Last Wednesday we visited the tony town of Clarence, where citizens and town board members had perhaps the most spirited downsizing discussion of this tour.
Two nights before, as I spoke in Marilla, I could see magnificent horses through the windows of their town hall. In Clarence, I could see majestic houses. And the posh digs in which Clarence town officials conduct the public’s business is quite something. If our most affluent town cannot summon the courage to change, I challenged the board, then how can we ask struggling municipalities to do so.
Town board members Joe Weiss and Pat Casilio led the debate, taking opposing sides. Joe saw merit in my proposal that every locality eliminate two elected positions, but Pat felt that other government levels should reform first.
As they exchanged views in front of a considerable number of residents, you could sense that everyone present understood the need for change. The only question is which town or village will be the next to join our cause.
It would be fitting, proper, and inspiring leadership if Clarence sets an example.
July 7, 2008 at 5:17 pm |
Mr. Gaughan,
Thank you for your efforts! I have followed your journey with interest.
“Others should reform first” seems to be a common argument. In arguing to merge the town and village in Orchard Park, I frequently hear excuses about how other governments are worse. There seems to be little interest in improvement as long as some low efficiency threshold has been met.
I recently wrote an article disputing such claims; which is available here: http://watchtheflows.googlepages.com/opmerger.pdf
If it can be of any help to you, feel free to use it.
November 25, 2008 at 9:21 pm |
Mr. Gaughan:
It seems to me that the first downsizing should be the elimination of the County legislature. The old Board of Supervisors would replace it, a Board comprised of the supervisors of each Town (and Village, for now) located within the County limits. The supervisors would be intimately familiar with the needs of their constituents, unlike the County legislators, who seem disconnected.
I remember researching the County laws in the 90’s and being surprised to find that our legislators made only about five new laws in the course of the entire year. I doubt it’s much different now. It seems that the majority of their time is spent in budget review. I’d rather have an accountant doing that.