Chris Simonds in The Columbia Paper reports that Hillsdale officials moved in to their new town hall, in the former Hillsdale Public Library building on Sept. 23, and will hold a dedication ceremony at 11 a.m. Sat., Oct. 15. Supervisor Art Baer, always a good quote, takes a dig at Stuyvesant while mentioning that Hillsdale spent $530,000 in total on the new town hall. “There are towns that are building salt sheds that are more expensive than this,” Baer told Simonds. That’s a reference to the $845,000 bond Stuyvesant voters recently approved to build two salt sheds. The story goes on to note that the town is seeking a $400,000 state historic preservation grant for exterior improvements and grounds work, so, eventually, it may cost more than those cross-county salt sheds. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.
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Tags: Art Baer, government center
Francesca Olsen. Photo from Register-Star website.
Tags: Art Baer, Bill Hallenbeck, Board of Supervisors, Ed Nabozny, William Hughes
Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera is now looking to run for the Columbia County Board of Supervisors
Tags: Art Baer, Bart Delaney, Board of Supervisors, local audio, Rick Scalera
Former Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, was one of the committee members who voted to squash plans to study the fe2sibility of moving county offices to the former Wal Mart facility in Greenport. Image from ccscoop.
while the board decides if they’d like to close on the parcel.” The stalled sudy was originally commissioned by the year-old CRC because of the time limit on Walmart — the reasoning being that if Walmart’s 125,000 square foot building was the best option for consolidating, it would be best to make the decision before the clock ran out. The CRC’s plan was to lease the building to the county. Last week, the CRC chose New York City-based Urbahn Associates to complete the assessment, but until it’s approved by the BOS, no study will take place. The firm would have been given a May 1 deadline to complete it. “It’s almost like hiring an interior decorator to lay out this house you’re not quite sure you can afford to buy,” said former BOS Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, of his reasons for voting against the funding. “I think it’s a great idea but given where we are today we need to do some estimating as to what the tax levy impact is going to be on some of these scenarios.”
Tags: Art Baer, Columbia County Department of Social Services, CRC, Ken Flood, Wal-Mart
Help sought in search for missing teen
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office is distributing flyers to local businesses in hopes of locating 13-year-old Raven Barger, who disappeared from his New Baltimore home on Friday night, Feb. 18, around 7:30 p.m. when his parents checked his room and found him gone, with the window open. The 5 foot 5 inch, 155 pound teen has left home before but has never disappeared for this long, according to a report in the Times Union.
Catskill man who killed police officer shot self twice, autopsy shows
All the local papers are leading with another installment in the story of Lee Welch, the Catskill man who shot killed his wife, Jessica, and then killed a Poughkeepsie police office after having his three year old daughter wrestled from his arm. Now it seems he shot himself twice in the head before dying.
Justice drops charge against highway chief
Hillsdale Justice Russ Immarigeo dismissed the second degree harassment charge against Hillsdale Highway Superintendent Richard Briggs February 14, Diane Valden reports in The Columbia Paper. Briggs, 41, of Hillsdale, was charged last August 13 because of a complaint signed by a Highway Department employee who alleged that he made sexually suggestive statements. Hillsdale Town Supervisor Art Baer and the Town Board cast a vote of no confidence in Briggs in August, Valden reports, even before he was charged, and called for his resignation. Baer told The Columbia Paper Wednesday that he and board, “were disappointed that the matter did not go all the way through the judicial process.”
Catskill declares snow emergency for Monday
The village of Catskill declared a snow emergency effective 8 a.m. this morning, Feb. 21, 2011 to remain in effect for 72 hours, until 8 a.m. on Thu., Feb. 24, according to The Daily Mail. Residents must follow posted alternate parking regulations and any vehicle parked on the roadway in violation of parking regulations which hinders the removal of snow will be ticketed and towed at the owner’s expense.
Study: NY ranks No. 23 for CO2 output
This Albany Business Journal piece is a nice surprise, given the concentrations of cities and manufacturing still in our state. The worst offenders for power generators? Texas, by a huge amount, then Florida, Ohio and Indiana. Cleanest? Ah… Vermont!
