Jan 26

Fonda may study dissolution, mayor says

January 17, 2013 by Arthur Cleveland, The Leader Herald

Village of Fonda, founded in 1850

FONDA, NY – The village may form a committee to look into consolidating more services with the town of Mohawk and possibly dissolving the village.  Mayor William Peeler said at a village meeting Monday he is open to the possibility of replacing village services with town services.

At the village meeting, resident John Maher asked about whether the village government would look into dissolving itself.  Peeler said a committee may look into the benefits of dissolving the village.  “If you can get the [Mohawk] Town Board to cooperate with that, I’ll be the first one to sign,” said Peeler. “Slowly but surely, what we’re trying to do is consolidate everything to the point where the village is no longer in existence.”  After the meeting, Peeler said, “Ultimately, I’m all for whatever consolidation we can make. If it makes sense and it’s a duplication of services, why not?”

Ultimately, Peeler said, the dissolution of the village would be up to the residents.  He said it could be difficult to push for dissolution of the village. He cited possible opposition from officials in county or town government.  Trustee Thomas Healey said dissolution could be hampered by the fact the village shares its water with Fultonville, Mohawk and Glen.  Trustee Walter Boyd said he would approve of exploring the possibility of dissolving the village if it could result in significant savings.

Fonda Courthouse, built in 1835

“Every one of us here are village residents, and there’s no way to pay for duplication of services,” said Boyd.  Mohawk Supervisor Greg Rajkowski said that, to his knowledge, the village never had discussed dissolution before, but consolidation of services has been brought up.  “They’ve [village officials] approached us with three different consolidation efforts,” Rajkowski said, saying that generally town officials have approved of consolidation, except for a request to plow village roads.

Rajkowski said if a merger between the village and town were to occur, certain issues would need to be worked out, such as what to do with the village water services.  “We, as the town, do not have a separate sewer and water district,” he said.  Rajkowski said if the village were to attempt dissolution, the village and the town would have to work together on it.

According to the New York State Department of State, communities considering consolidation may be eligible for a Local Government Efficiency grant to help with studying the feasibility of consolidation or to help with the consolidation itself.  The state also has documents available to help towns and villages in mergers.

Arthur Cleveland covers Montgomery County news. He can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com

Fonda officials should consider services

January 20, 2013, The Leader Herald

In recent months, the village of Fonda Board of Trustees led by Mayor William Peeler has been in negotiations with the town of Mohawk Board of Fire Commissioners looking for ways to cut operating costs in Fonda.  At an initial savings of about $15,000 a year, a deal to get rid of the village fire department and have the town provide fire coverage looks great on paper.

However, the village fire department has become a local staple, taking the lead on numerous local activities. The Fonda Volunteer Fire Department helps to organize and participate in several local events, such as the annual Fonda-Fultonville Memorial Day parade, the Fonda Halloween Children’s Parade and Open House, and the annual Montgomery County Youth Day. The department also provides safe off-street parking across from the Fonda Speedway for the weekly races, as well as the Fonda Fair.

Without the firemen providing the parking services, there will not be safe off-street parking other than the limited space within the fairgrounds. This will be especially important during fair time when thousands of cars can utilize the parking service. The Fonda department also has one of the only fire department chaplains within the county, who is able to provide an array of services to the community.

Soon, the doors will close, the equipment will be sold and the community will be at a great loss with no local support to turn to.  It saddens me to think the current administration only thinks in dollars and cents, and cannot look at the services provided that you can’t put a monetary value on.

John Maher, Fonda Volunteer Fire Department

Closing on March 14

Fonda Fire Department closing

Published: 2/12

A sign hanging on a fence in Fonda that reads: “FONDA FIRE DEPARTMENT NEEDS YOU”, but after Monday’s Village Board of Trustee meeting, it really serves no purpose. The Board voted 3 to 1 to completely dissolve the 139 year old volunteer fire department.

“That’s very disappointing they decided not to keep it,” said resident Maria Abraham who feels local home owners are being squeezed. “This is just another sign of that squeeze.”

