The Other Side of Dissolution - February 2009

A monthly newsletter written by Johnson City residents opposed to dissolving the Village of Johnson City. Our goal is to help Johnson City residents make a better-informed choice, when the Dissolution Plan goes to vote.

Dissolution Study Committee Meetings: Article #10

Timelines & Logistics of the Dissolution Study

Written by Julie Deemie

The Johnson City Dissolution Committee met for a public meeting on February 23, 2009.

Dissolution Committee Chairman William Klish was absent from this meeting due to illness. Committee member Gerry Putnam stepped up to the helm and led the February meeting.

The committee members have been meeting with their individual sub-committees in an effort to pull together information and data. Several committee members stressed that the volume of information to be gathered is significant.

At this month’s meeting, Fred Shaheen was absent therefore the completed Public Works Plan was not presented. Instead Bob Carr, Chair of the Police sub-committee reported on his group’s progress. He admitted that his report would be brief, which it was. Bob reaffirmed that there was a significant amount of information that needed to be gathered in order “to give credibility” to the plan. He stated that giving residents the proper information is important.

Village Attorney Beth Westfall gave a brief synopsis of progress in the area of code plan post dissolution. She stated that dissolution would result in overlaps in code and that a lot of provisions would go away due to these overlaps. Recommendations will be made to retain certain chapters of our current code, especially those pertaining to water and sewer regulations.

It was made known that committee member Shirley Krno has resigned due to a change in her work schedule. The committee began with 16 members and is now a committee of 14, with many members regularly missing these public meetings, some for extended periods of time. This meeting was attended by only 8 members. Charles Zettek Jr. has been transparent, at least at the public meetings and to some committee members. Initially Mr. Zettek had announced that he would have 2 other CGR employees working along side of him. There has been no mention about these employees attending sub-committee sessions, etc.

This is the largest dissolution study undertaken by our consultant from CGR, Charles Zettek Jr. who has admitted he came on board later than usual. This combined with the lack of attendance by committee members, the large volume of information to be gathered, and the ever evolving financial environment of the Village of Johnson City lead me to wonder if this dissolution study is even logistically possible. I guess this remains to be seen.

Gerald Putnam threw out an initial timeline to the committee members. I am sure this was intended to be a guide rather than one carved in stone. The following is what was proposed:

• Continuation of fact development

• Sub-committee work to be finalized by April 15th

• Information to be incorporated into a “straw man” report by May 31st

• At least 2 community forums

• Draft report hearing

• Proposed plan to the Johnson City Village Board

• Completion of Village public hearings by Sept. 1st

• Referendum vote in November

If you will recall, a 2008 Press and Sun-Bulletin article had declared that the dissolution committee would be engaging in an October PR blitz. Is it me or did this not quite materialize. I know there were a few meetings attended by a handful of residents, but I would not call this a “PR blitz”. Perhaps I missed something.

There also was a timeline thrown out at a previous dissolution meeting to have a dissolution web site up and running in March 2009. Perhaps we will hear more about this at the March meeting. Keep your eyes open for this new site which was planned to be linked inside the Village of Johnson City’s official site.

It was previously thought that the Public Works Plan would be wrapped up by mid February. The public works plan has been in progress for several months. If plan work for one department can’t be completed in 3 to 4 months time, I wonder how the now reduced committee will ever get through the daunting task of pulling together plans for all of the many other village departments by mid April.

Don’t get me wrong, I am certain that the remaining committee members are working very diligently at this task. My doubt is targeted at the volume of information and work which needs to be incorporated into a dissolution plan. I question if this is at all logistically feasible.

This month’s quote is actually an English proverb: “Don’t bite off more than you can chew”

It is important to remember that there are no “guarantees” with dissolution plans. Resident voters and taxpayers have no recourse once the vote is complete. According to the way the law is written - no village officials or committee members may be held liable if the plan should fail….. in any way.

Public Dissolution Committee meetings are now being held only once monthly. This is a public forum and I would encourage all interested taxpayers, regardless of your residency location, to attend. Because committee member / Secretary Peggy Philips would not be able to attend the meeting on the third Monday in March, the next meeting has been rescheduled for March 23rd at 7pm in the Village of Johnson City Justice Bldg, 2nd floor.