Unofficial Record Setting Board Meeting

Last night, if nothing else, we raised the bar for the most business conducted in the least amount of time.

There were four items on the agenda:

• Public hearing and resolution to change the boundaries of the Cortland Road Sewer District to accommodate TC3's dorm construction


• Resolution setting the three year repayment schedule of TC3's commitment to the cost of the flow monitoring systems


• Resolution setting the three year repayment schedule of TC3 Foundation's commitment to the cost of the flow monitoring systems.


• Resolution to approve the agreement with the village regarding the Cortland Road Sewer district and planned improvements

And I added an item to the agenda at the last minute: an agreement to collaborate with a local business to bring wireless high speed internet access to the entire Town of Dryden.

So, we opened the public hearing at 6:30PM . All the Board members were familiar with the issue, so there was no discussion. There were no comments from the public. So, we were able to leave the hearing open for the required 15 minutes while we moved ahead in the agenda.

All the board members had read the TC3 repayment agreements prior to the meeting. There was no request for discussion. So approving those two agreements took only the time necessary to make the motions and vote. And we were still short of the 15 minutes period of the public hearing.

We moved on to the wireless internet proposal. All the Board members had read about the proposal prior to the meeting. I briefly described the Universal Broadband Access Grant program that will allow us to proceed with our effort to bring wireless internet to all of Dryden. There were a few comments. Our commitment is to provide a “Letter of Intent to Collaborate” to a local business applying for a grant. It was approved unanimously.

By then, our fifteen minutes were up. We closed the public hearing and passed the resolution to change the boundaries of the CRSD.

Finally we took up the agreement with the Village regarding the CRSD – at least four years in the making. We discussed arbitration vs simplified judicial proceeding as dispute resolution mechanisms and the need for the village to rescind the moratorium on sewer connections. We passed the resolution approving the agreement including the provision of arbitration for dispute resolution. And passed a resolution to notify the village prior to their Tuesday meeting that we will deliver the signed agreement following their action to rescind the moratorium.

Voila! It was 6:50 PM and we were finished. I must point out that hours of preparation preceded this twenty minute meeting. My thanks go out to the board members who came to the meeting prepared to discuss and decide the issues. And especially to Steve Stelick for his work negotiating the agreement with the Village.

Dryden Village Democratic Party Caucus

Although I don't live in the Village of Dryden, I do represent people that live in the village at the town level. I am encouraging registered Democrats that live in the village to take part in the party caucus on Tuesday, January 29th. Here's the information from the notice:

NOTICE OF CAUCUS

There will be a caucus of the Democratic Party of the Village of Dryden on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 8:00 P.M. at the Dryden Village Hall, 16 South Street.

The purpose of the caucus is to nominate candidates for offices to be filled at the Village Election to be held on March 18, 2008 as follows:

• Trustee (2 years)
• Trustee (2 years)

All registered members of the Democratic Party who reside in the Village of Dryden are invited to attend, participate, and vote. Please come.

Dryden Democratic Committee

Local elections are important - water and sewer, long range planning, zoning, construction look and feel guidelines, lighting, and local law enforcement - are all decisions and projects implemented at the town or village level. Get involved on Tuesday, January 29th.