Archive: News

Kathy Miller wants to be on the Lansing Town Board to increase communication with the community, to help plan for sustainable growth, and preserve the town's rural character and farmland.  She has lived in Lansing with her husband Bill since 1986, and have three grown children 29, 24, and 21.  She holds a BS in Biology from Wilkes University, and has worked at Purdue University, the Unicersity of Pennsylvania, and Cornell in immunology, virology, and medical genetics.  She has also worked as a teaching assistant at Lansing schools, and was Director of the Lansing Drop-in Center.

On Monday she dropped by the Lansing Star to talk about her candidacy and her vision for the town.

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

Kathy Miller: I've always been interested in the towns I have lived in.  We've lived here since 1986.  I've been involved in the Town in various things since that time.  I started out with children's activities.

I really have an interest in the Town and where it's going.  And it's growing.  We're not going to be able to stop growth, not that we should want to.  I'm interested in being part of the growth, and seeing that the growth happens in a good way for the Town.

One of the reasons I am a good candidate is because I have lived here for quite a while.  I know a lot of the people, and I also know what it is to be a newcomer.  We're not generational here.  I understand that newcomers and people who have lived here for years and years have a lot to offer this town.  That's a strong point for me.

LS: Do you think Town taxes are too high or too low?  In the current budget process are cuts appropriate or not?  And was the Town right to change benefits for retirees?

KM: As long as the retirees get the same benefits, the quality of benefits, then to switch who you're insured with is fine.  Everyone has to think of doing that, not just the Town.  I certainly as a private individual look for the best bang for my buck.  So as long as the benefits are the same, because people came in and retired under a certain contract thinking these were the benefits they were going to have.  I think once you're retired those are the benefits you should get.

It's different for people who are working right now.  And it's different for new hires, whatever contract they come in under.  And you can renegotiate contracts when someone is working there, but once you retire, to me that's kind of set in stone.

The $90 that individuals have to pay now, I think that was fine, basically because we were the only town that was doing it.

LS: What about the level of town taxes and services?

KM: At this point I don't want to see us receiving fewer services than we are.  I think they are doing a good job.  The Highway Department does a good job, the Rec Department does a wonderful job -- they're doing a great job.

I expected when they went to the real evaluation of homes, and with the amount of development we have, I truly expected that taxes would be lower than they are.  I am trying to understand why they are where they are.  I'm still pouring over them.  I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt, that they're really thinking about this and they're doing what's best for the Town.  The only way I'll know that is, when they go in and start talking about the budget, to sit down and be part of that and see where they're coming from with all of these things.  I could spout off about it, but it wouldn't necessarily mean that I have a lot of knowledge at this point.

LS: Going through that process would be a way of learning it.

KM: Yes, and then I would be able to make a better determination, and be part of the process.

LS: How do you view development and the Town's role in shaping it?  The town center is something we're all talking about now, so how do you see that impacting development?  Do you see the town center as coming in a few years or a long way away, if at all?

KM: There is a Town Center Committee, which I am on.  It was appointed by the Town, so obviously they are very enthusiastic and very supportive of the committee itself.  The whole idea of the committee is to help in planning for development.  Development is happening, but rather than have it happen willy-nilly and have us sit back ten or fifteen years from now and go, 'This is a mess.  Who did this?'

We will work with architects who have done this before, who will look at your town and decide where is the best place to have business?  Where's the best place to have affordable housing, because that's something we need to work with the County on.  Where's the best place to have recreation?  All of these things built around having sustainable development that years from now we'll all look back and it works well, people in the community have the things they needed, and also have community input.

The committee is certainly working with these architects and it is their plan to have community input.  What do people want to see here?  What do people think they need?

I live close enough to the schools that I can run down to the store.  I just talked to someone the other day who said she lives 14 miles from the store.  I thought, that's one thing we really need to think about, because we are developing further out.

The other thing I am concerned about is that we maintain our farmland.  The rural aspect of this area and farmland is important.  It's part of the character of Lansing.

LS: Should the Town try sewer again?

KM: Sewer is inevitable.  You can't have this concentration of people and not have sewer.  So yes, at some point I think they're going to have to try again.  They may have to slow the process down and say where do we go first?  And where do we go from here?  And try to make it affordable for people.  I've been reading about other areas that have put in sewer.  Somehow they make it affordable.  Somehow they do it so people want to come in and join.  So that's something we're going to have to look at and do.

