MsKreed

I believe they can only appoint for an unexpired term....then a vote is required at the next election. 

I believe in 2021, our Town Clerk seat had no one running......so whoever got the most "write-ins" won.  The Council has/had attempted for several years to pass a resolution making it an appointed position.....but that is a mandatory referendum, and voters kept rejecting it (even though the board had to keep making "temporary" appointments - LOL). 

13 hours ago, Adam said:

what was the competition?

Source

4 hours ago, JustAGuy said:

The IDA is nothing but a public mafia operation at this juncture. The arena has always been a hilarious operation to me. Every politician associated with this place always got out at just the right time. Whether it be the two original kingpins Hughes and Iraci or Tom Santulli to even that clown Mike Krusen. He was better off losing the county executive race but had he wn they probably would have found a way to sweep this place under the rug. 

Valid comparison.....

There is a small handful of non-profit organizations seem to have enormous control over a lot of financial matters in the County.

And there is a good amount of “cross-over” with many of the same businesses and individuals having seats on those various (unelected) Boards of Directors (CCIDA, STEG, even the Chamber of Commerce, etc).

That's why there needs to be a full examination and accountability on the finances. 

It really isn’t a far stretch to believe some of these entities, given free rein, could have incentives to discourage growth and prosperity in some sectors.

While some of those business interests have changed over the years, there’s been a rumor floating since the 1950’s that a few such influential Boards and “community leaders” were instrumental in preventing Ford Motors from opening a plant in Elmira.....due to fears of potential competition that may force them to raise wages/benefits for their own workforces.  

Back to Square One should entail a full, transparent and publicly accessible audit and historical accounting of annual costs to taxpayers before the CCIDA makes any more decisions......and before any further funds are paid by the Legislature/Exec (including a hold on any currently approved ARP funds that have not been disbursed yet).

There have been a lot of costs over the years – some more widely publicized than others. Here are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

It was in the news in 1999 when the County Legislature forked over more than $1 million.

Later, the CCIDA purchased the building for $3.5 million (including $1M allocated from Casella grant contributions).

A large chunk of the County Room tax goes straight to the IDA for Arena operations every year ($103k for at least the past 10 years - so more than $1 million - and still counting).

The nearly $1 million ($375k + $500k) approved from the County ARP funds were a little less public and listed on Minutes/Agendas as “budget transfers” to the CCIDA.

None of the Arena owners have ever paid Property taxes (only sewer and special taxes, when they aren’t in arrears). This was even when it was assessed at a $17 million Market Value. That assessment has dropped dramatically over the years (to a low of $1.1 M in 2014, and now back “up” to $2.4M).  At the new “depreciated” values of $1-2M....the County, City and School taxes on comparably assessed commercial add up to something like $40-60,000 in lost tax revenue every year, for over two decades.

And I’d wager a guess that a full accounting would reveal a few more (hidden costs and expenses) that I’m not even aware have taken place year after year.

Read more at WENY News

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In an exclusive interview with WENY News, Steve Donner said he will turn the arena back over to the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency, after initially requesting a mediator. 

"In an agonizing series of days and weeks, we have come to the conclusion to not fight the termination from CCIDA, and surrender the building back to the county," Donner said. 

 

In last night's Elmira Mayoral Debate (Watch HERE), there were a lot of questions about Downtown Development and improvement. 

As the challenging candidate seemed unaware of many issues, I have to say the Incumbent seemed to be more of a handle on things. However, it sounded like the same answer for a lot of questions:  We inherited it 8 years ago, it's improving, and will continue to improve as we apply and receive more Grant Money. 

When asked about the recurring issues of homeless encampment and human waste in the City Garage.....Mayor Mandel assured viewers that this is only a “periodic” problem and feces generally gets cleaned up as soon as they find out about it.

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The candidates, Incumbent Mayor, Republican, Daniel Mandell, and his Democratic Party challenger, Jim Hassell have agreed to participate in a live, televised debate on May 24th. The debate will also be streamed live on MyTwinTiers.com. 18 News Anchor, Jackie Gillis will moderate the debate, which will be held at the WETM studio.

