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Home My WebLink About2001-07 O NQwsIQttQr for IC E mployQes and Retirees of Tompkins County t 117) July, 2001 Volume 14 Number 7 — "What did you do this weekend ?" By Iretta Lllis, ITS You know, we spend about 8 hours of our waking day with our co- workers. Do you know the diversity of the things we all do on the weekends? I thought it would be nice to find out. So please send a note /article and a picture or two about what you do on the weekend. .. nt f i Sz 4 c S e ' 'cis '• Z` kt r" , qt f __, i 1 . ,, , . ."/^ /° ' ' :;.. .«r+° '" Kristie Sopp of Board of Elections and Iretta Ellis of ITS both spend their Saturday nights at Skyline Raceway in Blodgett Mills watching their significant other's go fast and turn left. Well on this particular weekend it was time for the women to drive the cars. Every year the track has a Powder Puff Race for each class. This is when the women who devote so much time to the sport get to play too. They raced at the end of the evening AFTER the men were done in case they broke the cars. Harry Uhl Jr., the owner of the 55, runs the Pure stock class and is currently in first place in points for his class. Don Ellis Jr., the driver of the 37D, runs the IMCA Modified class and is currently in 6th place in points for his class. Don also works for Tompkins County in the Weights and Measures department. Neither Kristie nor Iretta brought home the trophy but both of them had fun and they didn't break anything on the cars. And now that they have some time in the car, watch out for them next year!! So drop us a note about what you did last weekend!! � 4 v ' te, r . ® J REPORT If you like Harry t44 .0", Potter. ... What Next? FROM t.ry Submitted by Susanne Weitz TC Public Library THE COUNTY Since great fantasy literature has been around for centuries and much of it is right here at the ADMINISTRATOR Tompkins County Public Library, we've introduced a weekly read -aloud called, "If you like Harry Pot- By Stephen Whicher ter." Geared to children ages 6 -12, it happens ev- ery Monday from 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. in the Thaler/ Howell Room. Each week, we dip our toes into a In the face of all the gloomy news of budget reductions chapter or two of an irresistible fantasy novel. and restricted hiring I would like to relate a few successes. The first is the commendable effort Edward Eager's Half Magic series; Ursula LeGuin's departments have made in holding the line on new hires. Catwings, Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting; Philip In general, departments have managed to absorb vacant Pullman's The Golden Compass, E Nesbit's The positions while presenting very few appeals to hire new Enchanted Castle; Lloyd Alexander's The Book of staff. The result to date is that our last payroll was very Three; George McDonald's At the back of the North close to our January payroll despite the creation of Wind; C.S. Lewis' Narnia Cycle; the Madeleine numerous new positions in the 2001 budget. L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time books are just some of Congratulations to all, and many thanks, I know we have the samplings we offer in this program, which runs created hardships in some areas; you all have done an through the summer. Cool off from the heat in the admirable job facing the challenges. far North, where a spunky girl named Lyra is headed One department in particular should be mentioned for in The Golden Compass or in C.S. Lewis' Narnia, their outstanding effort. The Finance Department faced where it is always winter. the challenge of losing 10% of their workforce, no reduction in responsibilities, and no prospect for replacing the staff that left. Instead of bemoaning their fate, the department recognized their challenge as an Mondays, 4 -4:30 p.m. opportunity to examine their work processes. Their ALL SUMMER success will be seen in the near future as all departments are issued new guidelines for purchasing that both expand department flexibility and reduce required If ou Like Harry Potter....Fantas paperwork. y y y Literature for Adventurous Readers Another effort to note is the County Clerk's document management project. Combined efforts by the County Clerk's Office, Information Services and SDG (a Foster Parent Information vendor) will lead us rapidly into a world where paper is handled only once and from then on is processed Meetings electronically. This process will first he seen in the Submitted by Ellie Arnold, D55 Clerk's Office and will be linked to the Assessment Department. The end result will be faster processing of Where: Beverly E. Livesay Conference documents with simultaneous indexing and network Room, Human Services Building availability of the electronic image. As we will all soon see, this is a well- developed project with many positive When: August 9, 2001 lessons. September 13, 2001 These are just a few of the fine efforts that I have seen. Only space limits nie from mentioning many more. For Time Noon to 1 p.m. those omitted and those mentioned, congratulations on a - job well done and thanks for making a difference. 