Experts from the New York State Association of Towns will lead two local workshops for newly elected local officials on December 4 in at the Boonville Municipal Building, 13149 NYS Route 12, and December 5 at the Lorraine Town Hall, 20876 County Route 189.  Each workshop will run from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and will include a question and answer period.

These free training opportunities are designed to help prepare newly elected officials for their new roles.  Topics to be covered will include conflicts of interest, code of ethics and boards of ethics, financial disclosure requirements, typical town offices and their roles, oath of office, and preparing for your first meeting.  Both sessions will cover the same information, so choose the location and date most convenient for you.

These workshops are sponsored by the NYS Tug Hill Commission and the region’s five councils of governments:  the Cooperative Tug Hill Council, Northern Oneida County Council of Governments, River Area Council of Governments, North Shore Council of Governments and Salmon Rivers Council of Governments.

To register, please contact the Tug Hill Commission at (315)785-2380, toll free in the Tug Hill Region 1(888)785-2380, or email gwen@tughill.org.  Please RSVP by December 2nd.

The Tug Hill Commission 2020-24 Strategic Plan was adopted by the commission board in October, and is available at https://www.tughill.org/strategic-plan/.

The new plan reaffirms the commission mission, approach and core competencies, and emphasizes the importance of circuit riders especially in the light of recent Council of Government growth.  Looking forward, the commission will spend more time on economic development, regional analysis, and marketing Tug Hill.  Training and skill development will continue to be a high priority, and the importance of partnerships and leveraging outside sources of funding is critical.

A lively, interactive presentation by Center for Community Studies researchers Joel LaLone, Larry Danforth and Andy Draper, on the attitudes and perceptions of Tug Hill residents and landowners, was the highlight of the commission’s annual meeting on November 7.  Approximately 60 people attended the gathering at Tug Hill Vineyards.

The “Family Feud” style delivery of survey results highlighted several major takeaways:

• Quality of Life in the Tug Hill Region – Continued satisfaction with the outdoor/environment/rural setting
• Local Economy – Improving employment opportunities
• Internet Access – Increased dissatisfaction
• Energy Development – Decreased support
• Recreational Development – Motorized supported less than non-motorized
• Economic Development – Desired tourism and recreation development
• Government – Desire for less regulation

The full survey results are available on the commission’s website at:  https://www.tughill.org/about/survey-2019/.

Historic Preservation for Rural Local Communities is now available on our website.

The 2019 NYS Legislative Session has ended, and while the long-standing minimum maintenance road legislation continued to be active, it was not passed by both houses.

The Senate bill, S2910 sponsored by Senator Griffo, was approved out of the Senate Transportation Committee with new chairman Senator Kennedy from Buffalo, and passed the Senate on June 13.  The companion Assembly bill, A3724 sponsored by Assemblywoman Gunther, was referred to the Assembly Transportation Committee with new chairman Assemblyman Magnarelli from Syracuse.  Although not reported out of committee, many meetings and discussions were held that improved communication and laid groundwork for next year’s legislative session.

During the break between sessions, commission staff will continue discussions with partners and look for opportunities to explore forward movement on the issue.

 

State Archives Grants Awarded

State Archives recently announced 2019-2020 Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) awards. The LGRMIF deadline was January 28^th.  The commission assisted with two of the three successful applications covering the Tug Hill region:

• The town of Leyden was awarded $15,236 for minor renovations to improve an inactive records storage room and to purchase fire proof filing cabinets for use in their historic town hall and highway department.
• Jefferson County Local Development Corporation, a first-time LGRMIF applicant, submitted a shared services application, with the JCIDA and JCCFDC, for $82,028 to remodel a portion of shared offices for an inactive records storage facility. The award also includes a consultant to assist with an inventory, reorganization and transfer of records to the new storage room.

Oswego County was also awarded for a document conversion and access project totaling $71,698. Congratulations to all awardees! For the full award list, information on LGRMIF, upcoming workshops and State Archives publications, please visit http://www.archives.nysed.gov/grants/grants_lgrmif.shtml

Remember it is never too early to begin planning for the next LGRMIF grant round! Our State Archives Regional Advisory Officer, Michael Martin, is available to assist you with your records management questions. He can be reached at  Michael.Martin@nysed.gov or 518-330-7987.

The 2019 Local Government Conference details are a click away.  Join us on March 28th at Jefferson Community College!