Poll Detail
Member Comments
View Comments: | 1-21 | Post a comment
| Laviathan | |
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08-25-08 2:37 PM
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As of the 2000 census, the 62 counties of New York State are subdivided into 932 towns and 62 cities. Each town is contained within a single county, although different towns in separate counties may have the same name. In many cases there is a city and a town in the same county with the same name. Note that they are distinct subdivisions of counties, specifically the city is not part of the town. For the 62 cities, see the article List of cities in New York.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-25-08 2:26 PM
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*******wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=township Speaking of Saluting the Union Jack flag! please read the following. *******en.wikipedia****/wiki/Township_(England) It is the Township that is a throwback to the Monarchy and British form of Government.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-25-08 12:00 PM
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A referendum to make the town conterminous with the village would do two things. It would A) Become a more democratic system in the fact that everyone (not just the village residents) would have the opportunity to vote. B) Would allow you to select who on the same referendum that should run the new coterminous government. The current Township board –or- the current Village Board. At this point you will be down to one local government without destroying your municipality. The only function the township will have will be the Highway Superintendant and that would remain the same. It would fall under the control of whoever the voters choose. Once you dissolve the village any chance, even the slimmest of becoming a city are gone forever. That is why this kind of drastic reform needs to start in Albany with our local political leaders sponsoring a government restructuring from the top down. Constitutional Amendments happen all the time the mechanisms are there that allow it.
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| Ttmtimeri | |
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08-22-08 12:02 PM
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Downtowner: How is looking at the alternative of a coterminous village/town a delay tactic? It is a viable aternative that could not be considered if the village ere to be disolved. As a resident of the Village, I am open to all alternatives, but I would not vote for disovling the village unless I had the opportunity to elect our village Mayor to be the new supervisor and our village board to the Town board on the same ballot. The Town board/supervisor is a do-nothing admin. Our Village offcials are a thoughful, forward thinking group. The village is the one who is getting trying to improve the community, the Village has applied for the waterfront improvement grant and is planning for the multi-use recreational trail system. Laviathan is right, of the few responisbilities the Town has are failures. The assessment embarrassment. The Town beach/campground looks like a trailer park.
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| phahn50 | |
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08-22-08 10:51 AM
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Leviathan's suggestion of getting rid of the towns completely and letting the counties take town over the town is too sensible to happen. The problem is the state constitution would need to be changed - but it would be worth the effort. Might get rid of the different types of hamlet/village/city distinctions and call them all cities.
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| Downtowner | |
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08-22-08 10:26 AM
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Yes, by all means the Village and Town governments should merge into a single governing body. However in view of the Mayor’s comments and the remarks By Trustee Madore it’s unlikely anything constructive will come of it, as each has expressed their respective opposition to the idea. They have allowed there ego’s and personal agendas to come in the way of progress. The right thing to do would be put the issue up to a referendum and let the people decide. Let each side make their case and the chips fall where they may. The Tupper Lake voters are not as uninformed as the Mayor Desmarais and Trustee Madore might think. The suggestion of a coterminous government is at this point a delay tactic slowing the process once again. If this drags out to village election time, I would suggest there may be a mayor and two trustees, those opposed to a referendum, looking for a new job. Let the people vote!
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| Laviathan | |
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08-21-08 7:25 PM
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ADK777: You ask what’s in it for me. How about I reciprocate the question with what’s in it for all of us? I’m a village tax payer… The Township wants the village to dissolve the Municipality. This is not to be taken lightly. It’s a very serious thing to dissolve a municipality. Especially one that is solvent! For starters I don’t think the Town is ready nor do they have the facts to provide us with answers to any of the questions that could be asked. I also do not see them voluteering an open forum that we can do that in.
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| adk777 | |
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08-21-08 11:32 AM
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The Village could take over the functions of the Town much easier than vice-versa. Don't think it would be too hard to pass out dog licenses. PS... Leviathan What's in it for you??
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| Laviathan | |
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08-21-08 9:43 AM
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After reading the Town of Tupper Lake’s most recent resolution, another thing occurred to me. They clearly stated “With no financial consideration to be provided”. Now wait just one second. The Village of Tupper Lake is solvent. It is worth what has to be valued in the multiples of millions. What an insult to the residents of the Village of Tupper Lake! In essence saying “we will take you over and not give you a dime for any of it” It is the Village tax payers that have contributed to the overall value of the Village with their infrastructure. The Town tax payer has contributed nothing to the village wrt its infrastructure. How unfair and undemocratic is that? Make it coterminous and this insult will go away. . In the end you will achieve what it is you are attempting to accomplish. Also being fair and balanced in the process.
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| baytowne | |
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08-21-08 8:10 AM
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i would ask that the editor of the enerpriise would take the lead from the press-republican and let the VILLAGE residents decide on their future. will we be able to take a poll on the operations in the village of saranac lake in the future. i ask that you poll your residents in saranac and ask them if they would perfer the services offered in the Village of Tupper Lake as opposed to the service offered in your community. (lets start with electric rates).
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:12 PM
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Please begin reading my coments at the 7:00 pm time slot. bottom to top.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:08 PM
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I would also like to encourage the Adirondack Daily Enterprise to avoid such dangerous self-serving, tabloid like editorials like the one this past week that basically says to the voters of Tupper Lake “Do it and get it over with so we can see what happens” I would much prefer they do some investigative journalism in an intelligent and informative manner and report to us what is being done in other locals and states. This way we can avoid a slipshod decision by a misinformed group of voters being fed information by an irresponsible news paper all being led by a dogmatic group of people. THANK YOU!
