Mission Statement "The mission of the Crisis Intervention Team is to use understanding and skills gained through specific training to identify and provide the most effective and compassionate response possible to police situations involving people in a mental health crisis."
The swearing in of Danielle Jury to fill the one year term of trustee is the first item on the agenda.
No Public concerns
Correspondence:
from the Alexandria Township Historical Society, Concerts in the Park 2min:09secs
Trustee Reports:
Trustee Sweet and the mayor report 3min:50secs
Old Business:
#1 Market Street [Odd Fellows Building] 5min:10secs.IF the VB sells the property, the back taxes owed to the county would have to paid in the sum of $11,312.88. Other expenses with this property are the demolition costs, $67,000.00 and the new sidewalk in front of the site that cost the village about $3,000.00. That makes the break even amount $81,312.88. Skunk Removal costs village $2,240.00 6min18secs If you do the math, Jeff Bates gets $35.00 from the village for each skunk he traps [property owners pay an additional $15.00]. That means that 64 skunks have been removed from the village, including the elusive albino skunk! Appraisal #1 Market St 12min:05secs. $70,000.00. Mayor wants to clean up the property and turn it into a green area for a park a place for people to sit. My question is sit and look at what? The potential buyers intentions for the property is parking 16min:40secs. IMHO, it is not the buyers intention that makes the mayor reluctant to sell the property....he just does not want those buyers to acquire it. Health Insurance will increase by 15% but employees have chose not to seek a new plan 20min:20secs
New Business:
Authorize mayor to sign SPDES [state pollutant discharge elimination system] Renewal application for the WWTP [waste water treatment plant] 21:min00secs 3 Year aggreement with Hearts For Youth 21min:23secs Correction to Chez water/sewage invoice 22min:07secs Light Up the Bay 23min:00 12 National Grid Poles on Church St to have outlets installed 23min:51secs the cost to the village is $55.00 per year for each.......$660 total every year. I drove through Omar and LA the other day. They have lighted Christmas ornaments plugged into similar outlets. They are an attractive addition! [Positive Comment] Village Zoning Laws Resolution 26min:27secs
Close Village Office 11/27/09 Surplus 12 gauge shotgun and ammo...........mayor: it is all worthless....worthless......29min20secs
The shotgun falls apart when fired........ Authorize exchange of worthless shotgun and ammo for the new Remington 870 Tactical Review application of potential new part-time patrolman........No comments from me......I don't want to be accused of scaring away another village employee
Just in case you missed it, the following is a comment found at the bottom of the article:
By lifeguard Fri., Nov. 27 at 7:50 am
Ms Jury will be harrased by Jim Cummings bag of tricks and lies. She need not worry as his supporters and friends are few as he proved in the last election at the village and town level. He is zero for two in his attempts by large margins. His credibility is in the bottom of his turd pot. The circus floggers negative campaigning and consistent lies have even alienated him from his own local political party.
And This one:
By localband Fri., Nov. 27 at 8:47 am
He no longer has a local political party that supports him. How could or would they? He has no integrity, morales, intelligence or ethics. Friends and supporters are walking away in droves as he criticizes everyone who is trying to help the community if they aren't doing it his way.
Ms Jury, thankyou for stepping forward and don't listen to his distorted unethical bull. He has provenly chased many good candidates for village and town positions away. You all need to listen and realize we have lost many good candidates, policemen, police chiefs, dpw workers and more due to his personal fairytale grudges.
And the third one I was waiting for:
By curmudgeonFri., Nov. 27 at 9:10 am
This article is about Danielle, not my buddy JC. Stop the harrasement and let the blow hart continue to dig his own hole.
Talk about distortion. But as usual, I have shared the other sides opinions!
This is old but not yet stale news. The WDT ran an article in last Saturday's paper: Alex Bay's Tax Levy Down 6.7%. Yup the levy is down, spending is decreased and the Town Board is raiding the savings account to keep our taxes at the same rate. The article went on about salaries............The item that caught my eye was the Town Supervisor's pay. $17,990 is the reported salary for the TS. I got thinking to myself, that is not what I recall. At the end of the online article I noticed there were 2 comments. One was from the editor which was in reply to a readers comment who noticed the same thing that I did.
Nothing to hide here.
I asked Jae to run the numbers.... Years ago, Alexandria decided to have its supervisor also be the budget officer. So in 2010 Supervisor Millet will receive a supervisor salary of $17,990, and a budget officer salary of $31,474. Thus, her total salary will be $49,464.
Unless there is another line item we don't know about.....
Cheers,
Bob Gorman
Managing Editor
To bad the WDT did not report that total salary in the first place. Now there are people out there that either have the wrong info or are suspicious or Both!
