Some of the things covered here will not be found in this cycle’s Board of Supervisors packet, which contains all of the resolutions that the Board voted on (they pass everything). That packet can be found here for all who are interested: https://www.ontariocountyny.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03302023-2001
This Cycle:
Public Safety Committee debates gun law resolution
Office for the Aging struggles to continue its mission without budget increase
Pandemic supports are being phased out
Don’t put batteries in your recycling bins
State’s draft solid waste management plan
Another psychiatrist gets a huge raise
Coroner salaries set for 2023-2027
Assistant Deputy County Clerk position created
Last year’s pay raise for Office of the Sheriff is working, says Cirencione
Lock and Talk
Avian flu
Backyard composting program
Roadside stabilization
Jail updates
Public Safety Committee debates gun law resolution: Supervisor Daryl Marshall (Richmond) brought forth a resolution (designed after the resolution that he passed in his town) entitled, “Resolution Opposing the New York Legislation Restricting 2nd Amendment Rights of Law-Abiding Citizens of the County of Ontario.” While the resolution would be powerless to actually change the law, it would send a clear message to the State, other counties, and Ontario residents: This is overreach. We support our residents’ 2nd Amendment rights and stand in opposition to a tyrannical state!
Supervisor Bob Green (Bristol) weighed in first, saying that he doubted that these changes to the law would deter criminals from obtaining and abusing guns. It seems more likely that they will only impact already law-abiding citizens.
Supervisor Mark Venuti (Town of Geneva) questioned the passing of such a resolution, citing concerns of needlessly politicizing the Board of Supervisors by expressing views on divisive state- and nation-wide topics, and arguing in favor of gun safety laws: these laws, after all, do not take anyone’s guns away, and it is proper to have strong safety laws where deadly weapons are concerned.
Supervisor Bill Namestnik (Hopewell) informed Vinuti that the new laws prohibit concealed carry everywhere that it is not expressly allowed. Vinuti voiced doubt that that was really the case. Sheriff David Cirencione confirmed that the new law makes it a Class E felony to carry in any public place where concealed carry is not specifically allowed – Namestnik was right. The law, however, has been bouncing between courts, said the Sheriff, and it is uncertain when (and if) the law will become enforceable.
“It is up in the air and does tend to lean towards you need permission to carry in public places, or it’s a violation of this new law,” said Cirencione.
Namestnik had also pointed out that gun-free zones are usually targeted by violent shooters.
Supervisor John Pruett (City of Geneva) suggested lobbying Ontario’s State representatives with a list of proposed amendments to the law. Unfortunately, all of our representatives already voted against this law. The feedback Marshall has received from them indicates that New York Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly are unwilling to discuss the law at all – even though at least 19 of NY’s 62 counties have expressed opposition to it, according to Marshall.
In the end, the committee voted 3-2 to take the resolution to the full Board of Supervisors. Supervisors Daryl Marshall, Bill Namestnik, and Bob Green voted in favor; Supervisors Mark Vinuti and John Pruett against.
Strangely, although the resolution was supposed to be voted on by the full Board of Supervisors at their March 30th meeting, it was announced that the resolution had been pulled just before the voting began. The resolution can be found on page 36 of the Board packet.
In the course of this Public Safety Committee discussion, Sheriff Cirencione did state that his position on the revised gun legislation is aligned with the statement put out by the New York State Sheriff’s Association. (The article linked to is both a very short read and very straightforward.) The sheriff’s point of view is widely considered extremely important in determining the likelihood that a law like this will be enforced.
Office for the Aging struggles to continue its mission without budget increase: New York State’s 2023 budget doesn’t include any increase for the Office for the Aging (OFA), said Irene Coveny, now former director of the Ontario County OFA, in Health and Human Services Committee. “Although [Hochul] has instituted the Master Plan on Aging, a fairly huge, encompassing planning process to really make this state age-friendly, [she] did not make any investments in the aging network,” stated Coveny.
Home care workers received a $2/hour raise last year and another $1/hour increase this year, but “most of that money was taken up by the MLTCs (managed long-term care facilities) and administrative costs, rather than passing it on to the home care worker,” said Coveny. But the Offices for the Aging themselves have received no budget increases. “We are still also pushing hard for fair pay for home care workers, because that did not do the trick,” she added later (emphasis hers). “We were asking for 150% of the median minimum wage in the region, and that did not actually do it. Didn’t come close to making any impact, obviously, if the MLTCs take a good part of it for administrative dollars.”
