Democrats Endorse Stoddard and Alvarez Reelection Bids in Liberty Elections
The Liberty Democratic Committee has endorsed Village of Liberty Trustees Joan Stoddard and Luis Alvarez in this year’s elections to be held on Tuesday March 20, 2012.
“We will continue to protect taxpayers and work to revitalize Main Street,” Stoddard and Alvarez said. “Among our top priorities will be to continue to work with our police department to ensure a safe and secure Village.”
Stoddard’s vast budget experience has been a major asset to the Village of Liberty. She has been the Accounting Office Manager for the Villa Roma Resort for the past 30 years. Stoddard and her husband Bill have two children Matthew and Taylor.
Alvarez has been employed by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office since 1983. He currently holds the position of Sergeant and is respected throughout the County for his work as a D.A.R.E. Officer. Alvarez also worked with Liberty police for one year. He is married for 36 years to wife Ida, and has two children Luizelle Bohan, married to James, and son Julio married to Katy.
Liberty to hold community budget forum on February 2nd
The Liberty Central School District in coordination with Sullivan County BOCES is holding a community budget forum to discuss the 2012-2013 school budget. The forum will be held on Thursday, February 2nd, 7-9 p.m. at Liberty High School and will give Liberty residents and opportunity to discuss their thoughts, ideas and concerns about the budget.
“During these difficult past budget seasons, we have needed to make significant reductions across the board,” said Liberty Superintendent Michael B. Vanyo. “This year also presents the additional challenge of staying within a 2% tax levy cap as well. We want to make sure that we are in touch with our community and want the public to have a voice in the budget formation process.”
The forum will begin with an introduction by Sullivan County BOCES Superintendent Larry Thomas, who will also moderate the event. Participants will be divided into smaller groups, guided by a Sullivan BOCES facilitator, to discuss key budget concerns including ways to save money, educational programs, and the top priorities of the community. Participants will then have the opportunity to discuss each group’s results.
If you would like to participate, please R.S.V.P. by Tuesday, January 30 to District Clerk Tania DeFrank, at 845-292-6990 or tdefrank@libertyk12.org. R.S.V.Ps are strongly encouraged, but not required. For questions, please contact Communications Specialist Allison Ruef, 845-292-5400, ext. 2055 or aruef@libertyk12.org.
Letter: Statement From Supervisor Candidate Charlie Barbuti
I am Charlie Barbuti and I am asking for your vote for Supervisor of the Town of Liberty. If you don’t know who I am, I have wasted an awful lot of money in advertising my furniture business over the last 38 years.
I was born and raised in Liberty and returned here after college to help my father out in his new furniture business. While he had started working in the business in 1946 for Russ Hodge, he never owned his own place. That changed in 1973 when he opened a furniture store on West Street in Liberty. Together we built Charlie Barbuti Furniture Mall into the premier furniture store it is today.
As a young man I joined many civic groups and worked hard to make Liberty a better place to live and raise a family. My family and business soon took priority in my life and I reduced my community involvement time. Fact was, I got tired of going to meetings and seeing nothing happen. We should get the gold medal for meeting and planning. Unfortunately we get the booby prize for making things happen. Should I be elected, this will be a central theme of my administration. It is time to “STOP TALKING AND START WALKING”. We have to stop talking about things that divide us and may never happen. We need to focus our efforts on the issues we agree on and spend all the energy we spend beating ourselves and each other up, on efforts to improve our quality of life. We live in a beautiful place and have a wonderful community.
LISTEN, LEARN AND LEAD. I have made this the centerpiece of my campaign. I want to LISTEN to your concerns and ideas. I will then do the research to LEARN the best ways to turn our dreams into reality. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. In fact, Liberty has a Comprehensive Plan, which I would use as the foundation of our future strategy. We need to study what has been working in other places and apply those ideas to Liberty. I will take what you tell me, what we learn together, work with the many individuals and organizations that are trying to improve our community and LEAD our Town to becoming what it says on all the signs. “Welcome to Liberty, the Heart of Sullivan County”. A heart is more than an emotional center, it is the pump that gives life to the body.