LS: I want to talk to you about natural gas drilling in town.  Actually you had the most radical ideas about how the Town could be involved in it at the Democratic Caucus.

KM: I still do.

LS: Should this be happening in the town?  As we both know small municipalities have very little legal recourse, so what involvement do you see the Town having in containing possible negative consequences?

KM: First I'd like to say that when this all started a few years ago the companies came in and wanted people to sign contracts that said they could drill on your land, they came in and everything was wonderful.  you were going to make a lot of money.  Even my husband and I thought 'this is a good thing.'

Then as things start to come to light you realize there is a lot of negative impact, or potentially a lot of negative things could happen.  These are things we didn't know when they came to have everybody sign on.  They didn't tell you about using toxic chemicals in their fracking.  They didn't tell you about big, huge trucks going down the road.  None of this stuff was disclosed.

When you go to a hospital for surgery and they tell you you're going to have anesthesia, they tell you everything bad that can happen.  It's informed consent.  I don't think this is informed consent unless they tell you all of these things.  They told you the good.  They didn't tell you any of the bad.

There is the potential for it to have a lot of environmental impact in our area.  Just the roads -- when I looked at pictures of the big trucks that they use to bring the water in -- they're huge.  Of course that's going to make a difference in our roads.  We see now how Cargill trucks affect our roads.  You know, the ripple in the roads at the stop signs.

From what I understand, and this is something I would have to get a little clearer in my mind, municipalities can have some control over this.  They can have control where they tell you what roads you may use.  There's more than just that.  So those are the kinds of things our town has to be thinking about, and not just come in and say fine, drill and drive up and down our roads.  One of my thoughts is where are they going to get all off this water?

My concern is that we don't destroy the environment while taking this gas.  It's going to happen and there are people who want it to happen because they are going to make money.  Certainly I am not against that in any way, shape, or form.  But in doing so let's not ruin the environment.  We live in a beautiful place and sometimes you just have to be thoughtful about the way you do things, and not just rush in.  And we need to know how they're going to do it, where they're going to be with these trucks.

And the Town (Board) should be overseeing that, because I think that they are responsible for our Town, and they are responsible for what happens.  You can't just let this company come in and do whatever it wants.  It's another thing they have to think about and they have to do, but ti's their responsibility to do it.

LS: How important, right now, is rural broadband, and how should the Town be involved in procuring it for areas that don't get it?

KM: I think it's very important, because there are areas where you just can't get it.  We're kind of iffy here we are.  I think a lot of people would like to have it.  I understand the County is working on it, too, and we have a representative from the Town who is working with them.  I think the Town should be very active.  This is one of the things we should do for the people in Lansing.  There's no question about it.

And I think they are.  There is a person who is working with the committee and is working to bring broadband to the town.  I don't know a lot about how you do this.  It's not my field.  But I think it's something we should do.

LS: Should the Town invest in getting broadband here?

KM: I think so.

LS: Invest money?

KM: I think they're going to have to.  They don't give this stuff away.  You figure out how much it's going to cost and do what you can do.  Maybe they can't do it right away, but I think they should.  If it's going to cost money they should do it.

It depends on how much it costs and then figure out how you can do it, when you can do it.  I don't know if this is a feasible thing, but maybe there would be a little charge for it, too, as a little addendum to your taxes, kind of like the library is.

KM: Or like a water fee?

KM: Right.  Because you can see it right there.  This $10 goes for this.  People don't feel bad -- you don't wonder where it is going.  You know exactly where it's going.  It's going for your broadband.

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

KM: One of the things I would bring is that I have worked with so many people on so many different things in town that I realize how rich we are in this town as far as wonderful ideas, hard working people.  I would like to tap into that more than we have been.  I've heard people say, 'I would help but I didn't know they were doing this.  I didn't know this was going on.'  

Communication is a big deal in this town and I think if we were better at communicating we'd get even more people involved.  The more people you get involved the better it's going to be.  We're lucky that we live in an area like this and that we're small enough that we can involve people.  I think you can become so big that it's difficult to involve people.  But we're still small enough that we can involve people.

The other thing is that I'm a very hard worker and I put a lot of time in on things when I know they're worthwhile.  And I have the time right now to do it.  And I have the desire to see the Town develop in a good way.  And also, I think development will help with taxes.  There's no doubt in my mind that development is going to help with taxes, and that's difficult for everybody at this point.

----
v5i42