New Hours at Ferndale Transfer Station

Beginning on February 13th, the Ferndale transfer station will be open to residential customers on Saturday’s and Sundays from 7:45am to 2:45pm. There will be no more residential drop offs on Thursdays.

The station will be restricted to commercial use Monday-Friday 7:45am to 2:45pm.

Myth-busted: Why the WSS argument is Bull.

We’ve been monitoring the comments on a few stories and there always seems to be this strange ‘White Sulphur Springs controls the vote’ mantra. It’s just not true. What does happen is that people don’t pay attention to who they are voting for (just voting party lines), or the only candidates are from White Sulphur. Neither of which are caused by some vast conspiracy by WSS to dominate the world.

Even someone said that “uhg, Sean Hanoffee is from White Sulphur” when the Councilperson-Elect actually lives in the Village of Liberty. Um, White Sulphur people are the same as people from Swan Lake, the same as from Parksville, the same as from Liberty – we are all residents of the Town of Liberty.

It doesn’t matter where the politician is from – but sadly, most have special interest.

So let’s disperse the myth through numbers – we’ll break down the registered voters by Hamlet (& village) and by Party. Then you can decide.

There are 5,946 total voters in the Town of Liberty, out of a population of 9,632 (2000 census).

Let’s start with White Sulphur:

316 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
106 Independent / Blank
107 Democrat
93 Republican

170 Female
146 Male

————————-

Village of Liberty:
3,688 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
1,569 Democrat
1,094 Independent / Blank
887 Republican

2,016 Female
1,672 Male

————————-

Swan Lake:
890 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
410 Democrat
234 Republican
219 Independent / Blank

468 Male
422 Female

————————-

Parksville
574 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
257 Independent / Blank
209 Democrat
181 Republican

295 Male
279 Female

————————-

Ferndale
478 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
171 Democrat
155 Republican
135 Independent / Blank

244 Female
234 Male

So by the numbers: White Sulphur only accounts for 5% of the total vote. While the Village accounts for a whopping 62%.

But heres the real issue – while there is about 6,000 registered voters – only about 2,500 vote in the local elections. Citizens are given the right to vote – it’s your voice – you get to decide who gets elected – but obviously people don’t take this responsibility seriously. AND YET STILL if all of White Sulphur voted for the same candidate they still would only make up 12% of the vote.

There is no ‘White Sulphur Myth’ – Begin discussion.

(And yes we couldn’t use a pic of the Real JAMIE HYNEMAN from Mythbusters)

Your Feedback Wanted: I-86 & Parksville

The I-86 project in Parksville is well underway. We want to know your thoughts on how the I-86 project will affect Parksville. We’ve heard Charlies will close and only operate out of the Liberty Location – but will Fiddle’s just disapear? Will new life come to Main Street in Parksville? Or will I-86 be the final nail in the coffin for all Parksville business?

Share your thoughts in the comment section. If you have any information you would like to share or pictures – send them to: info@libertyindy.com

Liberty is Burning

The minutes of Town Board meetings lately never fail to provide us with a horrific view on how our government is currently not working. Today we are concentrating on the October 19th board meeting, yes it’s another board meeting involving the whole budget process. And our Town Supervisor doesn’t let us down… After a battle with Councilperson Killian in the last episode, our favorite King of Liberty returns to battle Tim Pellam, Highway Superintendant.

This story should have been titled: Town Board Fight Club! So here we go round 1: Lets set the scene – Tim Pellam is in front of the town board with Deputy Superintendant John Lennon, and a few other Highway Department employees. Councilperson Barber take it away:

“Councilperson Clarence Barber wanted to know what the problem was.”

“Superintendent Pellam advised that the problem was that all summer people were coming in and telling the Board to give more money to the Highway Dept. and that the Town had to borrow $500,000 after the flood this year and now they want to cut his budget by $100,000. Mr. Pellam also asked Supervisor Schmidt if he was getting his office cleaned.”

So as it turns out the Supervisor is still having his office cleaned while cleaning was cut from Mr. Pellam’s office:

“Mr. Pellam wanted to know why he didn’t cut the cleaning out of his office.”

“Supervisor Schmidt told Mr. Pellam that he wasn’t going to answer him. He stated that Mr. Pellam was just looking for a fight. He advised Mr. Pellam that he had gotten hot headed and stormed out of the last meeting so they made the cuts. He also wanted to know if Mr. Pellam wanted to tell the taxpayers that they were going to have an 8-10% tax increase.”