Village of Liberty Public Hearing Wed. 20th 6:30pm
There will be a public hearing on the proposed Village of Liberty budget this Wednesday at 6:30pm. It’s slated to take place at the Village Municipal Building (village hall) but considering the turn out last time, it could move.
But again: Village Budget Public Hearing, Wednesday, 6:30pm Village of Liberty Municipal Building, 167 North Main Street.
Residents come out in support of LES Music
This evening the Liberty Central School District Board of Education meeting was heavily attended. Parents, students and community members came out to voice their support for the Liberty Music Department. The meeting had been moved from the high school media center to the cafeteria to accommodate the large number of attendees.
The Board of Education was accommodating to the approximately twenty people who wanted to speak. Everyone who expressed an interest in doing so was allowed time to present their point of view. Speakers ranged from former music instructors of the school district, current students, parents of students in a variety of grades as well as distinguished alumni. All spoke in favor of restoring the half position that would allow for continued instrumental music in the fourth grade.
Those who support the music program pointed out the benefits of early music instruction, the success of the Liberty music program and the harm that would be done by delaying instruction until the middle school. Also included in the public comment period was a performance by several fourth and fifth grade music students to accentuate the progress made during those early years. A petition was presented to the Board that had over 300 signatures gathered in the community in the last 48 hours.
Following the public comment several members of the Board of Education took the opportunity to address the large number of attendees. Dr. Philip Olsen encouraged people to look beyond just our local school and community at the larger economic picture. Board President David Burke assured that they had considered all of the points brought up. He wanted to stress that although they had not found a way to pay for the position as of yet, they are continuing to explore the options for funding. He also thanked the crowd for the focused, organized and respectful way that they presented to the board.
Superintendent of Schools Michael Vanyo described the nuances of the position, the efforts he has been making with BOCES in order to continue with a shared position as they have this year (currently the half position is shared with the Monticello School District which does not wish the continue next year). He praised the music program and what it does for both the students and as a model for other programs in the school district. Finally, board member Joyce Teed spoke of the difficult decisions the Board is having to make in order to present a budget with a small enough tax increase that it has a hope of being approved by the voters.
All in all it was a great show of support for the Liberty Music Program and was well received by the Board of Education. Those who came out were reminded time and again to keep up with their efforts, support the causes that they are passionate about and work with the Board to continue to stress what is important to them.
April 12th Village Board Meeting public comment recap
What a Village Board meeting… Over 100 people in attendance. 40 plus people stood up and made their voices heard. The big turnout was in defense of the prosed cut of two Liberty Police Investigators and one Sergeant. Most all comments were in support of the Village Police Department, only one or two people stood up and said they didn’t want to face a tax increase. A lot of comments we’re aimed at getting the Village board to talk to the Town. People want the Police department to become a shared service between the Town and Village.
Residents of the Village and the Town were urged to attend the Town Board meeting on April 20th, where the idea of sharing the service with the Town will be presented to the board. This was a sensitive issue for Mayor Winters – for some reason, he seemed ‘unsettled’ towards any talk of working with the Town.
But this new-found willingness to work with the Town may be too-little too-late. There will be a Village public hearing on April 19th at 7pm and the budget vote is on the 25th.
Chief Mir and the Police Union are offering multiple concessions to the Village to try and make the budget work. But the Mayor seems to already have his mind set, like with the dissolution of the Village Court just over a Month ago. What I could tell by the reaction of the board members is that most support the PD but are having a tough time making the numbers work – and thats just through reaction during public comment.
I’ll be uploading some parts of the public comment over the next day (theres a TON). But we’ll start things off with Sullivan County District Attorney James Farrell.
In the next video Roger Cortes, owner of McCabes in Liberty states that he supports the PD – but something has to be about the Taxes. “Business can’t afford another increase” says Cortes. He is followed by a rousing speech by Dan Ratner aimed at those who don’t pay their taxes. He want the board to look at businesses who aren’t paying and do something about it. Heres the video:
More to follow!
Post Village Board Meeting!
Well we are here! We’ll be updating live! No video, but I’ll push up pics as it goes along…
10:25 – I have a ton of video to upload. BIG meeting, over 100 in attendance, over 40 people spoke. I’ll try to get that up soon.