You can watch the debate live on WETM 18 News tonight starting at 7 PM, or stream it live in this story in the viewer above.

Viewers and digital users will be able to submit questions for the candidate on the 18 News Facebook page or by texting 607-606-6049. 18 News Reporter Nick Dubina will handle viewer questions. However, only questions pertaining to policy matters and legitimate campaign issues will be accepted.

 

Read More HERE

1 hour ago, Chris said:

other than they already own the rights and want to cash in again.

Disney doesn’t even own the rights to most of its "original" movies.

From the 1920s or 30s......Walt’s blueprint was to cash in on uncopyrighted old Classics, Fairy Tales & Folklore that were Public Domain. 

Snow White, Cinderella, Robin Hood, Hans Christian Andersen (Little Mermaid), Kipling (Jungle Book) 

Seems like Chemung County should look at its own Glass House if we're going to throw stones...

40 minutes ago, LocalSportsGuy said:

While Donner reeks of con artist, the problem here is that the county is also terrible. It's crap vs crap.

Absolutely!!

Donner may have seized the opportunity to con the CCIDA, but he didn't create the situation. The County (and City at the beginning) have refused to cut our losses and admit the Arena is a burden that needs to be abandoned as a publicly owned facility. 

I think that the last 20+ years of drama have possibly blurred perception of what “success” for the Arena is supposed to look like.  Simply offsetting a small portion of the taxpayers’ ongoing costs is a net loss – not a “successful” business venture.  

Admittedly, I’m not a live hockey fan or player or parent of a hockey kid......I don’t even have an understating of the various leagues like ECHL or FPHL, etc (other than NHL is the “big” one). But I will totally accept the word of hockey fans who say that, at some point, First Arena was filling seats at hockey games.

The (several) million-dollar question is whether just hockey will pay the bills.  From the start, it was assumed that was not the case, and the Arena would need to be a multi-use venue that drew crowds for events in addition to hockey.  In 1999 when the City and County first “invested” in the place......it was touted as a “Civic Center” that would host all kinds of events for broad audiences year round.

The original owners almost immediately defaulted on bills and were several years in arrears for property taxes before the County took ownership (and removed it from tax rolls). To date, no operator has ever been able to draw enough revenue to maintain the facility and cover operating expenses.....let alone pay City, County and School taxes. 

In fact, other than the original Afr promises (that quickly proved false), has anyone ever even offered to try to operate the Arena as a fully self-sustaining business that can pay for operations, staffing, maintenance and taxes from its own sales?

17 minutes ago, Kevin said:

Prince Andrew did that to get rid of another party that didn't endorse him, but his primary challenger. 

Yeah, both parties have been steadily losing support as their “bases” (aka fanatics) push the extremes.

This trend threatens their stronghold on power and it scares them:

FUAC and his Albany majority took the opportunity to squash the moderate middle voters who now outnumber the “major parties”.....and Heaven forbid they recognize that the problem is that they keep catering to the loony-toons extremes and just go back to being moderate as a party. 🙄

23 minutes ago, Adam said:

on one hand i say. he at least threw her hat in the ring.

on the other hand, her actions have done more damage to encouraging more than the two party charade we are currently stuck with. she has fed the stereotype of the "the rent is too damn high", ross perot etc. hard to take any "party" seriously when such characters ala extreme come crawling out of the woodwork

Quoted for truth. 

20 minutes ago, Kevin said:

She basically said she ran to show how much of a joke local politics and politicians are. She also said she is an anarchist and the state party didn't like that. 

TBH She sounds like a nut job. 

Agreed, running a farce campaign to mock the system, while calling yourself Libertarian is a disservice to the Libertarian Party.....particularly when they are fighting to be recognized again in NYS, after the State Board of Elections raised the threshold for automatic ballot access (from 50,000 votes to 130,000 votes) in 2020.