7 I .Planning and Highway Departments sponsor "Sand Castle Event" Submitted by Jennifer Miller. Planning Department June was National Fair Housing Month. In recognition of that fact, staff from the Planning Department (together with staff from Better Housing for Tompkins County) did some brainstorming as to how the housing programs being sponsored /supported by Tompkins County might be promoted. The old saying of "make your home your castle" kept coming to mind as an idea to pursue...and pursued it was, with the results being a "Sand Castle Event" held during the 2001 Ithaca Festival. Steve Whicher (County Administrator), Jim Hanson (Commissioner of Planning), and Ward Hungerford (former Highway Manager) endorsed the creative idea for promoting County - sponsored /supported programs. With their help, children attending this year's Ithaca Festival had the opportunity to create the castle of their dreams. On Friday, June 1, 2001, the County Highway Department delivered six tons of sand, along with 250 sandbags to the Presbyterian Church's parking lot (located behind the Old County Courthouse). It didn't take long before children began to arrive and create their own dream castles. No building permits were required, rather the only regulations observed pertained to rules of the sand pile...the sharing of fun was a "yes ", and the throwing of sand was a "no ". At the end of the event on Saturday, June 2, 2001, sand was given away and history was made. Well, maybe history wasn't made but a few dream castles were! 5o kudos to the staff of the County Planning and Highway Departments...they helped to create a lot of smiles during this year's Ithaca Festival. % ' i `fie 3 .. . iT, a x .M is .4 ; 'i .3 \..1. z o , � ' I 6 ✓ t yt } ,, � a = t a r a ' rr,'°` , ° . " r s a , ti.° . a �, — s - ry 5s 66 - - ?S : 0 , s ' ay , }e Joan Jurkowich, Deputy Planning Commissioner (back left); and Lots of Smiles! Jennifer Miller, Community Development Planner (back center) help with the bagging of sand. 3 CLASSIFIEDS "Classic Optical" Offers Discounts to County Employees Submitted by Jackie Yoder, Benefits Manager For Sale: If you are in the market for eye care services you For sale: 1997 Kawasaki 1100 Jet Ski and trailer, 3 may want to consider Classic Optical located at 106 seater, only 119 hours, red, black and white. Like new Dryden Road, Ithaca, NY — telephone 607 - 273 -1234. condition. Call 589 -6494. Classic Optical is offering a money saving discount program for all County employees and their FREE Kittens. Call (315)497 -1363. immediate family. A 20 percent discount will be made on all services except repairs or items already reduced or For sale: 1996 Toyota Tacoma; 2 -wheel drive, ext. on sale. Cab, cap, $6,500. Call 844 - 3517. To qualify for discounted vision services simply present identification showing you are a County employee. Services: CLASSIFIEDS Classified ads up to 25 words in length are free to County Tioga Technical - Don't kill your computer! Let me employees, retirees and their immediate families. Ads may help with troubleshooting, training, upgrades - whatever be for any purpose, however personal ads will not be it takes to get you and your computer working together accepted. No County addresses or telephone numbers again. Call James Keegan at 273 -7957 evenings or may be listed in your ad, however, we do need your full weekends. name and County telephone number submitted with the Tynyk Originals is proud to announce that selected ad in case there are questions. Submit your ad to County items are now available at Contented Country Gifts Corridors c/o Michelle Pottorff, Board of Representatives, located at 297 Jersey Hill Road, Danby; one of the most Courthouse, Ithaca, NY 14850 via US or interdepartmental unique shops in the area! Custom gifts and home decor mail or e-mail to: mpottorff @tompkins - co.org items are still available by calling 564 -9244 evenings or NOTE: weekends. If I can't make it, you don't need it!! If you would like to modify your classified or want to Tense? Stressed? Achy? Therapeutic Massage can put run it again, you must re- submit it! relaxation and comfort back into your life. For an appointment or information call Richard Reed at 753- DEADLINE: 1 TUESDAY OF THE MONTH 6383. Articles to be considered for the August 23r issue must be received by noon on Tuesday, August 7 Kinetic Performance — specializing in Motorsports Submit articles via e-mail as an attachment or on disk engines, carburetion and general racing fabrication. Call in any file format that is readable by Word for Dayton Umholtz at 277 -6442 evenings or weekends. Windows '95. Send disk and hard copy to County Corridors c/o Michelle Pottorff, Board of French Tutor — Call Sarah at 257 -3047. Please leave a Representatives, Courthouse, Ithaca, NY 14850. message. Please include a contact number in case questions arise. Bulletin Board: COUNTY CORRIDORS Articles and opinion pieces for County Corridors are selected by the Editorial Board based on their interest to Tompkins County 2001 Employee Golf Tournament. employees and retirees. They do not necessarily express the Circle your calendar for the 7''' Annual Tompkins Employee opinions of the Editorial Board. Material is solicited from current Golf Tournament. Friday - September 7, 2001; Trumansburg employees, retirees and others. The Editorial Board reserves the Golf Course. right to edit submissions, except in the instance of copyright materials. EDITORIAL BOARD Tompkins County Employee Michelle Pottorff (Editor) Board of Representatives Iretta Ellis (Chair) Information Technology Services Sponsored Blood Drive. Biggs A, July 31', Bill Chopp Department of Social Services 9 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and Human Services Building, Sharon Cooper Sheriff's Office August 10 9 a.m. — 3 p.m. Liz Croop Department of Mental Health Katy Prince Health Department Vickie Wagner (Artist) Department of Assessment Donna Deputron (Distribution Coordinator) Bldgs. & Grnds 4