Tags: Art Baer, Richard Briggs, snow, snow emergency
Hillsdale Supervisor Art Baer has filed for an ethics investigation into party caucus influence on county politics. Stay tuned. (Photo from ccscoop.com)
What had been the brouhaha of the moment for the final weeks of 2010, when Hillsdale Supervisor Art Baer questioned party leaders’ decision to oust him as the county’s Chief Budget Officer, quietly receded into history with a unanimous vote at the county’s reorganization meeting this week. What happened and why did things go quiet after a loud series of letters in the local papers between the county’s Republican, Conservative and Independence Party chairmen and Baer, who said governance decisions should be in the hands of the people and their reopresentatives, rather than party political leaders. Francesca Olsen of the Register Star has a piece in this morning’s paper that describes what happened and starts to hint at some of the forces that rule Columbia County these days, as well as the manner of governance, and quieter politics, we can expect over the year to come.
When Ken Wilber – a former Ghent supervisor before becoming County Treasurer 16 years ago – suggested, in an interview with Olsen, that Baer could spend more time campaigning without the added $11,000 job as the county budget officer, the Hillsdale supervisor replied that he hasn’t decided if he’s running yet. “Ken has been the budget officer before and I’m sure he’ll do a good job,” he said, adding that he’s proud of the work he’s done during his budget officer tenure, especially the 0 percent tax levy increase in the 2011 budget.
“This is the lowest increase in county taxes in living memory and it wasn’t easy to get there,” Baer added. “It’s rather significant for the county to have no increase in a time like this… This was Roy (Brown)’s decision. I did it last year at Roy’s request. Now he’s requested Ken to do it. I don’t have a problem with it.” Why he did in 2010, then, seems to be the question. Which may be wrapped up with many political decisions of the year now past. For the full Register-Star story click here.
Tags: Art Baer, Board of Supervisors, county budget officer, Ken Wilbur, party leaders, Roy Brown
Germantown Supervisor Roy Brown gets reinstated as chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors at the county's reorganization meeting in Hudson yesterday. Photo by Register Star.
Baer has been in the news recently following a letter to the Register Star from the chairmen of the county’s Republican, Conservative and Independence parties demanded his ouster, noting their displeasure with his service, which Baer answered by questioning the legitimacy of such closed-door political decisions for a body meant to be ruled by electoral politics.
We’ll get back to you on whether Baer prevailed or not in his reappointment, which we suspect not.
Meanwhile, Olsen reports that Brown announced that he would keep Supervisors Larry Andrews, R-Ghent, and Bart Delaney, R-Hudson5, on as his vice-chairmen for another year. Taghkanic Supervisor Elizabeth “Betty” Young will retain her title of Republican majority leader on the BOS, and Stuyvesant Supervisor Valerie Bertram will continue on as her deputy. Clermont Supervisor Raymond Staats replaced Chatham’s Jesse DeGroodt as Democratic minority leader on the BOS; Claverack Supervisor Robin Andrews will serve as Staats’ deputy minority leader.
After a standing ovation, Brown spoke of the coming year and the almost certain financial hardships that will come with it. “We must remain cautious and continue to be very mindful of our finances this coming year,” he said, noting appreciation for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to cut his salary by 5 percent. “But what else will he cut and how will those cuts affect Columbia County and our residents?” he asked.
The county will be monitoring the governor’s actions “on a daily basis,” Brown said. “We have contingency plans in place and we will be reviewing those plans with supervisors and department heads in the coming weeks. We remain optimistic that Columbia County will prevail in 2011.” Brown also warned against partisan politics, saying the BOS “must be able to work in a bipartisan fashion without the veil of partisan politics hanging over our heads,” and reminded the room that the BOS “takes ethics standards seriously and we will not allow ethical abuse to go unchecked with any elected official or agency,” that works with the BOS.
Brown’s 2010 speech mentioned economic development, tourism and county efficiencies as goals — his 2011 speech kept them as such. He mentioned some “new strategies” for the county tourism department…
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Art Baer, county reorganization, Roy Brown
Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Brown was chosen to lead another year by his GOP caucus in recent weeks. Photo from Columbia County homepage.
The Register Star has a story this morning that quotes “multiple sources” confirming that at a caucus of Republican supervisors which took place Dec. 22 saw current Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown elected as the county Republican Party’s choice for 2011 BOS Chairman. And county Treasurer, Ken Wilber, will take on the title of county Budget Officer – currently held by Baer, R-Hillsdale.
Baer and Brown declined comment and deferred to county Republican Party Chair Greg Fingar, who they said was in charge of speaking to media sources regarding the caucus. Fingar has not returned phone calls regarding this story since the caucus was held.