No increase in funding for OFAs is a problem, said Coveny, because their contractors are all asking for more money. The Meals on Wheels program is now under-funded for the community’s need, since demand for meal delivery services is up 30% compared to pre-Covid numbers. “Our costs have gone up tremendously, both on the food side and on the transportation side. Right now, we’ve got 50 on a waiting list in this community, and across the state, there’s thousands in need,” said Coveny. “This is a trend, and it’s not getting any less, in terms of people that need these services.”
According to the 2020 census, older adults make up nearly 30% of the Ontario County population.
The Office for the Aging has contracted with an additional meal delivery provider, Mom’s Meals, to expand their capacity. The County will pay Mom’s Meals $8.99 per meal delivered. (Page 15 of Board packet.)
OFAs are federally-funded using Title III-C money. This money goes to NY State, which distributes it to county Offices for the Aging.
Watch Irene Coveny’s full discussion here:
Related Reading: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/2022/01/dinapoli-nys-office-aging-falling-short-funding-program-seniors
NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sponsors federal master plan on aging: https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-aging-is-a-natural-part-of-life-20230405-ol2qrvs7rngkdfjevypek64qpy-story.html
Pandemic supports are being phased out: “During the pandemic, the Feds and the State made the decision that every household would be boosted to the maximum level of SNAP benefits that they would be entitled to for the size of their household, regardless of their income,” said Tiberio. “That ended [at] the end of February.”
This means that, beginning in March, SNAP benefits have been rolled back to their 2019, pre-pandemic levels.
“The concern is that […] the cost of food has gone through the roof.”
According to Tiberio, Ontario County issued $11.5 million in SNAP benefits to its residents in 2019. That number soared to $30 million last year. The difference of about $18 million not only represents extreme food insecurity for the families effected, but also lost revenue to the local grocery industry and additional strain on local food banks, which are already seeing unprecedented demand. Food banks may start running out of food and money in the near future.
As for Medicaid: typically, “people have to re-certify their eligibility at regular intervals,” according to Tiberio. During the pandemic, this requirement was stayed to ensure that no one lost their medical insurance. With job changes and changes to benefits (social security payouts, for example, were increased by 8.7% this year to keep up with the cost of living) impacting eligibility, Tiberio expects to see a significant reshuffling of Medicaid enrollment in the next year. This will include some people being dropped, many switching from State to County coverage, and vice-versa.
Watch Eileen Tiberio’s full discussion here:
Don’t put batteries in your recycling bins: “On average, the national statistic is that we’re losing one materials recovery facility a week due to fires,” reported Carla Jordan, Director of the Department of Sustainability and Solid Waste Management for Ontario County, at the March 20th Planning and Environmental Quality (PEQ) Committee meeting. These fires are the result of people inappropriately tossing lithium-ion batteries into their recycling bins. The batteries then make their way to a recycling plant’s conveyor belt, where it would seem that they sometimes explode.
SSWM is planning to roll out an educational campaign about batteries later this year, said Jordan.
Used batteries are accepted at a number of commercial retailers, such as Runnings and Lowe’s. Or, stop by your local transfer station and ask about getting rid of your batteries. But please, don’t put your old batteries in your recycling!
State’s draft solid waste management plan: New York State’s new draft solid waste management plan, titled “Building the Circular Economy through Sustainable Materials Management,” is a draft plan covering 2023-2032. The plan has six focus areas:
1. Waste prevention, reduction & reuse
2. Recycling and recycling market development and resiliency
3. Product stewardship and extended producer responsibility
4. Organics reduction and recycling
5. Toxics in products
6. Design and operation of solid waste management facilities and related activities
The draft plan has been criticized for including a plan to spread sewer sludge on farmland as fertilizer. Read more about that here: https://www.fingerlakes1.com/2023/04/27/hochul-admin-projecting-major-expansion-of-sewage-sludge-spreading-as-fertilizer-on-farmland/
The Department of Sustainability and Solid Waste Management is still reviewing the 560-page document, which is available for public comment until June 14th. According to the DEC website, “comments can be submitted by email to NYSSolidWastePlan@dec.ny.gov. Please include ‘Comments on SSWMP’ in the subject line of the email.”
