Well, I'd been planning to go to the Dryden Town Board's organizational meeting, but they never got around to announcing when it was on their web page (local copy), and it was at an unusual time. So I guess I get to hear about it from the Ithaca Journal - they did, at least, apparently let the paper know that the meeting happened. (I was even in the Town Hall on Monday, though in the afternoon.)
The "top priority" for the board is "mending relations with local firefighters," starting with meetings in February, "to establish clearer budgeting and planning practices." Maybe that will help avoid sudden 31.8% lurches in the fire tax?
They also eliminated the "Representatives to Fire Departments" committee, as well as Public Relations committees for the Villages of Dryden and Freeville, and the Public Funds, Tompkins County Cable, Village Water Negotiations, and Union Negotiations committees.
A full list of committee assignments are in the sidebar to the Journal article.
For future reference:
"The council changed its regular meeting schedule due to new member conflicts. The council will now meet at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month in the Town Hall, except for January, when they will meet on the 15th."
Hopefully they'll post minutes at some point. Also, I called the Supervisor's office to ask if this meeting was announced, and hopefully they'll call me back. I'll let you know.
Update: Bambi Hollenbeck, the Town Clerk, called me back. The meeting was apparently announced in the Ithaca Journal Legal Notices on January 1. I guess I'd better make sure to read the Notices on holidays. She apologized that it hadn't made it to the web site (though it isn't legally required), and noted that they're working on a revised site that should make information easier to find and update. I mentioned that this didn't feel like a great start to a new government, but she reassured me that the new board planned to be as open as its predecessor.
Posted by simon at January 7, 2004 8:58 AM in politics (local)