The Columbia County Board of Supervisors, including all elected officials, will vote to appoint a Board Chairman at their 2011 organizational meeting this Tuesday at 3 p.m., at the Supervisors’ Chambers at 401 State Street, Hudson. At that time it will be interesting to see whether Baer’s call, in his letters, for a public repudiation of behind-closed-doors decisions by party chiefs gets heeded.
Tags: Art Baer, Board of Supervisors, Greg Fingar, Ockawamick School, Roy Brown
The Ockawamick School in Philmont was bought by Columbia County in 2008 for eventual renovation as a county facility. Nothing, the Register Star reports today, has happened for the past year, with nothing also predicted for the coming 2011 year. Photo from Register-Star.
Purchased by the county for $1.5 million in 2008, the 77,000 square foot building has remained mostly vacant since then. Copy paper and other tools of county government are stored there, and the county’s facilities workshop is located there. County cars and Medicaid transport vehicles are parked in the parking lot. If the old school, once earmarked for the county Department of Social Services, didn’t see any action this year, there’s even less hope for 2011. The county’s adopted 2011 budget cuts Ockawamick completely out of its capital projects list — a decrease of $1.6 million, county controller Ronald Caponera confirmed Monday. That leaves zero funding earmarked for any potential renovation of the building.
Tags: Art Baer, Columbia County DSS. Social Services, Ockawamick School, Wal-Mart
Art Baer, the Columbia County Budget Officer and Hillsdale Supervisor who was singled out by party chiefs for the county’s GOP, Conservatives and Independence Party in a major public snit of late, has responded to those asking for his removal in a very public letter printed in local newspapers this week, including the Register Star. In it, he lambastes political officers for trying all they can to move the public world of government, an elected entity.
Tags: Art Baer, Board of Supervisors, Columbia County Conservative Party, Columbia County Independence Party, County County Republicans, Fingar, removal
The Ockawamick School in Philmont, bought by Columbia County for several potential uses, is currently being used for storage. Click on image for a previous Register-Star story on its fate.
Fingar and Miller said the letter, and the sentiment conveyed in it, originated first during the county’s 2008 decision to purchase the Ockawamick School on Route 217 in Philmont and then during the 2009 general election, when supervisors who had been openly supportive of Baer and his policies lost their respective elections.
Baer, who said he was not aware the letter was being drafted, responded after most of the text of the letter was read to him over the phone. He called it “ridiculous.”
“These are the people that want to go back to the good old days, the three men in a room type of government that existed up until a couple of years ago,” he added.
The county purchased the 77,000 square foot Ockawamick School building in October 2008 for $1.5 million for use as possible county offices and, at one time, a potential site for its social services department, since abandoned following public outcry. The building, unheated, is currently being use for storage of county records, old voting machines, and other governmental detritus.
Tags: Art Baer, Board of Supervisors, DSS, Greg Fingar, Ockawamick School, removal, Wal-Mart
CLC gets grant for trail linking Copake and Hillsdale
The Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC), in conjunction with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association (HVRTA), are getting a $121,965 grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to fund preliminary designs and final construction plans for a five-mile addition to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail from the current terminus in Copake Falls into the hamlet of Hillsdale, according to a CLC press release. The project will link Taconic State Park in Copake Falls, the Roeliff Jansen State Park, The Roeliff Jansen Community Library, the Hamlet of Hillsdale, the Hillsdale Community Wetland, and the Rheinstrom Hill Audubon Sanctuary on a trail corridor already owned by New York State. “Extending the trail would bring enormous economic, recreational and development opportunities to Hillsdale,” says Art Baer, Hillsdale Town Supervisor. “It is an important first step in the implementation of our recently completed Hamlet Design and Development Plan.” Named after the Harlem Line from New York City to the Village of Chatham on the New York Central Rail Road, the trains stopped running in 1976 and the tracks were removed, leaving a 46-mile corridor ideally suited for a rails-to-trails project. In 1989, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (NYS Parks) purchased 20.38 miles of the right-of-way in southern Columbia County and northern Dutchess County.
Voters pass bus proposition, elect Hafensteiner
Hilary Hawke in The Ravena News-Herald reports Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk voters passed by 82 votes a reworked bus proposition that previously failed in a May vote, and elected Sarah Hafensteiner to fill the Board of Education seat vacated when Rosemary Puckett resigned over the summer. Hafensteiner won by four votes over Rodney Krzykowski, 230 to 226, with Judith Sylvester (192) and Darcy Micelli (179), following. The bus proposal was $100,000 and one bus less that voters shot down in May.
