Quoted Text

Grant to help city study shared services

    SCHENECTADY — Schenectady County has received a $50,000 grant through the state’s Local Government Efficiency Program.
    The county will use the grant to explore shared services through cooperative agreements with other municipalities, said spokesman Joe McQueen.
    Areas to be considered include snow removal, municipal fleet maintenance and yard waste and leaf pickup.
    The Schenectady County Department of Engineering and Public Works currently works with local public works departments to share services.
    Past projects include paving roads in Scotia, loaning equipment, cleaning storm sewers in Delanson, installing guide rails in the city of Schenectady, providing highway sign-making services to Glenville and shared snow plowing.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01306&AppName=1

Quoted from Admin

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01306&AppName=1

Great idea -- working together works -- keep up the good work.

I could have sworn that they already received a grant.

And yes DVR.....working together works if you are all dems/liberal/socialist and agree with everything they say and do and propose and pass and tax!! And that is 'just the way it is'!!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

I could have sworn that they already received a grant.

And yes DVR.....working together works if you are all dems/liberal/socialist and agree with everything they say and do and propose and pass and tax!! And that is 'just the way it is'!!!!

actually .. working together works even when dems/reps/liberals/conservatives roll up their
sleeves and try to do something positive ...  and we don't always have to agree with everything
"they" say.    [/b]And that is "just the way it is[b]

Isn't it great?  We're going to show that we can figure out how to save money... and all it will cost is $50,000.

Quoted from Kevin March

Isn't it great?  We're going to show that we can figure out how to save money... and all it will cost is $50,000.

Most of these studies have led to actual long term saving of money -- greater than the study costs.  
In order for the various boards
(towns, city, and county) to do what they call "due diligence" .. you have to conduct a study before
undergoing a major consolidation of services or sharing of services.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Most of these studies have led to actual long term saving of money -- greater than the study costs.  
In order for the various boards
(towns, city, and county) to do what they call "due diligence" .. you have to conduct a study before
undergoing a major consolidation of services or sharing of services.

Well, I guess it'll be alright IF we get the $50K savings in the end, but until something comes out of it, it will remind me of the Tommasone Era "studies," and we all know how many of those there were and how few results.

Quoted from Kevin March

Well, I guess it'll be alright IF we get the $50K savings in the end, but until something comes out of it, it will remind me of the Tommasone Era "studies," and we all know how many of those there were and how few results.

In fairness to the Tommasone Era .. the BOA grant (to study Rotterdam JCT brown fields and economic
development)  was filed for during that administration .. and it was awarded earlier this year.

The county used a grant to study the Central Dispatch issue .. and that will save money.

how about the study for Hamburg St......the cheep gumbas seemed to have prevailed there.....'The Mayor of Hamburg' and friends have kept the
status quo heading straight down the old worn out road.....WTH!.........just nothin'......time to move into the future........

Quoted Text

The city council committees agenda for September 20th included a notice that should have been made publicly available a week ago. This notice is as follows:

PRESENTATION TO CITY COUNCIL
Monday September 20, at 11 a.m., at City Hall in Room 110. The topic of the presentation will be
“Police Consolidation and Shared Services Study in Schenectady County.” A study, for the City of
Schenectady, will be presented by William Eimicke, Ph.D. and Steven Cohen, Ph.D. of Columbia
University.

Once again, a meeting to discuss one of the most important topics in our city, one paid for with $50,000 of taxpayer money is being held at a time where most people are working and have to work in order to pay these outrageous taxes. Once again, the City Council is holding this meeting, where several of its own members would normally be working, at the convenience of the speakers rather than that of the public.

The Open Meetings Law states specifically that:
§104. Public notice.
1. Public notice of the time and place of a meeting scheduled at least one week prior thereto shall be given to the news media and shall be conspicuously posted in one or more designated public locations at least seventy-two hours before such meeting.
And any PRESENTATION TO CITY COUNCIL is a presentation to the public to which that council governs.

The City of Schenectady posts its agenda’s on the city’s website with any special meeting rarely publicized. By law all of the agenda’s should be posted at least seven days prior to the meetings, but the practice of posting them the same day, or the Friday before is the usual procedure.

Once I am a Member of the Schenectady City Council I will demand that these meetings be posted and announced conspicuously and with lots of time given prior to their holding, for the public to be actively involved with the discussion. These meetings should always be held during the evening hours when most people have the greatest opportunity to attend them. Especially since this is an issue that we all have to pay for.

This is yet another example of our representatives neglecting our needs as Taxpayers and continuing to keep us in the dark. All Schenectadians should be outraged over this. The Police Department in the City of Schenectady is the costliest department we have. I believe we would all benefit as citizens and taxpayers if the department was consolidated with the county and I believe we all should have been notified of this long before this agenda was posted.

Pat Zollinger

http://www.schenectadyinformer.com/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1284818538

Quoted from senders

how about the study for Hamburg St......the cheep gumbas seemed to have prevailed there.....'The Mayor of Hamburg' and friends have kept the
status quo heading straight down the old worn out road.....WTH!.........just nothin'......time to move into the future........

You can't make a post without adding a cheap ethnic slur?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

You can't make a post without adding a cheap ethnic slur?

I am that ethnicity.....and we use in the family....got it......

Quoted from senders

I am that ethnicity.....and we use in the family....got it......

So do my in-laws................not a slur for me!!

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Students to do consolidation study
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Despite widespread political disapproval, Mayor Brian U. Stratton is moving forward with his plan to consolidate police functions and cut the budget.
    Grad students at Columbia University will study the issue this fall, city officials announced Monday.
    Their professors will report back on how much Schenectady could save if it merged some or all of its law enforcement with other departments in the county. The report will be finished by Dec. 15, they said.
    It’s expected to offer county taxpayers a “menu” of consolidation options, along with their resulting savings. Professor William Eimicke said that would be the most likely way to win support among suburban politicians, most of whom have rejected the plan already. County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, who also opposes the plan, has urged Stratton to drop the idea.
    Stratton ignored them.
    “That’s three or four people speaking for a couple hundred thousand residents,” he said. “I think the public has a right to know. Let’s see the facts.”
    He’s hoping the political landscape will change if the study fi nds significant savings in consolidation.
    “Let’s look and see what the potential cost savings are,” he said, noting that gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has also promised to give out incentives up to 10 percent of a municipality’s state aid if it achieves a certain level of savings through consolidation.
    Stratton began exploring consolidation options when police misconduct reached a new low, with eight officers suspended and no clear way to get rid of any of them. At the time, Stratton said he might close the department if misconduct continued. ........................>>>>.............>>>>......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01103&AppName=1

Stratton can't run anything so he has this brilliant idea to also destroy all town police departments. This is going nowhere. Nobody wants town police officers reassigned to the City. A complete waste of $50,000 to "determine the support for police consolidation". There no support. Another delaying tacit from the do nothing Mayor. Make some cuts to correct your record deficit and move on. Another example of how "working together works' is a total fraud since even Savage is against this nonsense.

      If you want to consolidate something? Start with the Village of Scotia. Disband it since it is already part of the town of Glenville.