The mayor was a caught off guard when I questioned him about this. The mayor went on to say that yes.....3 officers were paid a total of $12,000 for back pay and any out of pocket money they used for training, travel etc. The mayor went on to say that the village could have had to pay out more than $60,000. Ouch! 2 of the officers were paid $4,200 each. The third could not be contacted, so I am assuming all 3 got the same settlement. 3 times $4,200 equals $12,600 not $12,000. Either way.......it is $12,000+ out of our pockets..........
The mayor has appointed Danielle Jury as village trustee. Trustee Jury has been selected to complete the remaining 1 year term of Cindy Chaltain, who passed away in October The appointment was not to take place until the organizational meeting that is to be held on December 7th. Outgoing trustee, Brent Sweet stated that the current work load for trustees has been overwhelming. He suggested to the board, that getting the candidate on board now would be to everyone's advantage and the workload could be distributed equally. Richard Drake [to replace Sweet] will be sworn in as trustee at the December 7th meeting.
Mystery Candidate #1 was Roger Jobson, #2 Danielle Jury, #3 Kay Doheny and #4 was The grumpy old quitter. By the way, the grumpy old quitter had been coming to the past few board meetings. But oddly enough he was not present at tonight's meeting. Must be he quit again once he found out he was not the mayor's choice. I heard that the he will be challenging the mayor in 2 years.........
This topic has a lot of you concerned. There have been several comments that have been trickling in over the past week or so. I think it is time to review them. Click Here
This one came in today, and deserves to be in the spotlight:
Rock Star said...
I think a tazer is a very bad idea in Alex Bay. NO offense here but highly trained officers in major metro areas have killed suspects and they are, as I said, real professionals. A mentally ill Utah man had an episode along a remote country road. He was tazered 2 times and died from it. the tapes and the investigation showed he could have been subdued another way or not at all. He was simple running naked along a rural road. Killed in front of his wife and kids sitting in the car. Small town cops with a high tech tool that they think is not a danger is a recipe for a lawsuit. Ditch the tazer, Barney Fife. OR tell me when such a device was needed. I'd like to know if it is needed. Is it??? When would one have been needed in the past?
A new addition can be found at the Big M in Alex Bay. A Blockbuster express vending machine is located to the left as you enter the local grocery store.......BlockBuster Express NewsMovies for a Buck!
Our neighbors in Cape Vincent have set the tone and may have saved their cousins {us} from having wind farms jammed up down our throats! Urban Hirschey blind sided incumbent Thomas Rienbeck. The wind discussion had gone wrong in so many ways. Follow these links to catch up on the discussion: WWNY TV, WDT reports on the Absentee Vote, Mayor Graham Blog, Jefferson Leaning Left Blog, and Pandoras Box of RocksChallenges are a great way to test that our government is still functioning the way it was intended to be. Not like our own local race where everyone ran unchallenged. Go ahead......blame it on the blogs.....I dare you!
Did you know that at the last VB meeting, according to the mayor, that it cost the taxpayers $90,000.00 for the demolition of that building. Did you also know that Trustee Sweet estimates that if the village ever tries to sell that parcel, we will have to pay back taxes anywhere between $20,000.00 to $30,000.00. That is a very conservative estimate! That would be a total of $120,000.00 that has been spent or will be owed. Parcels that are similar to this can be found cheaper, but because of the market, are not moving at all! The VB may have an interested buyer but may not be able to sell because the board has put more money into it than it is worth. Car dealers call this being UPSIDE DOWN! As a result the board has approved an appraisal of this property for $300.00 so that it can be determined that we will never recoup our losses! The audio can be found by clicking here 29min:44sec
I mentioned earlier that most states [including NY] require that police officers be tased before they can carry and use a taser. So lets apply this rule to some other tools of the law enforcement profession.
Do Police Officers Have to first:
Get Drunk and be pulled over and given a breathalyzer test?
Drive over the speed limit and get caught in a radar trap?
Get a face full of pepper spray?
Be disorderly and then cuffed?
Receive a blow to the body with a night stick?
Do they have to be shot before carrying a side arm?
As of the last VB meeting, the mayor stated that there were 4 candidates. He also stated that he would make his choice [with board input] at the annual organizational meeting Monday December 7th at 6pm. So what will be the criteria used for making the choice?
Possibly someone with a knowledge of our village infrastructure. Along with years of Department of Public Works experience.
How about someone who is clearly an independent thinker? Sporting fresh ideas and representing the younger voters!
Maybe a person with prior history as a trustee.
And a very clear understanding of zoning laws and ordinances?
Here is the audio from last Tuesday's VB Meeting.
Call Meeting to order
Roll Call Public Concerns: None
Correspondence: Letters of Resignation.......Marilyn Cannestra.....However, the letter from Kay Doheny produced an interesting response from the mayor and Trustee Sweet 2min:26secs.Mayor: "that came out of................................................. Did we do something wrong? .........she did not call with an issue.........I don't know what is going on there......."