Hannaford to open supermarket in New Lebanon
From The Business Review:
Hannaford supermarket chain signed a lease with the owner of the Valley Plaza Shopping Center in the Columbia County town. The full-service supermarket and pharmacy will be built on the site of the Capital District Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., next to the Route 20 plaza that contains the former New Lebanon Supermarket. OTB will move into the former New Lebanon Supermarket.
This weekend
Deer hunting season opens Nov. 20.
The Estate of Dominick Dunne at Auction Nov. 20 at Stair Auctioneers and Appraisers, Hudson.
Birthdays
Nov. 19 birthdays include Jeane Kirkpatrick, Allison Janney, and Jodie Foster.
Tags: Art Baer, development, environment, hunting
Marc Molinaro at Space360 in Hudson April 21, 2010.
Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo today announced that Assemblyman Marc Molinaro (R,C,I-Red Hook), who represents Columbia County, was named to a transition team to recruit, review, and recommend candidates for key positions in the next administration, according to Molinaro’s staff. Molinaro will serve on the State and Local Government Reform Committee of the transition team. “The magnitude of the challenges confronting our state may be immense, but so are the opportunities before us to implement meaningful, long-lasting policies to improve the quality of life and quality of government in New York,” Molinaro said in a statement. “I am honored to serve with so many distinguished individuals committed to improving New York.”
Cement plant announces more layoffs
Doron Tyler Antrim in The Daily Mail reports Catskill cement producer Holcim will “temporarily” cut 70 hourly positions effective in January. “In May 2009, 35 workers were temporarily laid off. Two months earlier 26 positions were eliminated,” Antrim reported.
Loaf opens SaturdayThe Lick ice cream parlor on Warren St. closes each winter, and now the space is being used and the Lick logo changed just slightly into Loaf, a bakery. The 253 Warren St. location opens this Saturday, Nov. 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is taking orders for Thanksgiving pies at loafhudson@gmail.com.
Healthcare Consortium receives FCH grant
The Healthcare Consortium was awarded a $20,000 transportation grant from the Foundation for Community Health in Sharon, CT to provide transportation for residents of Ancram and Copake to and from health-related appointments in 2011.
Meetings tonight
In Kinderhook, John Mason in the Register-Star reports that Kinderhook residents are invited to an upstairs in Village Hall “Public Information Meeting” on the reconstruction of Hudson Street and Albany Avenue at 7 p.m. tonight. “The proposed reconstruction will extend on Hudson Street for about 600 feet from Sylvester Street to the traffic light at Route 9 and on Albany Avenue for about 1,600 feet from Route 9 to Sunset Avenue,” Mason reports.
In Craryville, the Taconic Hills school board says it will vote on a replacement for John Mastropolo, who resigned in September, at a meeting tonight at Taconic Hills High School in the board room. The board has been holding all proceedings around the seat, which is usually elected by voters, in secret, held in executive session. The board is choosing between Christine Perry, Sally Williamson, and Joan Spencer. This meeting is also at 7 p.m., and note the meeting’s agenda says the board will first vote on the replacement seat, and then the public gets a chance to comment, not before for a seat the public usually chooses at the polls. In a story about this issue, Mason in the Register-Star writes, “According to Robert Freeman of the state Committee on Open Government, the only court decision dealing with how school boards may select new members found that such decisions should be made in open, not closed, session.”
Voting to raise your taxes and fees
Doron Tyler Antrim reports in The Daily Mail that the entire Greenville town board voted to raise building permit fees $6000. The board is made up of Supervisor Paul Macko, Diane Fallon, Ken Stern, Richard Bear, and Louis Kraker.
Birthdays
Nov. 17 is the birthday of Martin Scorsese, John Boehner, and Kimya Dawson.
Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Art Baer, business, Holcim, Marc Molinaro, Robin Andrews, Roy Brown, schools, town meetings
Franceseca Olsen in the Register-Star reports that Columbia County Board of Supervisors’ Space Utilization Subcommittee, which is trying to find a location for Department of Social Services within 60 to 90 days, meets today at 4:15 p.m. at 325 Columbia St., Hudson. Olsen reports that at a Columbia Economic Development Corporation meeting this week, BOS Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown, and Supervisor (and county budget/corporate compliance officer) Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, “vocally opposed the CEDC’s plan to use $14,000 to fund a study of the economic impact on moving DSS out of Hudson.” The CEDC will pay Camion and Associates from New York City, “for the purpose of conducting a study on the economic impacts derived from the location of … DSS.” Read the entire story in the Register-Star.
