Another “Informational” Session Scheduled

Once again we have an “informational” session for the $4.6+ million bonding in the Town of New Hartford. It is scheduled at 5 p.m., an hour before the March 14, 2007 Town Board Meeting that will start at 6:00 p.m. Location is the Willowvale Firehouse on Oneida Street. You might want to look at the agenda for the town board meeting.

According to the items on the agenda for Councilman J.C. Waszkiewicz, he would like the town board to give residents some information regarding the priority areas to be covered by the $2 million stormwater bond along with projected costs. If you didn’t attend the last meeting, Highway Superintendent Roger Cleveland admitted that not all residents with stormwater issues will be satisfied. Some problems will take longer than others to correct and some cannot be corrected at all. Well, if you have stormwater issues wouldn’t you like to know what category you fit in before you vote on a $2 million bond? Here's your opportunity to ask!

Councilman Waszkiewicz also has on the agenda that he recommends that they develop a draft layout for the intended use of 1 Oxford Crossing before the Bond Vote. Gee, do you think? You mean they don’t even have a layout plan yet? Holy Cow!

It is just about two weeks before the $4.6+ million bond vote. We have asked many questions—they have promised many pieces of information—to date we have seen none. Considering that they cancelled the bond vote that was supposed to have taken place on January 17, 2007 because they did not have time to get the information out to residents, it is pretty incredible that they still haven't told us very much and they certainly can't answer the questions that have been asked of them at the other informational meetings.

Oh, then there is the contract with SDG on the March 14 2007 town board agenda under Reports of Town Officials – A. Assessor. SDG is the company they have hired to put assessments online. They will tell you that they have obtained a grant to get the assessments online soon. But, I wonder if they will tell you that in order to get that grant they have to prove that they are able to pay SDG for years 2 through 5, thus that is why they need a contract. In other words, it is going to cost taxpayers money. Will they let residents know how much the contract with SDG will cost or what provisions it contains? Probably not right away--you will notice that it will be discussed in Executive Session. We used to do the assessments for town residents for free. In fact, we still have the assessments and assessment history from 2001 to 2006 on our website--FREE.

And in case anyone is wondering, Item #2 under the Town Clerk – Zone Map Amendment Application of P H & S Property – according to the assessment database, that property seems to have the same address as Preswick Glen. Hmm, I wonder?

Hope you can attend Wednesday night’s “informational” session and town board meeting.

By the way, let’s not forget about the school $25.7 bond vote today, March 13, 2007 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Ed Wiatr has written an article regarding the school bonding. It is well worth your while to read.