By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
On Jan. 23, Cazenovia College hosted the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce (GCACC) annual State of the Area.
The event was sponsored by AmeriCU Credit Union, Cazenovia College and GCACC.
GCACC Vice President Sara Muñoz (SAGA Kids of CNY) delivered the opening and closing remarks and introduced the speakers.
Town of Nelson
Town Supervisor James J. Cunningham focused on Nelson’s underutilized natural resources and discussed several initiatives to enhance the town’s marketing and online visibility.
During his first week in office, Cunningham rolled out a brand new town website, which highlights Tuscarora Lake, Eaton Brook Reservoir, and Stoney Pond State Forest — an area offering 19 miles of maintained trails for year-round recreation.
“Every time I go [to Stoney Pond], I often only pass one other person,” Cunningham said. “ . . . We don’t want it to be like the Adirondacks where you constantly pass people or have to limit people, but we’d like to get more people to utilize our resources . . . We’ve set up a spot for local Facebooks [on our website]. If Cazenovia [has a Facebook] or anybody has an outdoor recreation [website] that you want to link to us, that would be really great, because we’re all tied together here. The more people we can get to come to our communities, the better off economically we’re going to be.”
The supervisor announced the construction of a new trail in Nelson that will loop around to the town office and highlighted Nelson’s many historical sites and the important work of the Erieville-Nelson Heritage Society.
Cunningham reported that Nelson is kicking off a new committee focused specifically on recreational economic development. He encouraged other local leaders to collaborate with the town to help enhance the area’s year-round outdoor usability.
“[We’re] looking at linking the Art Park into the Stoney Pond area so we can cross country ski from one to the other,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of cool plans that we want to do. I think we’ve got to get that message out.”
Cunningham brought attention to the need for investment in the area’s lakes, highlighting the challenges associated with Nelson’s 183 year-old earthen dams and the impacts of roadside ditch erosion, salt inputs and invasive species.
According to the supervisor, a lake management group is currently working with the town to help mitigate some of the issues associated with the lakes.
Another major challenge facing Nelson and southern Madison County as a whole, according to Cunningham, is the need for emergency services.
“All of the other Madison County districts are having financial troubles because there is a huge decline in the amount of volunteers today,” Cunningham said. “94 percent of the departments are volunteer in New York State . . . So that’s a big problem for us . . . We are working with the county to try to address that as a collaborative effort.”
New York’s 22nd congressional district
Congressman Anthony Brindisi discussed his legislative accomplishments in the past year, as well as his current work and future goals.
In 2019, Brindisi was the lead sponsor on four bipartisan bills signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Two of the bills helped veterans. The first extends housing and transportation assistance to rural veterans. The second bill deals with the veteran suicide crisis.
“Every day in our country, we are losing 20 veterans to suicide,” Brindisi said. “Fourteen of those 20 veterans are not coming into the VA to access the services that they earned. The bill that I passed into law — ‘The Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act’ — will help provide more resources to . . . mental health counselors, known as suicide prevention coordinators, to make sure they are able to handle the caseloads they have . . . and go out into the community, especially in rural areas, to find veterans and make sure they are getting into the VA to get the services they earned.”
Brindisi reported he was successful in inserting a provision into the National Defense Authorization Act that will directly support Sherrill Manufacturing — a local company that operates out of the old Oneida Ltd. flatware factory.
Sherrill Manufacturing is the only American-made flatware company in the country.
Brindisi’s bill requires the U.S. Department of Defense to purchase only American-made flatware.
“If our tax dollars are being spent to fund the military, or frankly any federal agency, and if there is a domestic supply of a product and that product is competitively priced, why shouldn’t our tax dollars go to American manufacturing?” Brindisi said. “Ultimately, those companies are going to employ workers who are going to pay taxes in this country, and then that’s going to go support our military.”
The congressman’s fourth bill to be signed into law is a repeal of a health insurance tax — set to go into effect this year — that would have significantly increased premiums for individuals receiving insurance through a private health insurance or Medicare Advantage.
Brindisi said he hopes to see the prescription drug bill that passed in the House move through the Senate.
According to the congressman, the bill would allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies and cap out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare enrollees.
Brindisi is also working on a rural mental health bill intended to address the high suicide rate in these areas.
When asked by an audience member how he would slow down the loss of residents from New York State, Brindisi said he supports raising the cap for state and local tax deductions, banding together to advocate for upstate interests, assisting long-time New York State industries, and building education policies that help create a workforce that meets the need of employers.
Central New York
Regional Director Colleen Deacon presented the regionally relevant highlights of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2020 State of the State Address and proposed budget.
Deacon said New York currently has 8.3 million private sector jobs and that the state has invested $250 billion into its infrastructure program.
Since taking office, Cuomo has invested over $6.3 billion into CNY. In that same time, unemployment in the region has dropped from 8.3% to 3.8%.
This year, the governor proposed the ban of single use Styrofoam containers; the development of a plan to increase and update emergency response; and the implementation of a $3 billion “Restore Mother Nature” Bond Act — an aggressive program for habitat restoration and flood reduction.
According to Deacon, 154,000 CNY taxpayers will benefit from Cuomo’s tax cuts.
