 |
|
2002
~ The Year In Review The year started off a little
shaky for Supervisor Pitman but as it was her first term in
office we gave her time to get her feet under her. She did
remarkably well. The first issue that came up after only two
weeks in office was the fire lane issue. The attempt to create
fire lanes was based on advice from town attorney Don Armstrong
that turned out to be incorrect. We can't blame Supervisor
Pitman for that. However, on the plus side, that led to an
all out effort to straighten out the 911 mess that she inherited
from previous administrations. It took most of the year to
get proper names for streets and street numbers cleared up
so that emergency crews can find and get to the right place
when they get a 911 call. In April Judge Rumsey found that
the Knapp rezone was illegal and Supervisor Pitman's town
board decided to let it go and not pursue an appeal. We found
out later that the lawsuit was irrelevant because the Knapp's
got the full amount of money for their farm from Farmland
Protection. That is a subject for a future story. Supervisor Pitman worked for a
minor Sub-Division regulation change that made it easier to
get them without going to the planning board etc. This will
save many individuals months of time and money. In June Supervisor Pitman announced
at the town board meeting that we had a problem with nitrates
in some of Preble's wells. This took guts. I heard from my
sources that Supervisor Pitman took a lot of heat for announcing
this and making it public. Naturally I think she is a hero
for doing this. It is more important that the public knows
of a danger that the selfish interests of certain special
interest groups. Streetlights: For decades previous
administrations let things slide. One of them is the wattage
of the streetlights all around Preble. Supervisor Pitman noticed
the street lights varied in power from 100 to 250 watts and
spent time looking into why this was the case. Supervisor
Pitman determined that there was no reason for paying the
extra money for the 250-watt lights and negotiated no charge
replacements from NiMo to 100-watt bulbs. It may not seem
like much, but the money previous administrations wasted by
overlooking this is not small change. Supervisor Pitman's
efforts will save Preble a considerable amount of money over
time. On a side note I remember several years ago when Pitman
was just a board member, she noticed that the town had been
leasing phones from the phone company for a monthly charge
that was greater than the cost of the phones. Thanks to her
diligence the town canceled the leased phones and has been
saving money ever since. Continuing water monitoring: After
the disclosure of the nitrate problem Supervisor Pitman continued
on an ambitious plan to monitor as many wells as possible
and personally (with the help of Kate Edinger) saw to it that
samples from about 50 wells were taken and processed. She
also attended many meetings with the county to work out a
plan for informing the citizens and correcting the problem.
Her work in this area continues. Staley Code Enforcement Officer
issue: Late in the year it was revealed here that Doug Staley
along with Peter Knapp had planned a move to undermine Supervisor
Pitman's position as CEO. As soon as this was revealed Supervisor
Pitman took immediate action. She called Dan Dineen and informed
him of the problem and changed the wording in the appointments
for 2003 to put them back the way they were. Cudo's to Supervisor
Pitman for fast action. Water safety issue: Supervisor
Pitman appointed a committee to work on the codebook and an
Aquifer Protection District to protect the town's water source.
This is especially important considering the recent and on
going nitrate problem. Our water source is precious and vulnerable
to contamination from outside sources An Aquifer Protection
District will go a long way in seeing that our water source
and the water source for the entire county is protected for
generations to come.
I have been attending most town board meetings for several years. I am impressed by Supervisor Pitman's running of these meetings. She is in command and well organized. I have only highlighted the major issues that have come up over the past year. If you look at the minutes on the town web site (preble-ny.org) you will see a large number of smaller issues that she has handled well and fairly. It may be a surprise to many that I am giving Supervisor Pitman such high marks. I have been taking the town board to task longer than this web site has been around. However, I have to be honest and give Supervisor Pitman credit when it's due and she has been doing a good job in her first year in office. When you compare her first year to all the previous administrations she has done a fantastic job. For example, I cannot think of one thing John Steger did for the town in his two years in office. He must have done something in all that time, I just don't remember any. Supervisor Pitman has done a number of good things that will benefit all of the people of Preble. If she keeps this up she rightly deserves reelection in the fall. That is a big IF and I will be watching and reporting on what happens. I wish Supervisor Pitman, the town board and especially the citizens of Preble luck in this regard. It is long past time that we had a leader that did something good for all of the people. However, I will be watching very closely over the next year to see if the very important issues are handled properly. They include: Water, both the continued nitrate problem and the creation of the Aquifer Protection District. Town Laws: Keeping an eye on any proposed changes that might weaken our laws. Changes to zoning that might allow a prohibited business. And anything else that might come up. Frank Hogg |
Maintained by Frank Hogg ~ Problems or questions about this site contact the webmaster