Treasurer's Appropriations: 10min:01secs Trustee Reports 12min:05secs through 14min:40secs
Old Business:
Riverwalk status and committee 14min:44sec
LWRP deadline extension June 1, 2010 17min:00secs
Re-levy taxes $239,978.91 17min:51secs
New Business: Insurance rate increase Excellus BCBS 15% increase effective Jan 1, 2010 18min:49secs
Line docking request 20min:35secs
New Ad for COC visitors guide....$300.00 21min:49secs
Correction to BCYB water and sewer 23min:50sec
Correction to residential water and sewer 24min46secs
Adult Recreation trip to Canada 25min:41secs
VB annual meeting to be held the first Monday in December [12/7/09] 6pm 26min13sec
Historical Society gives up concert night in the park 27min21sec 1 Market St property appraisal...........This one is interesting! 29min:44sec
The audit report also said the town needs to improve its internal controls over cash receipts and disbursements. The auditors found several expense vouchers lacking notes of approval from either the town supervisor, department head or the Town Council.
Sound Familiar? Call your favorite councilman or supervisor and urge them to have a regular audit every 2 years......
New Taser costs VPD $1,200. But it does have a built in cam corder! The taser purchase did shock me, but only because the motion was passed by the VB after executive session when none of us were there to hear and/or participate in the discussion. I have my reservations if our PD really needs a taser. Although, I absolutely agree that every officer should have a bullet proof vest.
I would like to stress that the only thing I do not agree with is when and how the VB passed the motion to purchase these items. Their choice to do business in this fashion makes it look as tho they were sneaking it past the citizens......
According to the minutes [right], the VB went into executive session after the regular meeting on October 27th. Very seldom do any of us stay and wait outside for the board to return from exec. session to regular session. The purchase of the taser gun and supplies could have been included in the meeting when everyone is present [they were not included in that nights agenda]. I am guessing that board members felt that the purchase of the taser gun might not be well received by the public. As a result they snuck it in at the very end after all of us went home. Even if it was not their intention to deceive the public........it is the perception that carries the most weight. When will the board ever learn. It is best to keep agenda items out in the open for the public to view.
Chief Mullaney told me that the purchase of the taser gun and supplies was already approved in this years budget. He also told me that any officer wishing to carry the taser must first be trained and tazed so that they can experience the effects themselves. I would like to offer a suggestion, how about we include the entire board when it comes time to experience the taser effects. Or maybe next year's fund raiser should be taser the village officials instead of the boring dunking booth.
Vests for the PD were also approved in the same manner as the taser gun, after all the troublesome public had gone home. The minutes do not specify what kind of vests, but I am guessing.......the bullet proof ones.
At the last VB meeting 10.27.09 Mr. Martin, came to the board with a concern regarding The No Parking This Side of Street ordinance. No vehicles are allowed to park on the right side of Rockwell from Church St to Riverside Dr. He complained that the enforcement was selective. The VB said that selective enforcement of village laws and ordinances does not exist. The board stressed that village laws are followed to the letter. The VB stated that they would place warnings on windshields of vehicles in violation of the no parking law. This would include church goers as well as residents. The Pizza Place [as it was referred to by the VB] is also in violation of the no parking of vehicles on village sidewalks. Since that meeting I have noticed no change in any parking habits nor have I seen any warnings given. Selective enforcement appears to be the rule not the exception.
What a beautiful day and a great turn out for a Turkey Shoot. I know my boy had a great time. A special thank you to Frank the Tank for taking my boy under his wing!
Public Concerns: None Zoning Hearing postponed till December
Work on Subdivision: postponed till December Fuel Bids: postponed till December Looks like the December meeting is going to be busy busy busy.... Rt 12 Sewer status and committee 2min:57sec Lots of discussion on this agenda item! Logo in the arena for High School....Town to kick in $91.33....20min:20secs
Road name change for Wellesley Island.20min:31secsAccording to the agenda it is once again in our lap! Change Tennis Island loop to Pines Loop and Boathouse Road to Tennis Island Road. The board was surprised to discover that Tax Mapping for Jefferson County has no jurisdiction over private roads. The board has to authorize the change then submit it to Tax Mapping. Yet, according to Councilman Durand, the board had studied this issue to death [22min:40secs]. The board is split on this resolution! Tabled!
Property owner approaches board for removal of a portion of his Benefit Assessment Redwood Water District 26min:30secs. Highway report: 30min:46secs PV Array NYSERDA Application 32min:30secs Executive Session 34min:50sec
Last year I went to the Ladies Night Out! Drank some wine, ate some chocolate, and took some pictures. I made a list of gifts I wanted to buy for others. I also made a list of some really cool candle holders that I wanted. Stop down and visit Alex and BJ tonight at the Treasure Island. This Christmas lets all make an effort to support our local merchants. Cya there!
