Archive: News

An enormous culvert on Triphammer Terrace is in the ground, awaiting final paving.  Highway Superintendent Jack French said Wednesday the culvert is now covered with gravel and the road will be paved in two or three weeks.  "The Highway Department is doing a great job," said Councilman Ed LaVigne.  "They are saving the Lansing Taxpayers a tremendous amount of money.  I think they saved us about $200,000 just in labor."

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Local law enforcement agencies are not always taking immediate action when notified that convicted sex offenders have failed to comply with the state’s Sex Offender Registry Act, according to an audit issued today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. As a result, the state’s Registry is not always accurate and up-to-date.

“The sex offender registry is designed to warn residents and local officials of possible threats in their community, but it only works if it is kept current. The failure to monitor even one sex offender could lead to serious consequences,” said DiNapoli. “Although local law enforcement departments may have limited resources and this is often a difficult task, more must be done to improve procedures and keep residents properly informed. Fortunately, many of these agencies have indicated they have taken immediate steps to address the concerns raised in this audit.”

There was resistance to an amendment to the Village of Lansing Firearm and Bow Safety law at a public hearing Monday, before Trustees passed the law.  Cayuga Heights Road resident Lowell Garner took issue with a change that reduces the distance hunters must remain from a residence from 500 feet to 150 feet.

"My house is nowhere near 150 feet from any of my property lines," Garner said.  "Yet I have full ability to walk my land, which means that hunters can be right at the property line and hunt legally.  The Village has solicited property owners near me for hunting.  150 feet doesn't work for me in terms of being able to have full use of my property, go where I want to go, walk in the woods with my dog or my granddaughter."

The Lansing Town Board voted to authorize a multi-jurisdictional all-hazard mitigation plan Monday.  Federal regulations require the adoption of such a plan, which was prepared by the Tompkins County Planning Department.  But the Town was not prepared to officially recognize an Emergency Preparedness Committee.  Town Supervisor Kathy Miller said she has yet to solicit representation on the committee from the School and Fire Districts before the Town Board officially appoints the committee.

"We have a number of other people who have agreed to be on the committee," she said.  "We really need someone from the school district, and I need to ask someone from the fire department.  As soon as we get those people on board we will recognize the committee."

Even as it moves forward with the septic system replacement capital project, the Lansing Board Of Education is considering a new project that it is calling the S.M.A.R.T. (Security, Mechanical, Architectural, Reconstruction, Technology) Project.  District Business Administrator Mary June King says the $6,450,000 project can be completed with no additional taxes or budget impact.

"We've done a number of projects since our 2010 Building Condition Survey came out," she told the school board.  "There were still a number of items, mostly infrastructure related that remain on the Building Condition Survey that we haven't touched yet."

Tom Reed brought together local manufacturers, veterans organizations and job training specialists to look for ways to put the nation's veterans back to work. Reed's bipartisan House Manufacturing Caucus met with expert panelists this week to identify best practices of manufacturers committed to hiring veterans and how those instances can be replicated across the country.

"We heard some really constructive input from panelists today on best practices and what resources are available to help match up veterans with manufacturers," Reed said. "Our veterans have a unique set of advanced skills that manufacturers are looking for and we heard a lot from the panel about pooling resources to translate those skills into civilian manufacturing jobs. I'm constantly reminded of the need to stand with our military men and women both when they are deployed and when they come back home. It's about caring for those who sacrificed so much in serving our country and helping those heroes into meaningful jobs."

The Lansing Central School District had received word that a new septic system planned for the middle school may conflict with a Native American burial site.  But this week District Business Administrator Mary June King reported to the Board of Education that the State and National Registers of Historic Places has backed off of its request for an expensive Phase I Archaeological Survey.  She said that Tetra Tech Project Manager Tom Farlow has received a letter from he New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) has confirmed the project will not interfere with cultural sites.

"At our last meeting I mentioned the possibility of the septic project being held up because of the possibility interference with an Indian burial ground," she said.  "Tetra Tech put all their resources to work on it.  We received notice on August 29th from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)."

If you could choose when your Lansing house catches fire -- and we're not implying that you should -- your best bet would be around 7pm.  That's when the largest number of volunteer responders are likely to be available.  This year's statistics to date even surprised Fire Chief Scott Purcell when they showed that despite some emergency calls that took over 12 minutes, the average response time for all fire and EMS calls was an impressive 7.86 minutes, with plenty of available volunteer responders.  In fact, response times for just under half of the 640 calls from January 1 through August 31 were seven minutes or less.

"When I ran the numbers I thought that number was going to be higher," he says.  "That was kind of a shock."

Tompkins County Administrator Joe Mareane has delivered to the County Legislature a 2015 Recommended County Budget that preserves County services, fulfills several programmatic goals, and achieves the fiscal goal of remaining within the County’s projected property tax cap.

The tentative budget would increase the County property tax levy by 2.34%, adding $6.34 to the annual tax bill of the average County homeowner.  Since the increase falls within the State-imposed property tax cap, that amount of increase would be returned to homeowners by the State under the new property tax freeze law.  The recommended budget also includes a 7% reduction in the County solid waste fee.  The budget maintains fiscal discipline, with minimal appropriation of County reserves and spending growth held to just 1.6% over 2014.

County Smoking Law Amended to Include E-Cigarettes
Following a public hearing, the Legislature voted to amend the County law restricting smoking in places of employment, restaurants, and taverns to also include electronic nicotine delivery systems, such as “e-cigarettes.”  The vote was unanimous (with Legislator Brian Robison excused).  The action amends Chapter 72 of the County Code, to include prohibition of such delivery systems anywhere smoking tobacco is currently prohibited.  The amendment notes that the as-yet-unregulated devices pose a potential public health risk.  At the public hearing before the vote, two spoke in support of the amendment, two people (former smokers who said the devices have been crucial in enabling them to quite) spoke against.  Health and Human Services Chair Peter Stein said that, while he believes that “real cigarettes” are a whole lot worse than e-cigarettes, that in considering situations like this, it’s most important the effect on those in workspaces and public spaces who don’t have a choice of being exposed to such substances, over those who have the choice of whether or not to use them.

The Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) is calling upon State leadership to rescind the look-back period associated with New York State property tax freeze legislation.

The State Legislature and Governor have adopted a voluntary program with financial rewards for constituents if local governments adopt 2015 budgets within limits of the Property Tax Cap law, with further rewards if by June 15, 2015 if those governments can, through consolidation and collaboration, reduce their combined property tax levy by 1%.  While the State legislation did not specify a limit of what could be used to demonstrate such shared-services efforts, the New York State Office of Taxation and Finance later limited what can be considered to only programs enacted since the beginning of 2012.

Just as students return to school this week, Tom Reed is preparing to return to Washington with a bill ready to make schools safer with more opportunities in School Resource Officer (SRO) programs. Reed said Monday he is finalizing legislation now to put local school districts in a better position to access School Resource Officers and plan for upcoming school years.

"We received a tremendous amount of input from across the district listening to superintendents, teachers, parents, mental health and law enforcement personnel about ways to make schools safer," Reed said. "From those conversations it was clear more emphasis needed to be placed on giving schools the ability to integrate School Resource Officers into their overall safety plan. From those on the ground every day working with children in schools, we've heard nothing but good things about the positive relationships built on respect between SROs and students."