Avoiding the squeeze on tax payers is what Mayor Bill Peeler says the Board is trying to do. The mayor explained it’s become costly for the Village to maintain the department with its aging equipment. “For the future betterment as well as the current betterment of our situation in fire protection it was better to dissolve the fire department and move on with a contract with our fire district”

The “district fire department” is the Mohawk Fire District. It’s fire house sits just on the edge of the Village. The mayor says Fonda’s 785 residents should see little difference in first responder arrival time — it’s just that the first responders won’t be the same. Fonda Fire Chief Donald Wagoner wishes he and the other volunteers had been consulted before the Trustees decided to go through with a new contract. “We’ve protected the Village this long. We’ve done the best we can and we’re all kind of disgruntled and upset,” said Wagoner, a fire volunteer of 29 years.

As of March 14, the Village of Fonda Fire Department will close it’s doors and the Mohawk Fire District will take effect.

Fonda-Fultonville officials look for help to get more aid

February 12, 2013 by Arthur Cleveland, The Leader Herald

Fonda-Fultonville Central School District traces its roots to the late 1700s, when students in both communities were educated in small, privately owned buildings. Around 1800, two formal school districts were formed, and for the next 150 years, Fonda and Fultonville operated those districts separately. In 1954, the two districts merged.

Fonda – Officials from the Fonda-Fultonville Central School District are scheduled to meet today with state Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk to get her help in securing more state aid for the school. “We just need more money from the state,” said interim Superintendent Ray Colucciello. “There’s just no other way around it.”

Similar lobbying with Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara met with some success. Santabarbara wrote a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo regarding the importance of state aid and mentioned the district’s recent budget difficulties. At the end of January, the Fonda-Fultonville school board laid off a business education teacher and the school psychologist as part of a plan to deal with a $500,000 mid-year budget shortfall.

Under Cuomo’s executive budget released in January, Fonda-Fultonville’s aid stands to increase roughly $611,000. However, district Treasurer Carey Shultz said even if legislators adopt Cuomo’s proposal without change, it may not help enough. Shultz said he plans to ask Tkaczyk to get the district an additional $400,000 to try and stabilize the budget for the 2013-14 school year.

Colucciello and Shultz said that is possible if the state abolishes the competitive grant funding portion of Cuomo’s proposal and instead rolls the funds into overall aid. Cuomo, who requested $800 million for state aid usage, wants $250 million to go toward rewarding districts for academic performance and management efficiency.

Since 2010, state aid to the district has been reduced by almost $6 million due to Gap Elimination Adjustment. Costs for pensions and health insurance benefits also increased more than $2 million. “Having those kind of funds ripped out of the budget makes it impossible to stabilize it,” Shultz said, noting the school’s staff has been reduced by 16.5 percent in that three-year time frame, and 25 percent in the last five years.

“The state is supposed to be an equal partner in education, 50-50,” Colucciello said. “The state now pays for about 39 percent, and the rest is on the backs of the local taxpayers.” Colucciello said he is “cautiously optimistic.” “In my experience, the governor proposes and the Legislature disposes,” he said. The 2013-14 budget is still in the works, with members of the board waiting on the final numbers before completing it.

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Nov 12

Internet café opens at Utica veterans center

By Emerson Clarridge, Observer-Dispatch

Posted Nov 07, 2009 @ 08:31 PM

William Fonda of Utica mingles during the grand opening of the Central new York Veterans Outreach Center's "The Bunker" internet cafe in Utica, Saturday, November 7, 2009.  Dave Londres / Observer-Dispatch

William Fonda of Utica mingles during the grand opening of the Central new York Veterans Outreach Center’s “The Bunker” internet cafe in Utica, Saturday, November 7, 2009. Dave Londres / Observer-Dispatch

UTICA — When he returned from Iraq in early 2005, Army veteran Gary Matt was quickly caught in labyrinthine bureaucracy.  Medical appointments often sent the 30-year-old Utica man to Syracuse.  “Even just going out to Rome is a pain,” he said.

Matt’s experience is typical of the disarray that meets former military men and women once they’ve left the battlefield and returned home, said Army veteran Vincent Scalise, who served with Matt.  “The government does what they can,” he said.  Yet often, he said, the assistance falls short.

To ease the transition to civilian life, Scalise began year ago to head an effort to convert the former 87,000-square-foot YMCA building on Washington Street in Utica into a single-stop veterans’ service clearinghouse that offers advice on legal matters, employment assistance and counseling.  Many of the services already are available at the Central New York Veterans Outreach Center, and construction began last week on 15 transitional housing units – apartments for veterans struggling to find a place to live – that Scalise said he hopes will be ready in mid-2010.