But you better bring an interpreter......the board, their engineer, and lawyer are speaking a different language. It is Greek to me! I admit it....I get lost with all the fancy acronyms. The meetings are fast paced with tons of jargon. I sometimes wonder if that is all done on purpose. Some times people use big words or acronyms to puff themselves up intellectually. I call that BS which is an acronym for.........! Here is a quiz for you.
Does IMA stand for Institute of Management Accounts, International Massage Association, Institution for Musical Arts, or none of the above?
Does EDU stand for the domain name for EDUcation? Yes or No.
True of False: PV array stands for PhotoVoltaic array?
In 250 words or less please describe aPhotoVoltaic array?
The acronym O and M stands forOperator/Maintainer, Oxygen-to-Metal, Oxide Melt, or Operation and Maintenance?
Bone up! Your going to hear all these terms when I upload the audio from tonight's meeting. No wonder nobody goes. It is like listening to an Italian opera. It sounds good but you can't follow the story.
The numbers in the village race for mayor and trustee[s] seem odd to me.
The mayor received 183, while Roy and Drake earned 230 and 174 respectively. It seems to me that since all of them ran with no competition, the numbers would be more balanced.
Politics are a blast for me. I enjoyed every minute of the campaign. I want to thank the 355 voters who supported me.
Hind sight is 20/20. I made a mistake. I was scolded last night and was told that only one of us was to beat Durand. I guess I never got the "memo" to leave Williams alone. The scolding surprised me, I figured since there were 2 republican incumbents and 2 democrat challengers, ideally they should be unseated. But I was told that Durand was the sacrifice and Williams is sacred. There are no friends in the inner circle. That is something I will remember forever....
The Blog is back to normal........tomorrow will be business as usual! Town Board meeting is Wednesday night @ 6pm. The meeting was moved one week ahead in observance of Veterans Day.
....with surveys, polls, and who are you going to vote for in the NY23rd. It gets annoying after awhile doesn't it? I figured that the last thing anyone wants is someone ringing your doorbell! I am staying home tonight, respecting your privacy and solitude as you are no doubt trying to relax. After all, I enter your home every time you read my blog. Enjoy your evening and please do not forget to vote!
An elected official has the obligation to actively participate at our monthly Town Meetings. I am very aware that council members belong to committees and also must attend other meetings that are linked back to the town community. The Town Board meets only one time per month. I believe that this is a meeting that should never be missed except on rare occasions. Family comes first but sometimes everyone has to suffer just a little bit. The family is important but should never be used as the excuse! Jim Durand gets a C minus for attendance at town meetings over the past few years. I believe in attending our town meetings. Nearperfect attendance at our town meetings is my pledge to you.
Yes you! Do you go to bed at night feeling warm and fuzzy, with not a care in the world. Actually I am not talking about the world on the global level. I am referring to our world, the Town of Alexandria. Which is really the only section of the globe that we have any control over. Have we lost control over our own backyard? Yes we have! Name one person, other than your spouse or significant other that you want to place your trust in for over 30 years. Doug Williams has been your town council for just that long. I am sorry to inform you, but that is to long . Council members need to be rotated so that our community does not become stagnate with old ideas . How do we as a community encourage new people to step up and run for local government when we keep re-electing the same ole same ole. Keep our Town Government Fresh and Energetic! I will give you 4 years of New Energy as your Town Councilman!
Deer Camera Catches Sign Theft is the headline in Today's WDT, section B page 5. What motivates a man in his middle forties to commit a petty larceny. Is he a political activist? Probably not! I am guessing he is more like a bounty hunter. Paid off by a third party for every [enemy] sign captured. I wonder who that third party might be? Lets resist the urge to point fingers at the opposing parties in this race. After all they will claim that they to have lost signs too. How about this scenario...... The sign thief is hired by a third party to steal Martha Millett's signs. But to create a distraction, the thief is also instructed to take some Sutton, Durand, Williams, Bain, Schultz, Cummings and others signs. This way it can be said that everyone has some signs that are being stolen or otherwise rendered not usable. Here is the difference. Maybe some of the signs that were stolen are being returned to the owners. To be placed elsewhere. Just a theory......! Kind of like the Lone Gunman theory.......
Ms Jury, thankyou for stepping forward and don't listen to his distorted unethical bull. He has provenly chased many good candidates for village and town positions away. You all need to listen and realize we have lost many good candidates, policemen, police chiefs, dpw workers and more due to his personal fairytale grudges.
And the third one I was waiting for: