Town and village officials finally made progress on questions into whether and how town of North Dansville and village of Dansville will merge into a single government entity.
Last week at the village’s monthly committee meeting, Mayor Peter Vogt reported on a meeting he had with state representatives along with town Supervisor Dennis Mahus, Trustee Don Sylor and village clerk Kerry Ann Wood. Local officials met with Robert Roeckle from the Department of State and Brendan Fitzgerald from the Governor’s Office.
“We express our concerns,” Vogt said. “Unfortunately the gentleman wasn’t prepared to talk too much. He has taken the study and will be looking at it. We will be getting back together at some undetermined time to further discuss what’s going on with consolidation.”
The study the mayor referred to is a 2010 study prepared by the Center for Government Research. The report summarized a preliminary review of options for merging the village and town into one government entity. The recommended option from the study was to form a new city — an change that would require legislative action. Other options included keeping the current arrangement, dissolving the village, and coterminus — expanding the village boundaries to match the town’s and then merging all government structures together.
The goal of the study, funded by a state grant, was to determine whether Dansville could reduce the cost of government.
Since the study’s release, there has been some discussion by both the town and village boards, but no action occurred other than creating a committee more than a year ago.
The latest meeting with state officials seems to be moving the process forward, with the mayor calling the meeting “productive.”
“I felt good about the conference call,” Sylor said. “The next conversation, I think, will tell us a lot about whether they are going to help us along the way with this or not.”
Sylor has been one of the more vocal proponents of exploring the possibility of creating a city and added his hopes for another grant from the state to defray the costs of writing a charter.
Town and village officials finally made progress on questions into whether and how town of North Dansville and village of Dansville will merge into a single government entity.
Last week at the village’s monthly committee meeting, Mayor Peter Vogt reported on a meeting he had with state representatives along with town Supervisor Dennis Mahus, Trustee Don Sylor and village clerk Kerry Ann Wood. Local officials met with Robert Roeckle from the Department of State and Brendan Fitzgerald from the Governor’s Office.
“We express our concerns,” Vogt said. “Unfortunately the gentleman wasn’t prepared to talk too much. He has taken the study and will be looking at it. We will be getting back together at some undetermined time to further discuss what’s going on with consolidation.”
The study the mayor referred to is a 2010 study prepared by the Center for Government Research. The report summarized a preliminary review of options for merging the village and town into one government entity. The recommended option from the study was to form a new city — an change that would require legislative action. Other options included keeping the current arrangement, dissolving the village, and coterminus — expanding the village boundaries to match the town’s and then merging all government structures together.
The goal of the study, funded by a state grant, was to determine whether Dansville could reduce the cost of government.
Since the study’s release, there has been some discussion by both the town and village boards, but no action occurred other than creating a committee more than a year ago.
The latest meeting with state officials seems to be moving the process forward, with the mayor calling the meeting “productive.”
“I felt good about the conference call,” Sylor said. “The next conversation, I think, will tell us a lot about whether they are going to help us along the way with this or not.”
Sylor has been one of the more vocal proponents of exploring the possibility of creating a city and added his hopes for another grant from the state to defray the costs of writing a charter.
