No mutual aid deal for Lumberland highways

David Hulse
Posted 8/21/12

GLEN SPEY, NY — Revisiting a thorny discussion from earlier this year, the Lumberland Town Board on August 13 considered a resolution to allow mutual aid agreements between various town highway …

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No mutual aid deal for Lumberland highways

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GLEN SPEY, NY — Revisiting a thorny discussion from earlier this year, the Lumberland Town Board on August 13 considered a resolution to allow mutual aid agreements between various town highway departments.

The issue remained thorny last week.

Basically, the agreement would allow for faster completion of highway paving jobs, which are usually the largest projects the towns undertake. They often require rental of private equipment, so time is of the essence.

In past, less litigious years, such mutual aid was done by unwritten agreement between highway superintendents, but concerns about accidents and insurance liability have stopped the informal arrangements.

In January, the board discussed the question. The problem came up in the summer of 2013, when Forestburgh balked on the old mutual assistance policy.

Supervisor Nadia Rajsz said that Supervisor Bill Sipos called her seeking an agreement that protected all the towns against any resulting litigation.

That led to the creation of proposals by the highway superintendents, the supervisors association and the various towns, none of which was acceptable to all.

Rajsz then proposed that the issue be given to the various attorneys for the towns to negotiate and that plan came back last week.

Rajsz said that Highland, Forestburgh, Rockland and a fourth town, which she could not recall, and were on board with the proposal.

The proposal would allow sharing of equipment and services on a job-by-job basis, each after review by the town board. Equipment and equipment operators would be the responsibility of the individual towns providing them.

Councilman James Akt opposed the proposal, saying that it was unlikely that equipment from the distant Town of Rockland would assist Lumberland.

Councilman Ron Thiele agreed, and questioned traveling to Rockland. “I don’t want to run half-way across the state,” he said.

Rajsz offered to pare the agreement to only include Highland and Forestburgh.

Akt said that a deal with Highland would only provide an excuse for the town to avoid buying a paving machine of its own. “Everything is cheaper if you do it yourself. We need our own paver,” he said.

“We don’t have one. For this year, we need to work with Highland and Forestburgh,” Rajsz replied.

“We can’t pave without a paver,” Councilwoman Jenny Mellan agreed.

A vote on the deal was a 2-2 tie, as Councilman Joe Carr joined Akt in opposition and Rajsz abstained. “I abstained to further the discussion,” she explained, “and now I’m fried. Put that down,” the exasperated supervisor said.

The board eventually agreed to table the matter until Hunt was available to assist.

Legislative redistricting

Rajsz restated her opposition to the manner in which the county legislature recently redrew its nine election districts, saying discussions took place in closed meetings and did not provide for adequate public input.

She recounted voicing her concerns to three members of the legislature, Chair Scott Samuelson, Cindy Gieger and Cora Edwards, who were attending the recent meeting of the supervisors association.

Rajsz said that, in their presence, she read a portion of the county charter describing the legislature’s mandate to be, “efficient, effective, accountable, inclusive, open, and environmentally and fiscally responsible.”

In reading, after each adjective, Rajsz said she added the phrase “which they are not.”

“I told them they are not in compliance and Scott [Samuelson] took offense,” Rajsz reported Wednesday evening.

She said the two-page charter is “loosey goosey… anything goes,” and is in need of revision.

“Scott told me he is in the process of assembling a revision commission and assured me that a resolution would be put through,” she said.

“I told him I wanted to be on that commission,” Rajsz said.

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