UPDATE: Register-Star’s Olsen attended meeting and says, “the Board of Supervisors’ Space Utilization Subcommittee Thursday evening… voted unanimously to, ‘limit site selection to only within the city of Hudson without documenting the need for DSS to remain within the city limits.’”
Tags: Art Baer, Board of Supervisors, Col. Cty. DSS, Roy Brown, town meetings
The Register-Star reports that the Columbia County Board of Supervisors voted for a two percent pay raise for county employees Wednesday night. Supervisors voting “yes” on the pay raise were: Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown; Jeffrey Braley, R-Austerlitz; Reggie Crowley, R-Copake; Deputy Chairman Larry Andrews, R-Ghent; Art Baer, R-Hillsdale; Ed Cross, D-Hudson2; William Hallenbeck Jr., R-Hudson3; Deputy Chairman Bart Delaney, R-Hudson5; Pat Grattan, R-Kinderhook; Kevin McDonald, R-Livingston; Leo Pulcher, R-Stockport; and Valerie Bertram, R-Stuyvesant. Voting against: Art Bassin, D-Ancram; Robin Andrews, D-Claverack; Ray Staats, D-Clermont; Minority Leader Jesse DeGroodt, D-Chatham; Lynda Scheer, R-Gallatin; Ed Nabozny, I-Greenport; John Musall, D-Hudson1; William Hughes, D-Hudson4; and Margaret Robertson, D-New Lebanon.
Tags: Art Baer, Ed Cross, Ed Nabozny, Lynda Scheer, Pat Grattan, Reggie Crowley, Robin Andrews
After months of protests, accusations, anonymous internet slander, and controversy, Columbia County’s Board of Supervisors chairman Art Baer held a love-in press conference last July announcing the county was bidding on One City Centre, on the corner of Green and State streets in Hudson, to use the building for county office space and make room at two other county office buildings (401 and 610 State St.) for the Department of Social Services, allowing DSS to remain in Hudson after the county’s lease on DSS’s home at 25 Railroad Ave. ends in 2011. Now we are back where we started, as the county’s bid of $2.6 million was significantly lower than three other bids. “I guess the question of what happens with DSS goes back to the (county space utilization) subcommittee for further review and research,” new BOS Chairman Roy Brown (Germantown) told The Daily Mail today. Which means several supervisors will be trying to move DSS to the Ockawamick property several miles outside Hudson, which caused all the initial controversy. Brown recently would not rule out such a move in an interview with The Register-Star.
Tags: Art Baer, Col. Cty. DSS, Roy Brown
Proposal leaves DSS in Hudson
From The Register-Star
HUDSON – Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer (R-Hillsdale) and Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera stood together at a press conference Tuesday and announced a new proposal that would keep the Department of Social Services in Hudson. The county would buy the One City Centre building on the corner of State and Green streets in Hudson; departments currently in the County Office Buildings at 401 and 610 State Street would move to City Centre. The total square footage of 401 and 610 State Street is 36,000 square feet, 24,000 at 401 and 12,000 at 610 State Street. DSS would stay in its current building on Railroad Avenue for the duration of its lease, which ends in 2011; and then move to One City Centre. Baer called the proposal “a great solution for a difficult problem” and said “I’m looking forward to implementing it.” “The logistics of the planning — there’s a lot to discuss,” said Scalera. “The commitment to keep DSS in the city of Hudson is what we’ve been working for.” Baer previously opposed such a plan, but switched positions because of falling real estate values. The Register-Star says One City Centre was going for $5 million last year, but now is selling for $2 million. “This is not a done deal,” Baer said. “We are only in discussion with the bank. There are still many pieces that have to be put together in the puzzle.”
Copake Green project set to sprout again
From CCScoop
COPAKE – Large developers bring big projects to small towns in this area, and often get special treatment. Like in Copake last week, where Housing Resources Executive Director Kevin O’Neill got to re-introduce his 139-unit Copake Green project to a Copake Planning Board meeting even though he was not on the agenda. From the CCscoop story:
“Although O’Neill did not request to be put on the agenda ten days in advance of the meeting — the Planning Board requirement — [Planning Board Chairman Marcia] Becker explained that, because there was a light agenda in July and because Housing Resources owns land in the town, she believed allowing O’Neill to make his twenty-minute presentation was the right thing to do.’It caused an uproar that we let him speak. . . . So from now on we are adhering to the ten-day rule,’ Becker said.”