The governor also plans to significantly expand the child care tax credit to benefit over 15,000 working class families in the region.
Cuomo has called for the legalization of cannabis and the creation of a New York State Office of Cannabis Management.
In Onondaga County, the governor proposed the creation of the Syracuse STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) School, a workforce-training center open to students from across CNY.
“[The school] would allow students to get the skills and knowledge for a lot of the jobs we are creating in the community around technology, [including] unmanned aerial systems, drones, 5G network and other jobs that are out there,” Deacon said.
Deacon also said Cuomo plans to triple the current income tax exclusion for farmers, which would benefit approximately 4,000 farmers in CNY. He also hopes to convene a blue ribbon task force to provide produce traceability.
The state intends to invest $300 million to transform the historic Erie Canal into a recreational site to boost tourism, mitigate flooding and enhance irrigation.
According to the regional director, the governor will also continue to work to advance the “women’s agenda”; to support CNY’s growing craft beverage industry; to develop a strategy for high speed rail; to ban the sale of flavored nicotine vaping products; to fight the risks of rising prescription drug costs; to expand veteran suicide prevention strategies; and to transform airports around the state.
121st Assembly District
Assemblyman John Salka — who serves on the social services, aging, higher education, and health committees — reported that the assembly held 12 town hall meetings in 2019.
“We are taking state government to the people of the 121st District, and we are discussing what their concerns are and what their issues are,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many good ideas . . . that I am able to take back to Albany and [discuss with] the people who write these bills . . . We’ve come up with some good ideas. We have one bill that we are proposing that gives a tax exemption to professors or instructors in the [agricultural] field . . . We will see where that goes.”
Salka said his commitment to working with his democratic colleagues to get things done in Albany.
“Let’s reach across the aisle and let’s talk to our colleagues, because we all have the same priorities in mind and that’s to represent our districts,” he said.
According to Salka, the greatest challenges facing the state are education and healthcare.
“The state, right now, is looking at a $6.1 billion deficit, and a major portion of that is Medicaid funding,” Salka said. “Medicaid is a very, very expensive program to administer. New York State gives the best Medicaid benefits in the country . . . Instead of cutting programs, what we are trying to do . . . is be able to monitor drug prices and to require the pharmaceutical companies to give us a 60-day warning when they have an intent to raise the price of a drug and we want to know why.”
Another major issue, according to Salka, has been the loss of 1.4 million people from the state in the past 10 years.
“We are trying to make sure that we stem the ‘brain drain’ that we are seeing by trying to have incentive programs to keep our young people here,” Salka said. “ . . . There are a lot of problems that are out there that need to be solved. We pay some of the highest taxes in the country, some of the highest utility rates in the country, and some of the highest property tax values in the country . . .”
Town of Cazenovia
Deputy Supervisor Patrick Race provided an overview of the town’s work in 2019.
Race said the latest budget remained under the 2 percent state mandated tax cap, and that the town has the lowest tax rate in the entire area — due in part to changes made to the operation of the highway department.
“Over the course of the last 15 or 16 years, we’ve taken the percentage of the overall budget of the highway department from 75 or 76 percent of the budget to 48 percent,” said Race.
The deputy supervisor then discussed the town’s ongoing work to maintain the health of the lake with efforts such as chemical treatment, weed harvesting, rake toss studies and invasive species control.
Race also reported that the town has made significant improvements to its wastewater treatment plant, investing in a new bar screen, aeration system and electrical system.
“The plant is in as good of shape as it’s been in years and years, so we are really pleased about that,” he said.
In 2019, the town completed the Fenner Street sidewalk project; broke ground on the Town of Cazenovia/Town of Nelson Route 20 Joint Water District project; completed necessary improvements to the Mt. Pleasant water district; formed a climate action committee; worked to install a solar farm at the highway garage; and installed LED lighting in New Woodstock.
This year, according to Race, the town will work to determine the future of the town hall.
“We have designs and proposals on additions to the Gothic Cottage, but there are other options, and we are always open to exploring those other options,” Race said. “ . . . We would love to have your participation in public hearings and things along those lines.”
Cazenovia College
President Ron Chesbrough reported on the health of the college and on a number of recent changes to the institution, including the roll out of the institution’s first graduate program — a master of science in clinical mental health counseling.
The college also added a new major in history, as well as dual majors in English/communications studies and history/social science.
According to Chesbrough, Cazenovia College experienced a 25 percent increase in new student enrollment last year and a comparable increase this year.
“As a small, private college, we exist in a very challenging marketplace,” Chesbrough said. “ . . . We have fewer students who are graduating and in the market to go to college, and we have increased competition — this is one of the most prolific higher education regions in the country . . . We face the allure of free tuition at the SUNY schools . . . Half of our students in our traditional base would qualify for that, so we have to compete with the SUNY schools in order to be an affordable alternative for those students.”
In an effort to make the school more attractive to prospective students, the college launched the “First Year to Career” program to enhance students’ career readiness.
From the time students step onto campus to the time they graduate, they receive career counseling and mentoring from faculty, staff and alumni, including an individualized four-year career plan.
Chesbrough announced that the college received a $50,000 grant from the Emerson Foundation to support student travel costs for internships. The funds will be available next year.
The college was also one of six institutions in the state to be profiled by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in recognition of its sustainability efforts.
Throughout 2019, the college completed, planned or initiated a number of capital projects to ensure the continued longevity of the institution’s historic buildings.
Chesbrough reported that the brand new criminal justice lab in Eckel Hall is scheduled for completion in about a month. Work on a new finance lab will begin soon.
“Both of these labs will enhance our student learning environment and [serve as] enrollment draws for students who want to study in those majors and want to do so in a cutting edge environment,” Chesbrough said.
The president closed with a few comments on community involvement, highlighting the college’s involvement in the Chilly Chili Run, the ongoing lake cleanup, CazArts, Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees, the Cazenovia Area Community Development Association, and dinner and dialogue sessions with local leaders. He also noted that the college regularly makes its facilities, including its athletic facilities, available to the community and to the school district.
Chesbrough said the most recent estimation of Cazenovia College’s economic contribution to the region — according to the Council of Independent Colleges and Universities — is $63 million.
“The school will be mounting a comprehensive campaign for the third century of the college, because we know that as important as the village and the region are to us, this college is critical to the economic and cultural livelihood of the village and the area in which we reside . . .” Chesbrough concluded.
Cazenovia Central School District
Superintendent Matthew Reilly discussed the district’s plans for the spring, highlighting the school budget and a number of upcoming facility-related projects.
“When I got here six years ago, we were in economical distress,” Reilly said. “We had $82,000 in our fund balance and we didn’t really know how we were going to fund programs. Today, I stand here with much greater confidence and faith in what we have in terms of our reserves and in terms of our fund balance, but with the admonition that . . . we are seeing increasing expenses. We are seeing salaries, pensions and particularly health care costs go up, and we continue to have concerns about what we are going to receive in terms of state aid — which is a third of our revenue. I remain confident . . . the board has been very prudent in terms of spending, and, most importantly, we have a community that overwhelmingly supports the education of their children.”
Reilly also discussed the progress of the 2020 Capital Project, as well as the associated Energy Performance Contract (EPC) project, which will provide $2 million of energy-related upgrades and additions to district infrastructure.
The $15 million tax-neutral capital project prioritizes safety and security upgrades, educational space enhancements, infrastructure upgrades, and community-shared spaces.
“We are creating some learning spaces that don’t look like the learning spaces when I went to school . . . they look like the learning spaces that we know our students are going to need for the furture,” Reilly said. “ . . . We have bids out for that project. A week and a half from now we will open those bids and see how much of the project we can fund and see what alternates we can fund.”
The EPC project — which will be paid for with state building aid and the savings generated from the improvements — will be completed in coordination with the 2020 Capital Project.
The district is also exploring options for improvements to its athletic facilities. According to Reilly, the district hopes to tap into its capital reserve fund to ensure that there will be no burden on tax payers.
Reilly announced the upcoming retirement of Burton Street Elementary School Principal MaryAnn MacIntosh and Middle School Principal Dr. Jean Regan and reported that the district intends to fill both positions by July 1.
The superintendent then provided an overview of the three pillars of the district’s strategic plan — communication, engagement and wellness — and an update on the efforts made to fullfill each of the associated “strategic intents.”
“It truly is the lens through which we are looking at all new initiatvies in the district this year,” Reilly said. “ . . . All lines draw back to this strategic plan.”
Reilly concluded his speech by announcing that “Business First” — a Buffalo-based business newspaper — ranked Cazenovia Central School District fourth in its 2019 academic rankings of Upstate New York’s public school districts.
“We are in a great place right now and we are only getting better,” he said. “We have fantastic teachers, we have an incredibly supportive parent base and community base, and I think we have some of the brightest, kindest, most compassionate, creative and confident kids anywhere.”
Village of Cazenovia
Mayor Kurt Wheeler’s speech focused primarily on the village’s sustainability efforts and parks.
Wheeler reported that the village completed energy-efficiency upgrades to the HVAC systems in both the village hall and fire department.
This year, the village plans to install a photovoltaic array at its water plant that will generate all of the electricity consumed by the village such as water plant, fire department, municipal building and DPW, in a year.
The village will also complete its LED streetlight project.
“The LED lights were actually delivered today,” said Wheeler. “This will save an enormous amount of energy . . . The cost will all be fully funded by the savings in electricity.”
Wheeler announced the spring openings of both Creekside Park behind the library and Henry Burton Park, located along the creek off Chenango Street.
The village received a $100,000 grant from the Canal Corporation to fund additional improvements to the canal wall in Lakeland Park. The village was also selected for a waterfront revitalization grant to do long term planning for the park.
“We hope that will lead to some long-term funding [to address] a really critical need in the park — the swimming area,” said Wheeler. “Those walls are . . . in desperate need of repair.”
Lastly, Wheeler announced that the village plans to collaborate with CazArts to look into the possibility of transforming Carpenter’s Barn into an arts facility.
GCACC currently has open seats on its board of directors. To learn more, call 315-655-9243, email [email protected], or visit cazenovia.com.