The center’s most recent addition is a first-floor coffee shop and Internet café called The Bunker, which celebrated its grand opening Saturday night to a steady flow of patrons.  Computers will be available from early morning to late at night so veterans can fill out online forms for Veterans Administration assistance and access the Internet for other purposes.  The space will be open to veterans and nonveterans.

“I want people from all different walks of life,” Scalise said.  Jessica Perusse, the center’s head social worker, said “it’s a very relaxing, calm space.”  A formal flag-raising, ribbon-cutting and open house is scheduled for Wednesday, Veteran’s Day.

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Nov 08

Lightning Strikes – Suffolk County

Hudson River

Hudson River

From the August 2007 Conservationist
By Lt. Ken Didion

ECOs Vernon Fonda and Jason Curinga were checking fishermen at a popular spot in Shoreham as a thunderstorm approached. The officers had separated in order to complete their checks before the storm arrived. ECO (Environmental Conservation Officer) Fonda was talking with a fisherman when a person ran toward him screaming for help. ECO Fonda ran to where he saw a woman lying on the ground. The womans family members said she had been standing in the water when lightning struck nearby. A quick check revealed that the woman was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Officer Fonda immediately began CPR and the woman began to breathe on her own. When ECO Curinga arrived to assist, the woman lost her pulse and ceased breathing again. ECO Fonda resumed CPR, assisted by an EMT who had just arrived. The two rescuers revived the woman, and she was transported by helicopter to Stony Brook Hospital.

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Nov 04

Freeport Says “No” to City Manager Referendum

WIFR.com – November 4, 2008

Freeport Boys and Girls Club

FREEPORT, IL – Freeport voters weighed in Tuesday on the city manager referendum and the numbers from Stephenson County show the measure failed.

A look at the numbers show 6,063 said no and 3,278 said yes to this ballot question. Supporters wanted someone trained in professional government running the daily city hall affairs and not Mayor George Gaulrapp. They say that’s a more efficient way of operating.

But opponents like Gaulrapp and didn’t see the need to hire someone else to do his job. The mayor says he’s glad to keep that job to continue a solid system at city hall under his leadership, but referendum supporters said the potential was there to make it even more solid.

“It works very well, it really does, it works well. You look both inside and outside this community and you see a changed city. You see a city on the move; a city working together.”

Dave Fonda says, “If we do a successful job in this community of transforming the government into a managerial form of government we’re going to be in a lot better footing than we are now.” Fonda was the man leading the charge for the city manager referendum. Going forward, he says he’s considering a possible bid for mayor in the next election.

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Aug 30

Lawyer violated stream protection law, police say

The Daily Freeman – August 30, 2008

Mount Tremper, CT – A Mount Tremper man was arrested after operating a backhoe in a protected stream, despite repeated warnings from state Environmental Conservation Police to cease his activities, police said Friday.

Esopus Creek in Mount Tremper

On Aug. 6, Environmental Conservation Police received a complaint from the Shandaken Town Zoning Office about a backhoe in the Esopus Creek, which is protected by the state, off Plank Road. Police charged Algernon Reese, an attorney, with the misdemeanor of disturbing a protected stream, punishable by up to a year in jail or a $10,000 fine, and released him with an appearance ticket for Shandaken Town Court.

Police received another complaint on Wednesday, and found Reese again working at the stream with construction equipment and a small team of contractors. Police said Reese obstructed Environmental Conservation Officer Vernon Fonda‘s investigation, and was arrested.

Reese was charged with the misdemeanors of obstructing governmental administration, disturbing a protected stream, and violating a general prohibition against pollution. “The charges are pending, and he’s right back there 20 days later,” said Lt. Deming Lindsley. “The blatant disregard for what the law indicates makes us very concerned.”

When Fonda attempted to interview the contractors, Reese prevented him, saying he represented them as counsel and forbade them from speaking to him, Lindsley said. Lindsley said that it appeared that Reese was trying to control the stream and prevent flooding from reaching his property. His property lies in the Esopus floodplain.

“He’s put in concrete barries, built mounds, dug trenches,” Lindsley said. “He’s fighting against Mother Nature.” Lindsley said Reese had been “observed comitting violations” for nearly 10 years, but had used his skills as an attorney to fend off accusations. Reese was arrraigned in Shandaken Town Court and released on $5,000 bail.

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