  'Not yet.'  And they were downhill from it.

It's a tough thing.  I'm still reading more about it, trying to make a decision.  What I hear from these organizations (against drilling) -- there is no doubt they have the best interest of the people at heart.  They're concern is what are the chemicals, are they carcinogenic, are they destructive?  Yes, we should know.  They bring up Halliburton.  Halliburton is part of it because they make the drilling casings.

All in fine you want the water to be fine.  you want the people to be fine.  It makes sense to me to voice your opinion very strongly.  If I were in a position to vote for or against it they would have to prove the chemicals are non-carcinogenic, non-poisonous, wouldn't erode.  We're not going to have that vote anyway.

LS: How important is rural broadband for Lansing and how shuld the Town be involved in procuring it?

DM: I think rural broadband is already coming.  We have enough cell towers to get it in.  It's just a matter of hooking it up right.  With technology and the education of our children in the technology broadband is going to be almost a necessity.  Each year that we have additional technological advances to the computer industries and education industries broadband is going to become more and more important.  Hopefully it will be inexpensive enough that people can afford it.  Initially it won't be, but eventually it will.

LS: Should the Town do anything in particular to get broadband into areas where it's not available right now?

DM: We can entice cell towers to come in.  We can offer them town lands, or easy documentation.  But then the townspeople are not going to want that.  Again we're here for the town people first.

When you're on the Town Board you have to look at both sides of every picture.  When does it start hurting, compared to helping?  At what point does it become what the majority wants?  You have to look at it almost as if it's going into your back yard.

I don't think we're going to wind up enticing.  It's going to happen anyway.

LS: It will just be market driven?

DM: It's got to be profitable to them.  They aren't going to do it unless it's profitable.  It's just a matter of time.  It's going to happen.

LS: What unique benefits will you bring to the Town Board?

DM: The first is that I've already been on the Town Board.  I know what the commitment is.  In my first three years I was on the board I was on at least 7 committees.  You can ask my wife -- she was irritated with me because I was gone three nights a week and Saturday mornings.

I'm also an efficiency expert as far as my own small business is concerned.  I've learned how to do that right, so if we did have to cut things I could sit down and see what the efficient way to do it is.  I know how to make tough decisions when it's necessary.  I'll try to avoid the tough decision by finding another way, but if I have to make the tough decision  it will be done.

I'm my own man.  Nobody tells me what to do or how to do it.  I look at things from both sides.  I have nothing to gain  financially from this.  I don't own a lot of land, so development isn't a priority to me.  But development is going to occur.  I would make sure it is intelligently done for the betterment of Lansing.

I know the town budget.  I have opinions and I listen to people.  When my opinions are wrong I drop them.

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