Well ok… So if you show passion about your job you get punished for it… Maybe he was just looking for answer – oh yeah “he wasn’t going to answer him”.

So let’s move on a little further – the next exchange starts with this:

“Superintendent Pellam advised that there was no working with him.”

“Supervisor Schmidt advised Superintendent Pellam that he was just looking for a good fight. The Supervisor also advised that he did not say that there were ten guys standing around and that maybe they would have to listen to the tape.”

Sorry – but what the heck is this ‘looking for a good fight’ crap? Is this 1832? Are we in a bar in the middle of Montana? This is an elected official looking for straight answers on why his budget was cut. But like the CDC there is no straight answer – it’s more like “Supervisor Schmidt advises *insert name here* that they don’t fit his personal agenda so he’s cutting the budget, PS – are you looking for a fight?”

“Superintendent Pellam advised that Mr. Schmidt has to realize that there is a difference between the public sector and the private sector.”

“Supervisor Schmidt wanted to know why they were different.”

Go ahead – walk away, get some fresh air and then we’ll continue…

Ready? Ok:

“Deputy Highway Superintendent John Lennon advised that the difference between government and the private sector is that government you start out with X amount of dollars and you work your way down, in the business sector the more you make the more profit you make and the guys get a little more for working harder. Here all you want to do is cut and you only have X amount of dollars to start with and you go through all your money all you have left is the money for the salaries. After everything is gone the guys will still be there and that’s the difference between the private sector and the government sector.”

“Superintendent Pellam advised Supervisor Schmidt that he had been working for the town for twenty-five years and Supervisor Schmidt had only been working for the town for two years so he advised him to come over and he would educate him.”

“James Austin advised Supervisor Schmidt to come over at 2:00 a.m. in the morning when they were out there in an ice storm.”

Hey Rudy Giuliani would…

“Supervisor Schmidt advised that we were going to move on.”

“A Highway employee wanted to know if this was a town wide cut or if it was just highway.”

“Superintendent Pellam advised that it was mostly highway because the Supervisor has a personal agenda not a town agenda.”

Bingo.

“Supervisor Schmidt asked Tim Pellam if he had any other ideas on how to balance the budget.”

“Superintendent Pellam advised that former Highway Superintendent Clarence Barber used to always say to fill in the pool at Hanofee. He advised that people want roads repaired.”

Filling the pool at Hanofee… That’s a topic for an entire other LI Posting…

“Supervisor Schmidt told Superintendent Pellam that he didn’t want to sit with them so this was where they cut.”

As a taxpayer – I object! You should too. Our officials should be able to work things out or at least come to an understanding before making a decision! This is terrible! The entire board is in disarray!!

“Superintendent Pellam advised that there is no place to cut his budget but that the Supervisor didn’t want to hear that.”

“Supervisor Schmidt advised that they were not picking on any one department.”

No it’s one department and one community organization.

“Superintendent Pellam asked the Supervisor if they had cut $80,000 out of any other department.”

“Supervisor Schmidt advised that he was not going to talk to Mr. Pellam anymore.”

The rest of the conversation is irrelevant. I think the point has been made – our Town Government is in disarray. How can we fix this? ATTEND BOARD MEETINGS!!! Write a town councilperson, call them, anything. Let them know how you feel.
But before we end this, let’s hear from the rest of the Board:

“Councilperson Maurice Gerry advised that he appreciates the Highway Dept. guys coming to the meeting. He advised that if the public had to absorb a higher tax then they would just have to absorb a higher tax. Councilperson Gerry advised that he was listening loud and clear. He stated that he didn’t think that there budget should have been cut. He advised that he couldn’t ask for better service than he has gotten from the Highway Department for the last 25 years. Mr. Gerry advised that he would take the consequences after the budget was adopted.”

“Councilperson Lynn Killian also thanked the Highway Dept. guys for attending the meeting. Councilperson Killian advised that they provide a fine service and knows that Mother Nature has been there worst enemy for years. Ms. Killian advised that the biggest reason people attend meetings is to complain about the roads. She advised that she would take their input under serious consideration.”

“Councilperson Thomas Hasbrouck advised that they were looking at everything but that the taxpayers couldn’t afford anymore. He advised that a lot of people were losing jobs and going without a lot of things. He advised that the employees were lucky that they were able to keep their raises in the budget.”