Another psychiatrist gets a huge raise: The Board of Supervisors passed yet another resolution providing a generous raise to Eungie Klegar, MD for clinical psychiatric services. The resolution reads: “There is an increased need for clinical psychiatric services,” and “Eunjie Klegar, MD is willing to provide the needed services at an additional cost of $126,000 not to exceed $304,000 for 2023” (emphasis mine). This resolution can be found on page 13 of the Board packet. As recently as the previous cycle, another County psychiatrist, Dr. Shabnamzehra Bhojani, received a third raise, bringing her 2023 salary up to $387,750. Dr. Bhojani will be making $458,250 in 2024. (I covered this here; search “More raises for County Psychiatrist.”) For reference, the County Administrator (our top official) has a salary range of $159,600 - $178,519.
Coroner salaries set for 2023-2027: At their March 30th Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting, the Supervisors passed a salary schedule for coroners. All coroners will be paid $5,000 annually from 2023-2027. In addition, “the Coroner who responds in-person to a unattended death case and files the appropriate report in the County Clerk’s Office as required by County Law §677 (3) shall receive an additional stipend of $250 for each properly filed case.” This can only be meant to encourage coroners to respond to cases in-person – some have taken to responding by phone, which is problematic for a number of reasons that I previously outlined here. (This resolution can be found on page 65 of the Board packet.)
Assistant Deputy County Clerk position created: The Board of Supervisors voted in favor of creating a new assistant deputy county clerk to help out at the County Clerk’s Office. This is interesting because some problems with the County Clerk’s office came to light last year. I previously wrote about this here. (These resolutions can be found on pages 72 & 73 of the Board packet.)
Last year’s pay raise for Office of the Sheriff is working, says Cirencione: Sheriff David Cirencione thanked the Supervisors at Public Safety Committee on March 22 for approving a pay raise for his officers about a year ago. “We were bleeding [officers] to other agencies and Monroe County,” said Cirencione. “It’s working, and it’s allowing us to get first pick,” he said, calling his new recruits “the cream of the crop.”
Lock and Talk: Partnership for Ontario County announced a new suicide prevention campaign called the “Lock and Talk” program this cycle. The program will provide mechanisms (bags, etc.) for locking up firearms, medications, and drugs during times of crisis in order to provide struggling individuals with time to talk or reflect on their situation. Tracey Dello Stritto, executive director of the Partnership for Ontario County, promised that this program would not seek to take anyone’s guns away.
The program has already been successfully rolled out in the state of Virginia and in Livingston County.
The Partnership for Ontario County intends to roll Lock and Talk out in phases, with the first phase focusing on creating relationships with gun owners and sellers, talking about firearm safety and providing training for securing firearms.
Avian Flu: Tim Davis, Executive Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ontario County, reported that there were 13 cases of Avian Influenza in Ontario County as of March 20th. Symptoms of avian flu in your flock include sudden death, decreased appetite or egg production, soft or misshapen eggs, swelling of the head, lethargy, and a lack of coordination. All veterinarians and “other advisors” are required to report these symptoms, if found, to the Department Agriculture and Markets. Davis characterized the current outbreak as “highly pathogenic,” adding that “a lot of people don’t realize that that is the largest domestic animal disease outbreak that we’ve had in US history.”
Backyard composting program: The Department of Sustainability and Solid Waste Management (SSWM) is continuing their backyard composting program this year. In this program, Ontario County residents can purchase a composting unit for only $25. The program will launch in the first week of May. Ontario County has contracted with Brand Builders, LLC for an amount not to exceed $20,000 to implement this program (resolution on page 21 of Board packet). (Update: they quickly sold out of composters, and had to order more for residents who were on a waiting list! I don’t think there are any more available – sorry! Actually, I can’t even find the place on SSWM’s website where one would request a composter… I will ask Carla Jordan about this for next year.)
Roadside stabilization: Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation District announced that it has received an award of $610,000 for water quality improvement projects. The award will be used for roadside stabilization projects in the towns of Canadice and Bristol.
Jail Updates: The updates were very short this cycle. The jail population was 89 total; 14 of those were females being housed in from other counties; 4 were parolees.