Medical center, bank storage get green light
From The Daily Mail
CATSKILL – The Catskill Planning Board approved site plans for the 3,000 square-foot Urgent Care facility proposed for Grandview Avenue and for a Bank of Greene County storage facility on Windsor Street after hearing brief presentations on each proposal. The medical facility used Architect Josh Pulver, a relative of planning board member Michelle Pulver. She recused herself when it came to the vote, but as an anonymous reader commented on the story, “Nothing assures the approval of a project better than hiring the relative of a judge and town planner as your architect, and paying him astronomical fees.”
Copake opts for outside budget review
From The Columbia Paper
COPAKE–The Copake Town Board hired a second accountant to make sure the first accountant’s figures of a estimated $175,000 budget shortfall are correct. “We all agree that our first course of action should be an independent audit to verify the numbers or find out if they are not correct. We have to know where we are,” Town Supervisor Reggie Crowley told the audience at the Town Board’s regular monthly meeting July 9.
Court Sides With GOP On Ravitch, Paterson Vows To Appeal
From The Daily News’ The Daily Politics
ALBANY – State Supreme Court Justice William R. LaMarca granted the Republican Party’s motion for a preliminary injunction that prevents just-appointed Lt. Govenor Richard Ravitch from “exercising any of the powers” of the LG’s office, pending a final judgment, noting there is no provision in the Constitution that allows the governor to appoint a replacement LG when a vacancy occurs in that office.
Tags: Art Baer, business, Col. Cty. DSS, development, Rick Scalera
New Department of Social Services proposal?
From The Register-Star
“There will be a press conference at 4:30 p.m. today in the Supervisors’ Chambers at the county office building on 401 State St., Hudson, on the future placement of the county Department of Social Services. Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, the Board of Supervisors, the Hudson Common Council, and Mayor Richard Scalera will discuss the future of a new home for the DSS staff and facilities.”
Nonprofit’s report cites lack of slaughterhouses in New York
From The Register-Star
Andrew Amelinckx writes an excellent story based on a report by Washington D.C. based consumer watchdog group Food and Water Watch that finds not enough slaughterhouses in New York state and blames federal policies that, it says, favors larger operations. There are two USDA certified slaughterhouses in Columbia County, Van Wie in Stockport and Hilltown Pork, Inc. Robert Beckwith of Hilltown Pork says he is backed up with animals until 2010. “People want to know where their meat is coming from,” he said. “There aren’t enough USDA facilities to meet the demand.”
Murphy plans steps to help dairy farmers
From The Columbia Paper
With milk prices falling to 1979 levels and New York dairy farmers expected to lose $650 million this year, new U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy plans to introduce legislation to help. The proposed legislation would further subsidize dairy farmers, and create a herd retirement program meant to curtail supply. “This proposal works two-fold, by providing immediate relief to our struggling dairy farmers today, and stabilizing the dairy industry for tomorrow. Before more small farmers are forced out of business, we need to bring fast relief and stability to the industry.”
Lates poll: Maloney 33% Gillibrand 27%
From Rasmussen Reports
In a very early poll, New York City congresswoman Carolyn Maloney leads appointed Senator Kristen Gillibrand with 33 percent of the vote to 27 percent and nine percent preferring some other candidate. Thirty percent are undecided.