Hey all 3 of them gave good feedback without stating that Mr Pellam was there to “start a good fight”. *Applause*

Why you should care: Episode #1, oh no the Village People

One of the things we are attempting to do with this blog/news service is to enlighten the residents of Liberty to what’s going on at the board meeting and why your should care. Today we are taking a look at the Town Board Meeting from September 21st 2009…

The discussion was about the Town of Liberty Comprehensive Plan. Yes, the plan that was designed by the people of Liberty. First lets set the tone, there was an exchange between Councilperson Killian and Supervisor Schmidt:

“Supervisor Schmidt advised Councilperson Killian that he didn’t really think too much of the people that she had picked for the Comprehensive Committee. He wanted to know why we needed Village people on our Comprehensive Committee.”

Wow – so village residents – it’s good to know that your elected official cares about you… Let’s continue:

“Councilperson Killian advised that we needed Village people because the Village is in the Town.”

Good, thats what I thought too..

“Councilperson Killian asked Supervisor Schmidt if he had gotten any response from the Village regarding the letter that was sent.”

Now we are not sure exactly what this letter contained but we’ll assume it had to do with the Comprehensive Committee and having a Town Board member sitting on the Village Zoning Board. Lets move on:

“Supervisor Schmidt advised no that he hadn’t sent the letter because he didn’t think much of it.”

“Councilperson Killian advised that it wasn’t up to him that it was a board decision that the board agreed to send it out.”

So the board agreed to send out a letter and the Supervisor decided that he would not send it regardless of what the board agreed on. Why?

“Supervisor Schmidt said that he didn’t like it.”

Whoa – lets check the definition a Town Supervisor: Supervisors sit on the town board, where they preside over town board meetings and vote on all matters with no more legal weight than that of any other board member (no tie-breaking or veto powers). So by this definition you would think that the supervisor would act in the best interest of the board… Councilperson Killian agrees:

“Councilperson Killian told the Supervisor that he had a warped concept of what the role of the Supervisor was.”

“Councilperson Killian commented that she didn’t care if he had been on it (Zoning Board) since 1926 the Supervisor has no more say of what happens on the board than anybody, he is not a dictator, the board dictates what happens, that is how local government works and wanted to know if he wanted her to get him a copy of the Town Law about government.”

And the response:

“Supervisor Schmidt advised that yes go get the Town Law.”

“Councilperson Killian advised that this is not how town government works. The board decides what happens not him. The board said that the letter should go out so the letter needs to go out therefore the letter goes out that is the law.”

“Supervisor Schmidt commented good for you.”

Ok I am just going to give the last few excerpts of this exchange:

“Councilperson Killian advised that the Comprehensive Plan was adopted before he was on the Town Board. She advised that they had gone to the people, worked with the county and a whole bunch of people and had developed a very good plan.”

“Supervisor Schmidt advised that he didn’t think that it was.”

“Councilperson Killian advised that it was voted on in the Village also, so both boards have an interest in the Town of Liberty Comp Plan and that it was not up to John but up to the board. She also advised that it was agreed upon with the board who she had proposed for the comp board to look at the comp plan and recognize the next set of goals that need to become a priority. She also advised that Supervisor Schmidt’s copy of the comp plan was sitting somewhere in his office with dust.”

“Supervisor Schmidt advised that yes he had read it.”

“Councilperson Killian advised that the comp plan was the voice of the people of the Town of Liberty and that it should be brought to a committee to identify the goals and see what should be addressed next.”

“Councilperson Killian advised that she was going to take a five minute break and that Supervisor Schmidt should go to government school in the state so that he can learn what his job is.”

So if this is’nt enough for you to care about what’s going on in our Town I don’t know what is… Stay tuned for the next issue of Why You Should Care.

Absurd Cut Threatens Liberty CDC

Town of Liberty residents take note: the organization that is responsible for the economic and social revitalization of Liberty is about to get it’s legs cut off. The Town of Liberty board wants to cut funding to the Community Development Corporation by 50%! That’s about a $12,000 reduction in funding to the organization.

The current contribution to the CDC is ONLY two-tenths of 1% of the total tax paid by Town Residents. The cost is nothing compared to the benefits the CDC provides to the Town! From huge economic successes such as bringing the small business incubator to Liberty & the new Liberty Commons living complex to something as small as Saturday Night Movie Nights at the Main Street Stage, the CDC is truly revitalizing the community.

Your voice as Town Residents needs to be heard to save this essential piece of our community. Without the funding from the Town the CDC would be in danger of losing all funding. Please send an e-mail using the address below to the Town Board or call the Town Supervisor and let him know how you feel at: (845)292-5111

Town E-Mail: info@townofliberty.org Supervisor: j.schmidt@townofliberty.org