7:29 – media row here – Me, Times Herald Record Behind me, and Dan from the Democrat to my right…
7:26 – taxi law public comment
7:25 – spotty cell service….
7:24 – spotty wireless here
7:17 – Mayor winters present, Shirley Lindsley, Joan Stoddar, Luis Alvarez, and Corrine McGuire
7:16 – at the Liberty Firehouse now!
7:03 – over occupancy here… Easily over 100 people
6:57 – Discussion on wether to move the meeting to the firehouse…
2010 Census shows Liberty population growth
Liberty’s population is on the rise. The 2010 census shows a population increase of over 10% in the Village. While the Town (excluding the Village) only had an increase of 2.6%. There could be several factors to the over 10% increase in the Village including, Ideal Snacks, the opening of Liberty Commons, low cost of living (comparative to Orange county), etc…
The Village population went up to 4,392 – an increase of 417 over the past 10 years. This is a clear signal that families are investing in Liberty’s future. Personally I moved my family of 6 here from Orange County within the last 4 years. We took advantage of the low housing prices and the ability to live in a small village that provides great municipal service. I know of several other families who have as well.
The town’s population increase was only by 253. Still it’s very encouraging to see the our Town as a hole has increased it’s population. Rural communities like ours have shown huge decreases across the country as people move back to urban area. This continued increase should be a clear sign to potential investors that our Town is viable and there are people to here to take advantage of your services.
Now, lets get some more jobs here so we can keep this population increase going!
Village Budget Battle: Mayor’s Office takes off gloves, swings at LPD
The Mayor’s office put out a press release yesterday concerning the Village budget. Below is the release in full:
Mayor Richard Winters announced today a bleak outlook for the Village of Liberty’s 2011 budget. With revenue down statewide and expenses rising, Liberty joins the other municipalities in the region that have to find new ways to streamline local government while holding the line on property taxes. Faced with double digit increases in health insurance and pension contributions, the Mayor and the Village board will have some very difficult choices to make to fill the gap. One area that concerns the Mayor is the proposed Village Police budget that came in one quarter of a million dollars higher than last year. “With 90 properties in the Village going up for tax foreclosure, there is no way we can pass on a quarter of a million dollars tax increase to the taxpayersâ€, said Winters. The Village Police Department accounted for approximately 63 percent of the total Village budget last year, with the average police officer making $62,000 without overtime. “Public safety is extremely importantâ€, said the Mayor. “But we have to strike a balance without crushing the taxpayers and bankrupting the villageâ€. The Village fiscal year begins June 1st.
From what we’ve heard this release was put out from the Mayor’s office without consulting the entire board first.
We all know a Police presence in Liberty is essential – especially after the large drug bust last week on Emma Ave. And with lower incomes, more unemployment, and more foreclosures on these properties crime will rise. How should the Mayor handle this double edged sword? Post your comments below.
Village Elections: Unofficial Results in
Unofficial Results:
Proposition: Y: 262 N: 121
Mayor:
223: Richard Winters
161: Clarence Barber
Justice:
164: Harold Bauman
Trustee:
206: Shirley Lindsey
198: Corrine McGuire
174: Dan Ratner Jr
154: Nicholas Piatek
11: Steven Green
10:30 – We’re calling it: Winters remains mayor along with Corrine McGuire and Shirley Lindsey retaining their seats. The proposition to abolish the postion of Village Justice is “Yes”
10:27 – More votes for the Judge than “No” for the proposition, confused voters…
10:22 – Almost done, Yes on Proposition, Winters, McGuire, & Lindsey
10:13 – About 2/3 through about 250 votes. Looks Like Winters Mayor, McGuire & Lindsey Trustees
9:58 – Republicans have the lead right now, proposition still “Yes”
9:52 – Still a long way to go. Stay Tuned. Proposition is 3 to 1 “Yes” right now
9:41 – People are voting for the judge while voting to dissolve the court – can you say confused?
9:19 – Counting has started, this is going to take a long time
9:07 – About 375 ballots casted
9:06 – This could take a while… Hang in there
9:04 – We’re in the Village Hall waiting for the counting to begin.
7:30 – polls are busy! Major turnout!