Tags: agriculture, Art Baer, Col. Cty. DSS, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rick Scalera, Scott Murphy
The local and statewide deadlocks took tiny steps toward resolution Wednesday. The Register-Star reports that Supervisor Doug McGivney, D-Kinderhook, introduced a resolution at the last minute at the Columbia County Board of Supervisors Full Board meeting Wednesday that the Board of Supervisors will “endorse the concept of exploring the obtaining and retention of the services of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) for the purposes of review, study and recommendations concerning all aspects of building or capital needs of Columbia County.” It passed unanimously. But don’t think this means the kerfuffle between Columbia County Supervisor Art Baer (R-Hillsdale) and the city of Hudson, largely over where the Department of Social Services ends up, is over. “That’s one of the areas I think they would provide us potentially with some assistance,” he said. “I think we’re going to expose them to the process that the Board went through, let them take a look at the data, and if they can come up with some other option, then we’re certainly going to listen to it….At the same time, we’re not going to pull the emergency brake and stop all our actions with respect to engineering and design with respect to Ockawamick,” said Baer. “How could you invite people in to study something while you are moving forward? I don’t think that’s acceptable to this problem,” Linda Mussmann of the Bottom Line Party and TSL said. “The reality is we need a plan that’s going to work. That, I think, finally, everybody has understood.”… New York Govenor David Paterson appointed Richard Ravitch to fill the vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor, according to Capitol Confidential. Ravitch is a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. There will clearly be legal challengers to whether the Governor is allowed to appoint a lietenant governor, as potential Governor candidate Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has already announced the move is illegal. Columbia County Assemblyman Marcus J. Molinaro (R,C,I-Red Hook) wasted no time calling the move unconstitutional, and said, “Ravitch…masterminded the $2.3 billion MTA bailout plan that include[d] a devastating payroll tax which disproportionately hurts Hudson Valley businesses, school districts, municipalities and not-for-profits.”… The Town of Athens implemented a resolution to add a $150 fee to all 50-foot non-commercial wind turbines, according to The Daily Mail…. The Times Union gives Hudson’s Baba Louie’s a “pretty serious rave.”… The Times Union terminated 15 full-time and three part-time employees, including 11 full-time employees in the newsroom, according to the paper. Among the employees let go were Monica Bartoszek, a senior editor and the newspaper’s reader representative; Alan Wechsler, author of a regular column about the outdoors; Bill Callen, sports editor; and Marlene Kennedy, business editor and a weekly columnist. The Newspaper Guild said, “the Company’s actions come while the parties are supposed to be negotiating layoff criteria, talks that resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Last week, the Guild filed two information requests over the proposed criteria, which the newspaper has yet to answer.”
Tags: Art Baer, Linda Mussmann, Marc Molinaro
Register-Star reporter Jamie Larson claims Columbia County Board of Supervisor Chairman Art Baer, “asked the Register-Star to get [Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera] to sit down with him today to reopen the discussion about [using the] Charles Williams [School] or other sites as possibilities.” The story begins with the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce holding an emergency economic forum Thursday at Hudson’s Stageworks Theater. Larson gets Baer on the phone to comment on all the outrage from the Hudson business community about his plan to move the homeless into the city’s St. Charles Hotel. “Baer said St. Charles wouldn’t be on the table if Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera hadn’t ‘stiff-armed’ talks two years ago to use the old Charles Williams School as a homeless shelter,” the story says. Scalera, reached by the reporter, agrees to meet Baer anytime. Scalera says talks to use the Charles Williams School for the homeless broke down when Baer began pushing for the Department of Social Services to move out of Hudson to the Ockawamick school in Claverack. Baer then calls this typical political dealing “blackmail,” clearly raising an even bigger fight instead of trying to solve an issue. Linda Mussmann from TSL and the Bottom Line Party says Baer’s actions are, “the dismantling of Hudson as the county seat.”… Baer also visited Washington D.C., according to the Register-Star, to lobby New York representatives for federal stimulus funding for $4 million in improvements to the museum and visitor center at the Olana State Historic Site; $3 million for an emergency communications system; $9 million for the Greenport water and sewer system; $200,000 to study a countywide broadband initiative; and $1 million to extend wastewater and sewer systems to Hudson Park on Route 23 in Livingston…. U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy put in a $15 million federal funding request on behalf of the Greene County Industrial Development Agency for “transportation infrastructure improvements to State Route 9W” and an “expansion of Exit 21B/New York State Thruway, a flyover Bridge connecting 9W, and an internal public road system connecting the flyover bridge and Kalkberg Commerce Park,” according to the Daily Mail…. The Kinderhook Republicans endorsed Patrick Grattan as town supervisor, Patsy Leader and Glenn Smith for seats on the Town Board, and Lisa Mills for town justice and cross-endorsed Democrat incumbent Highway Superintendent John Ruchel Jr. for a second term in office, according to the Register-Star….While the New York State Senate Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on anything else to start working, they can agree to keep taking your money. From the Albany Times-Union’s Capitol Confidential blog, Marissa Shorenstein, spokeswoman to Gov. David Paterson is quoted:
“The Governor’s office earlier today looked into the question of whether or not members of the Senate are eligible to receive their salaries with no presiding officer agreed upon to authorize payment. It turns out that both conferences have come together and signed appropriate documentation to continue receiving their salaries. So there is a power sharing agreement — but it only includes getting paid. If the leadership of the Senate can agree on a way to keep getting paid, they can reach an agreement to get back to work for the people of New York.”
