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Time for a history lesson: More than two years ago, Dansville officials — that is the North Dansville Town Council and the Dansville Village Board of Trustees — embarked on a journey. The goal was to “explore options for cutting taxes and possibly restructuring local government.” That’s according to the executive summary in paragraph 1 on page 1 of a report created through community input with professional consultation and released in early 2011, available online at cgr.org/dansville.
The very next page of the report goes on to outline the reasons that a committee of elected officials and community members recommended creating a city — the City of Dansville — that would replace both the town and village. Along with the explanation was a basic outline of how the town and village could take steps forward toward creating their new city.
On Jan. 11, 2011, village trustees voted to pursue creating a city. But that’s the last actual, measurable progress that was taken.
On Feb. 1, 2011, the town board voted to put their decision off until after the village elections in March.
On a simultaneous track, Jay Griffith, prior to election as village trustee, was ready to organize with other village residents to dissove the village entirely — a process that would leave only the town of North Dansville. However, he was pursuaded to give elected officials six months before starting a petition drive and in that time he won a trustee seat in the elections.
In June, the two boards met jointly. Board members on either side of the table said they had concerns about creating a city, but neither board took action and follow-up to the meeting focused on a spat between members on either board.
Last fall, a committee was formed to take up the matter, but was unable to proceed because the town board had not set any direction and the newly elected village officials neither rejected nor reaffirmed their predecessors’ decision.
That brings us to page 3 of the report released a year ago. It’s titled “Steps to Consider in Planning for a Joint Charter Commission Process.” In two pages, are 11 steps are identified that could ultimately lead to the creation of a city. At any point, roadblocks could puts an end to the matter entirely — in many cases without spending local tax dollars.
But rather than follow the roadmap, Dansville has taken another course.
While it’s commendable that both boards took action this week, let’s be clear about what they did: they formed a committee that will evaluate whether to form a commission that will be tasked with researching issues related to forming a charter.That seems like an unnecessary step and plenty of extra work.
Time for a history lesson: More than two years ago, Dansville officials — that is the North Dansville Town Council and the Dansville Village Board of Trustees — embarked on a journey. The goal was to “explore options for cutting taxes and possibly restructuring local government.” That’s according to the executive summary in paragraph 1 on page 1 of a report created through community input with professional consultation and released in early 2011, available online at cgr.org/dansville.
The very next page of the report goes on to outline the reasons that a committee of elected officials and community members recommended creating a city — the City of Dansville — that would replace both the town and village. Along with the explanation was a basic outline of how the town and village could take steps forward toward creating their new city.
On Jan. 11, 2011, village trustees voted to pursue creating a city. But that’s the last actual, measurable progress that was taken.
On Feb. 1, 2011, the town board voted to put their decision off until after the village elections in March.
On a simultaneous track, Jay Griffith, prior to election as village trustee, was ready to organize with other village residents to dissove the village entirely — a process that would leave only the town of North Dansville. However, he was pursuaded to give elected officials six months before starting a petition drive and in that time he won a trustee seat in the elections.
In June, the two boards met jointly. Board members on either side of the table said they had concerns about creating a city, but neither board took action and follow-up to the meeting focused on a spat between members on either board.
Last fall, a committee was formed to take up the matter, but was unable to proceed because the town board had not set any direction and the newly elected village officials neither rejected nor reaffirmed their predecessors’ decision.
That brings us to page 3 of the report released a year ago. It’s titled “Steps to Consider in Planning for a Joint Charter Commission Process.” In two pages, are 11 steps are identified that could ultimately lead to the creation of a city. At any point, roadblocks could puts an end to the matter entirely — in many cases without spending local tax dollars.
But rather than follow the roadmap, Dansville has taken another course.
While it’s commendable that both boards took action this week, let’s be clear about what they did: they formed a committee that will evaluate whether to form a commission that will be tasked with researching issues related to forming a charter.That seems like an unnecessary step and plenty of extra work.
What’s more, the committee that is in place now puts the cart before the horse. Some officials have questions — questions that would be answered during the 11-step process.
Some local officials want to know if the county will oppose a city. But the county would be foolhardy to answer that question before the town and village come up with at least a basic framework for a city charter. Others want to know how Gov. Andrew Cuomo will react to the idea. Keep in mind that Cuomo has been on the record strongly in favor of reducing layers of government and improving governement efficiency. But he would be unwise to comment on the specifics in Dansville until local officials can decide the particulars of their city. Still other officials want to know whether there is support in the local community — those who would become city residents. But the public has yet to read a charter.
There’s only one sure way to answer all those questions and it requires negotiating, schmoozing, politicking and a lot of hard work. But that’s what elected officials do.
Dansville’s elected officials should either take that first step outlined in last year’s report or stop the process entirely. The matter won’t be settled through any other means.