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:07 PM
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I say we start in Albany with this idea: Lets get rid of the archaic outdated layer of government called a Township here in NYS! Get rid them completely… Statewide! Let the Counties take over the few duties the Townships actually provide. (The truth is Townships act as an extension of the county anyway.)We will then have three taxes, County, School District and if you live inside a municipality a municipal tax. This is not a new idea. It’s being done elsewhere in states that have Townships. Not all states have them I will add. Do some homework on it. Illinois for example, is one doing just this. This would serve to eliminate Saranac Lake and Lake Placid excuses for not dissolving their municipalities.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:07 PM
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I’m very cognizant of the fact that Saranac Lake and Lake Placid are looking at this situation and seeing how it plays out. If for no other reason to decide if it’s a road they too should travel. Although the Enterprise explains it could not work for them because of multiple Townships and adjoining county lines. Let me propose this to the readership.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:06 PM
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Coterminous government is starting to sound a lot better all the time. It also becomes more fair and balanced not to mention more democratic. In fact that if we do vote to become coterminous, town & village voters will have a say in the vote. It will not be entirely up to the village voters to dissolve their municipality. I’m not real keen on having Tupper Lake become the guinea pig for the tri lakes with the daily enterprise’s encouragement to see it happen.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:04 PM
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The Town also asserts the police depart will provide coverage into district two and district two will pay $100,000 yearly to district one. My question is this. Why isn’t district two going to pay half for police protection? This sounds rather slanted in my opinion.
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:03 PM
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The Townships sudden resurgence of Lets dissolve the village becomes a nice diversion don’t you think? The Town board asserts that there will be two districts. The current corporate limits of the village will become district one and everything outside that will become district two. Districts are how townships have to run according to NYS law. They are very cumbersome and fraught with surprises should a major event occur inside a district. In other words If something major takes place (like an infrastructure failure) inside the district you live in, be ready to receive your portion of the bill at the end of the year- along with your Town Tax. It’s a very risky venture. Ask anyone that lives in a current district that has had this happen how they liked it?
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| Laviathan | |
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08-20-08 7:00 PM
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The recent dogma of the Town of Tupper Lake regarding their assertion they are “ready to take over the Village” is completely off base. The resolution they recently passed is completely un-democratic for a number of reasons. Primarily, if the village does dissolve the “Town Voters” Have no say in the matter. It is the village voters that will vote to dissolve the village. The Town residents have no say whether or not it happens. They both will be forced into an entirely new system of Government. Please keep in mind- this most recent force of hand by the Town leaders is the same group that could not provide enough diligence in their duties as a board to govern the one of only several employees they currently oversee. That being the duties of the Town Assessors Office! Now let me remind you, because of this lack of diligence the town tax payers have a lawsuit on their hands that must be fought in NYS Supreme court! How expensive will that snafu be?
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| FGNUTT | |
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08-20-08 6:37 PM
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Consolidation is not the answer for Tupper Lake. Everyone uses Ticonderoga as an example but how many know that the financial problems that plagued Ticoneroga Village were what brought on the consolidation over to the town. As far as I am aware, no such problems in our Village like that exists. Has anyone bothered to look into the failed attempt of the Town of Massena to consolidate with the village there? This happened not to far back and from what I have been told, one of the major issues was combining the two work forces which both were in the CSEA and both had seperate and very different collective bargaining agreements. For the Tupper Lake Town board to make statements on what they guarantee will happen, when even the employess have recieved no official information from their union is just another example of the shoot from the hip mentality exhibited by that board. Ladies and gentlemen, don't let your mouths write checks that you will be unable to cash later on down the road.
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| Seamus | |
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08-19-08 9:11 PM
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I still can't understand why anybody would want to eliminate the government that provides all the services. The co-terminus idea sounds more logical. As far as the editorial in your paper on 8/18/08, where did you get your ideas?? I suggest that you come to Tupper Lake and spend a day at the town offices and see what goes on there. Then spend a day at the village offices and see what goes on there. You will not find any duplication of services as you suggested. The village provides electric, water, sewer, fire protection, police protection, garbage pickup, sidewalks, street lights, storm sewers and road maintenance. The town provides plowing, birth certificates, marriage licenses, hunting and fishing licenses, dog control and town road maintenance. So where is the duplication?? If you combine the two governments I bet you suddenly need a new multimillion dollar town hall, where do you save on that one?? Come to Tupper and do some research before you make up your mind.
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| ConcernedTLaker | |
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08-19-08 3:50 PM
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There are too many unanswered questions for this. One thing I have yet to hear is the Unions, CSEA, stance on this. The Town Board said it - no one will lose their job from this, right? Is the Union, and all members, going to just take on more work with no change in their contract? Absolutely not. The police department, for example, has binding arbitration so their patrol area is going to increase three times the size it is now and they are not going to get a raise? Wrong, looks like the local cops will be getting pretty good raises maybe even close to what a Trooper makes. Any arbitrator is going to award a huge raise when the unit shows the size of the increase in workload. And the town will have to pay it. But your taxes aren't going to go up? HAHAHA! No, we can't get rid of the police, first off we need them, and second, the town board guaranteed their job! Wake up Tupper Lake before its too late! Consolidation is a mistake.
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