HomeMy WebLinkAboutTCCOG Monthly Report August 14 2024Monthly Report
Tompkins County Council of Governments
for August 14, 2024
by Councilperson Robert Lynch
Enfield TCCOG Representative
The Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) met on July 25th. This was a meeting dominated
by one extended presentation and two additional discussion items deserving mention here:
Laserfiche: To allay some municipal fears, including here in Enfield, Tompkins County Clerk Maureen
Reynolds made clear that no plans exist to terminate the County-supported Laserfiche data storage
service as had been rumored at a countywide meeting of Town Supervisors earlier this year.
“Laserfiche is my child,” Reynolds said, who mentioned she inaugurated the service here back in 2009.
“Laserfiche is a great software. They’re growing into the future…. Laserfiche is staying.”
Norma Jayne, Deputy County Administrator, said that rumors of Laserfiche’s impending discontinuation
might have grown from concerns by some at County IT about the need to expand the size of the
County’s server to both handle more of the County’s own data and to address cybersecurity issues.
“Abandoning was never our intent,” Jayne said. Rather there were questions about the server: “the size
of the server… how much can it take?” She urged municipalities to consider removal of outdated
material (“old data”) not necessary to municipal operations.
As for teaching Laserfiche to perform new tasks, Reynolds admitted she has no one on her staff to do
programming. County Information Technology might be able to help. Relying upon an outside vendor
would cost money. Reynolds said if municipal clerks have questions or requests, they should contact
her.
Danby Supervisor Joel Gagnon questioned the searchability within Laserfiche. Reynolds saw that as no
problem. And the County Clerk sees Laserfiche as a tool working toward an objective on her office’s
part. “I want to retire one day and say I helped Tompkins County get rid of paper,” Reynolds said.
Ulysses Supervisor Katelin Olson built upon Reynolds’ presentation, asking whether municipalities could
collaborate on a somewhat broader goal: going paperless on a municipal level.
“It’s all about making choices and figuring out options, and figuring out what’s best for each of us,”
Olson said. She focused on building permitting, a task that Laserfiche cannot currently perform well.
Olson suggested it would be better for municipalities to collaborate toward a solution than go it alone.
Culvert Data Management and Stormwater Financial Planning: Michelle Wright, Ulysses Second Deputy
Town Supervisor, and Angel Hinickle, of Tompkins County Soil and Water spent 40 minutes giving TCCOG
a detailed presentation and answering questions on a topic which might seem dry and overly-specific at
first, but which actually provided insight into how municipalities can best manage the many culverts
they must maintain under their roads.
“I could talk about culverts all day long,” Wright told TCCOG. “I don’t know why I’m so interested in
them, but it turns out that I love talking about them.”
TCCOG Monthly Report for August 14, 2024
Wright’s and Hinickle’s central recommendation was that Tompkins County, its combined municipalities,
and the wider region should look to what eight counties on the Southern Tier West Regional Planning
and Development Board have done. Southern Tier West has collaborated and collectively subscribed to
a Geographic Information System (GIS) program and hired a GIS staff person for problem-solving and
technical support. Tompkins County is within a different region. Wright urged we collaborate similarly.
As for what needs be done in the interim, Wright urged municipalities take time to inventory the
culverts they have, a task more difficult than it sounds since some culverts are hidden from the
roadway. It helps, she said, to construct “a very simple asset data base.” And the GIS software can help.
Under New York’s definition, what may look like a “bridge” is actually a “culvert.” Its span makes the
difference. Hinickle said 20 feet is the distance when one becomes the other.
Wright urged towns establish a culvert replacement plan. A culvert may cost as much as a bridge to
replace, Wright warned. “Our tax base is not going to support culvert maintenance and replacement
that’s actually needed,” she said. Grant moneys are required. Principal sources are programs that lie
within the Department of Transportation (DOT) or Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
When replacing a culvert, Hinickle said the DEC standard usually demands a culvert that’s 1.25 times
“bank-full width,” bank-full being that point where a stream spills beyond its banks, based on a “two-
and-a-half-year storm event.” And DEC wants some stream material to cover the culvert’s base.
I brought up Enfield’s ongoing challenge with the Bostwick Road culvert, and the WQIP Water Quality
Improvement grant that was awarded last February, yet still cannot proceed for lack of contracting
paperwork. “You want to start your application well in advance of implementation,” Hinickle advised.
“You do the best you can.” To that, I responded, “But the bureaucracy frustrates us.”
Emergency Medical Response: Dryden Councilperson Dan Lamb brought to TCCOG’s attention yet
again, his frustration at Albany’s continued inaction on providing local first responders, primarily rural
ambulance services, financial support. TCCOG’s Emergency Planning and Preparedness Committee may
at a future meeting urge New York State to reconsider initiatives it’s so far ignored, even though the
current legislative session has now ended. It’s not the first time TCCOG has done this. A resolution
TCCOG passed a year or two ago never gained traction in Albany.
“What we have now is not sustainable,” Lamb told TCCOG. He said Dryden now spends $8 Million of its
tax levy on Town services, a major portion of it on Dryden Ambulance, a paid service which answers as
many as one-third of its calls from outside Dryden. And for those calls from which there is no transport
to a hospital—for example, if a person merely falls down—Lamb said there’s no third-party
compensation. Bangs Ambulance, a for-profit service, “they have a different mission,” he told TCCOG.
Moreover, Bangs “goes where the density is.” It also makes money on long-distance transports.
Lamb described Tompkins County’s Rapid Medical Response (RMR) as only a “Band-Aid.” And in Dryden,
where its ambulance answers all emergency calls, RMR since its start-up has visited the town only once.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Lynch
Councilperson
Enfield TCCOG Representative