Clarifies PCD public hearing location for Kriemhild expansion grant
Lebanon town officials have asked the state Public Service Commission and the state Attorney General to launch an investigation into the phone and internet service problems that are chronic and recurrent in the township through Frontier Communications after a lengthy standing room only public meeting with Frontier representatives during its regular town board meeting on Sept. 12, 2016 in the hamlet.
Town board members voted unanimously after that discussion to move to Time Warner Cable for the town office and highway department for phone and internet service, and to create a wifi hot spot for residents who suffer chronic phone and internet loss in the rural areas of the township.
Supervisor Jim Goldstein reported many complaints at the meeting from local residents about frequent outages for phone and internet service, poor internet speed, public safety concerns and wait time for phone restoration as long as 3 to 4 weeks. County officials attending the meeting included Emergency Management Response Coordinator Ted Halpin who addressed 911 and service concerns, and Deputy Board Chairman Dan Degear, DeRuyter Supervisor and Chair of the Government Operations Committee.
Degear will be introducing a resolution at the Board of Supervisors meeting in Wampsville on Oct. 11 calling for an investigation at the request of Madison County of Frontier by the PSC. Many south county supervisors have voiced significant concerns about Frontier service, outages and internet access in rural portions of their townships where landline phones and internet are the only means of communicating with 911 during emergencies where cell phone service is not available and vulnerable residents live.
Goldstein has reached out to the Attorney General as well as Assemblyman William Magee and Senator David Valesky to request an immediate investigation of Frontier’s service problems as well as its very dysfunctional call centers. Residents attending the meeting cited massive problems with the call centers and Goldstein was highly critical of the failure of Fronteir to provide a local call center that can provide information on outages, restoration time and response time in the same manner that NYSEG does for the public, elected officials and first responders.
Town board members also took the following actions at the meeting:
- set a public hearing date of Oct. 10 at the Smith Valley Community Center in Randallsville for its next town board meeting to take public comment on a proposed tax cap override local law due to anticipated increases in fire and ambulance costs that will exceed the tax cap.
- set a public hearing date of Oct. 10 at the Smith Valley Community Center in Randallsville for the proposed grant by the Partnership on Community Development to partner with Lebanon to allow Kriemhild Dairy to expand its butter plant operation on Rte. 12 B in the township by adding more jobs and capacity for production. Kriemhild makes several farm to market butter and related products from primarily grass fed sources and is looking to offer non-GMO products and expand its markets. Supervisor Goldstein said the proposed grant will initially increase the number of employees to four but could grow as large as 14 employees over time. Comments for or against the proposal will be heard by the Town Board and PCD.
- established budget workshop and public hearing dates for the tentative 2017 town budget of Oct. 24 and Nov. 10.
- Authorized the Town Supervisor to resolve road bond issues with Minard Run Oil Company who recently acquired Emkey Resources by ensuring compliance with the town road use law. Minard has stated no intentions to continue gas development in the township at this time.
Goldstein also recently submitted the tentative town budget for 2017 to the town board. The local tax levy for the town budget will be down nearly 3 percent but the increase in fire and ambulance contract areas, most notably Hamilton village fire and SOMAC ambulance, will increase from $143,325 to $162,587, will likely put the town over the very low tax cap number established by the state. The proposed budget is attached.
The proposed local tax levy of $353,078 will be down from the 2016 $362,072 or about a 2.4 percent reduction. The tax rate will drop from $4.677 per $1,000 to $4.547 per $1,000 or about 2.7 percent. The Office of the State Comptroller, however, includes the fire and ambulance budgets the town has no control over in its tax cap calculation, Goldstein said.