1 hour ago, Elmira Telegram said:

5. CCIDA LACK OF CONFIDENTIALITY

MSE has had a concern from the beginning of the lease about the CCIDA Boards’ lack of confidentiality relating to MSE operations, and finances. There have been multiple leaks of MSE confidential information and correspondence actually copied and shown to me by sponsors. There have been social media leaks copying information online regarding MSE business. This is unethical, unprofessional, and a tremendous breach of trust. It has led to caution and hesitance on behalf of MSE to communicate reports and financial information. This has further hurt our ability to conduct our business properly. One massive direct example of this lack of confidentiality is the press receiving a copy of the notice of lease termination prior to it being delivered to MSE this week.

To me, this reeks of shadiness.

If anything, the CCIDA has not been nearly transparent enough about the operations and finances of this publicly owned facility. 

I'd like to see it auctioned off to any private buyer who wants it. If someone wants to use their own money to try to turn a profit (without any extra incentives, backroom deals or strings attached for taxpayers), more power to them!  

It's been owned by the County (under its shell companies STED and IDA) for about 10 years and wholly exempt from all taxes. Real Property shows an assessment of $2 million. Aside from the operating costs and ARP money it's sucking up, how much tax revenue has been lost in that time? Ten years of no City taxes, no County taxes and no School taxes.

Even if someone buys it for a $100 and leaves it vacant, as long as they're paying taxes I think it's a better deal for the entire county. 

14 minutes ago, Chris said:

Am I reading this wrong or is HVAC something the tenant is NOT responsible for?

To me, it seems to read Tenant (Mammoth) is responsible for maintenance (which is what Donner claims CCIDA is "delinquent" in).  

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If the Tenant neglects to properly maintain equipment, they are responsible for replacement...

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It appears that he Landlord (CCIDA) is only responsible for "capital replacement" if something needs to be replaced through no fault of the Tenant's neglect.

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1 hour ago, Chris said:

Here we go again

Good Grief....I suppose we can kiss the rest of the County's ARP funds goodbye. 

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"I'm quite disappointed the county would use these types of tactics in a legal dispute on our lease, but I want to let hockey fans know our full intention is to resolve the issue, our full intention is to be here to play hockey. We do believe that we have a legitimate dispute with the county over delinquent maintenance of HVAC equipment and a lack of a dehumidifier which was promised in the lease for the last year and a half which has caused exorbitant utility bills. Beyond that, I prefer the attorneys work it out" said Donner.

As with the previous tenant, the lease agreement (Found HERE) says the tenant is responsible for maintenance. 

I don't see it listed but I can imagine that if the dehumidifier could be considered a "capital replacement", then that is the only possible "legitimate dispute" that Donner could have.

Martha Stewart is the oldest person to ever cover a 'Sports Illustrated' swim issue

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Lifestyle magnate Martha Stewart is making history, as she becomes the oldest person to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated's yearly swimsuit issue, at 81.

The magazine described Stewart as "the very definition of 'influencer,'" due to her plethora of shows, books, product lines and social media followers.

More Here

It seems a little odd that Moss has been silent on this.

It was one of his platform planks in 2018, and the general impression from Burin during the meetings was that he was still on board (I believe the committee was reaching out directly to Moss to at least get his approval of the guidelines concerning the Exec's term limits). 

Admittedly, I have not kept track of how quickly he's typically signed any other legislation.....but seemed like he vetoed the Redistricting within a week f the Legislature passing it last year (requiring an override from the Legislature). 

7 hours ago, Chris said:

Were I to go all tinfoil hat, I would perhaps see a connection between the implementation of HIPPA and the spike in the number of mass shootings. Perhaps...

I suspect that “recommendations” for Ritalin, Prozac and other meds to treat various DSM diagnoses (particularly in youths) started growing around the same time as the HIPAA Act (circa 1996).

I tend to think the uptick in those dangerous prescriptions was likely a direct cause that would correlate to the spike in the number of mass shootings (if we could see the numbers). The HIPAA Act itself probably didn’t cause the problem, but it seems to take the discussion off the table about the potential of drug side effects contributing to the issue. Since the data is private and not included in investigations, HIPAA prevents any correlation of Rx/shootings from being identified.

7 hours ago, Chris said:

( It occurs to me that part of this could be the fast-food approach to medicine, where the provider is compensated by the number of patients they see in a day, their "productivity" as it's called. )

And a lot of times it's the patients that are as much a part of the problem. Rather than find some other coping mechanism, they know a pill will make it all "go away." 