LIVE TONIGHT:
Multimedia work by Fawn Potash and Pat Horner at Oriole 9, 17 Tinker Street, Woodstock, 5-7 p.m.
Tags: Art Baer, Linda Mussmann, Pat Grattan, Rick Scalera
While Hudson city officials and activist continue to fight to keep the Department of Social Services in the city, Board of Supervisors chairman Art Baer has a new plan to move the main DSS offices to Ockawamick, The Register-Star reports. Yesterday the Board of Supervisors’ Human Services Committee approved a plan to put homeless housing and a satellite DSS office in the 139-year-old St. Charles Hotel on 16 Park Place. The arrangement could save the county $400,000 a year, Social Services Commissioner Paul Mossman said. In the Register-Star, Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera criticized the county for “deliberating and negotiating over something that’s going to take place in the city without including city officials. It isn’t done anywhere.”…The Daily Mail reports that Catskill town planners approved an “Concept Site Plan” for urgent care center medical facility, Urgent Medical Care, for 10 Grandview Ave. A public hearing for the Site Plan is set for 7 p.m. July 6….The unmuffled blog reports that Hudson City schools New York State Education Department test scores dropped in 2006-07 and 2007-08:
According to the recently released data, mean scores increased modestly for students in grades three through six, while scores for seventh and eighth grades increased by 10 and 18 points, respectively (see below). [Students are graded on a scale from the 400's to the upper 700's; 650 is the cut-off between Level 2 and Level 3 (meeting the learning the standards).]
Republicans press for judicial ruling
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=810313&category=REGION
ALBANY – The battle for the state Senate entered a new phase Monday after Sen. Hiram Monserrate officially returned to the Democratic fold, leaving the chamber deadlocked, 31-31, with less than one week left in the scheduled legislative session. After a long day of back-and-forth at the Capitol and the state Supreme Court, both sides sat down to discuss the notion of power sharing — only to emerge less than a hour later with Republicans insisting that no progress could be made until a judge had decided whether last week’s dramatic coup on the Senate floor had been legal and binding. “I have always been clear about my loyalty to the Democratic party,” Monserrate said at a midday news conference, where he was joined by Senate Democrats. It came a week after he joined breakaway Democrat Pedro Espada Jr. and the 30-member Republican conference in a shocking coup that ousted the Democrats from their brief majority. Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith began the news conference by introducing Brooklyn’s John Sampson as the new “conference leader” who will run its day-to-day operations. While Smith will retain his current title, Sampson is widely acknowledged as the new leader of the Senate Democrats.
TU employees reject company offer
http://albanyguild.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/tu-employees-reject-company-offer/
ALBANY – By a more than three-to-one margin, employees of the Times Union voted today to reject a contract offer that would have given the company the power to outsource any and all jobs and lay off employees regardless of how long they had worked at the newspaper. Publisher George Hearst had insisted on the vote and strongly encouraged members to participate. The members rejected the proposal by a vote of 125 to 35. “Had the membership approved the company’s proposal, we would have respected their decision and been bound by it,” said Guild President Tim O’Brien. “The publisher sought this vote, told members how important it was to him that they vote and he needs to respect their decision. Our members were quite clear on what they found unacceptable in the company’s offer and they have been telling us what changes would make it acceptable. We intend to seek new bargaining dates and to go forward with a renewed spirit of flexibility.”
Central Hudson cuts back, files austerity plan
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/June09/16/CH_aust-16Jun09.html
POUGHKEEPSIE – Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation Monday filed a mandated austerity plan with the New York State Public Service Commission. The agency in May ordered all utilities to present cost cutting plans. The plan outlines cost cuts proposed by Central Hudson through reduced capital expenditures and operating expenses that will provide savings to customers without causing immediate impacts to service, safety or reliability. Measures include temporarily postponing approximately $20 million, or 20 percent, of planned capital expenditures for the year to reduce the associated carrying charges; lowering research and development expenses by $350,000; and freezing executive base salaries.
LIVE TONIGHT:
Informational meeting about Task Force on Student Academic Performance 6 p.m. in the Hudson High School Library.
Tags: Art Baer, Rick Scalera
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