Yep....it appears that the Atlanta shooter went off specifically because his demand for Ativan was denied.

I’d also wager a guess that insurance (whether private or Medicaid, etc) are much more eager to pay for a script than the slow and repetitive process of learning and reinforcing coping mechanisms, et.... which entails a lot of billable hours. 

Because let's face it: a 15 minute consult once or twice a year with a script than the higher cost of treatments like intensive therapy on a weekly basis or (especially) the extremely expensive option of inpatient care. 

Also....it's anecdotal, but with some of these (often young) shooters, possible failures in Red Flag laws have been questioned when the suspect may "have been seen/treated for a mental disorder".  But that is as far as those reports go. Of course (due to HIPAA) we never hear any mention of how many of those 'treatments' included scripts.

59 minutes ago, Ann said:

I will not call them migrants, they are illegals.  There are immigration laws already in place that should have been enforced from the beginning.  This is an invasion.

I have to agree with you......although I will say "migrants" to avoid too many arguments, I draw the line at "asylum seekers". 

Abuse of the definition of “asylum” has allowed the current administration to defy the law.

The concept of asylum was intended to protect people defecting from political persecution by oppressive governments like the USSR, Cuba, North Korea, China, the Hmongs that were facing genocide in VietNam...etc

But now we’re diluting those true asylum needs by letting everyone, from anywhere, claim they’re fleeing from any perceived hardship like crime or poverty.  

I believe Legislator McCarthy mentioned this concern at Monday's meeting.....

Local State of Emergency Declared in Chemung County as Title 42 set to expire

Source HERE 

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ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) — With Title 42 set to Expire on May 11, Chemung County Executive, Chris Moss, has placed Chemung County in a Local State of Emergency in response to the migrant crisis and the potential relocating of migrants/asylum seekers throughout New York State.

The announcement comes through as Executive Order #2023-01 and places the county under a Local State of Emergency, and in doing so, prohibits municipal programs from housing migrants/asylum seekers, or risk daily fines.

According to Executive Moss, he has a reason to believe that migrant and/or asylum seekers could be transported to Chemung County, with no reason to believe they will leave. He claims there is a potential emergency for the public with the threat of thousands of people being transported to Chemung County.

1 hour ago, Chris said:

So, @MsKreed what happens from here? Does it go to referendum in November or does the Legislature have to vote on something else before it gets to that? I've completely forgotten. 

The way Maggs has explained the "permissive Referendum" process, now that they have passed, Moss has to sign them before they officially pass. If he vetoes, they'd need 2/3 to override. 

Either a petition submitted with sufficient (~3000) signatures within 45 days or a legislative vote within 30 days, will move it to a referendum for November. Otherwise, both will automatically take effect (without a referendum) in 45 days from when they are either signed by the Exec or a veto override.  

So, the way I understand it....... as of "right now", here are the possible outcomes (for both Exec and Legislative Term Limits separately):

1)      Moss signs it and Legislature votes within 30 days for a referendum: voters decide in November to pass or reject Term Limits. (this is the most expected outcome)

2)      Moss signs it and Legislature does not pass a vote within 30 days for a referendum.

          a.  Public petition within the next 15 days: voters decide in November to pass or reject Term Limits.

          b.  No petition: Charter is amended to have Term Limits without referendum (45 days after Moss signs)

3)      Moss vetoes, Legislature overrides with 2/3 majority

          a.  Legislature then votes within 30 days for a referendum: voters decide in November to pass or reject Term Limits.

          b. Public petition within the next 15 days: voters decide in November to pass or reject Term Limits.

          c. No petition: Charter is amended to have Term Limits without referendum (45 days after override)

4) Moss vetoes, Legislature does not override with 2/3 majority: The resolution dies no Term limits (or referendum) at this time.

That last one is the only way it doesn't get at least a public vote.....Hopefully Moss will uphold his stance and sign this, as a 2/3 override could possibly fail if the five "nays" put enough pressure on any one of the "yeas" to change their position (or for some unforeseen reason have someone absent for an override vote).