Quick and Brief preliminary report of the 4/8/2 Town Board Meeting.

Other than the mundane stuff that is always a staple of town board meeting, the main areas of contention were the Rumsey decision and fire lanes.

The board went into executive session with the Knapps lawyer Leija to discuss their options after losing the lawsuit. After a bit Leija came out and the board continued discussion. They couldn't decide what to do so they decided to file a motion of their intent to appeal. All that does is give them more time to collect information and make the decision later. A placeholder if you will. Several knowledgeable people have told me that Ramsey's decisions are rock solid. I'm no expert on that but I am going to look into how many times Rumsey has been overturned in the past. If, as I expect, that number is very low then an appeal by the town and Leija will be another waste of time and taxpayers money on a long shot. Once all the information is in the board will decide to file an appeal or call it quits and give up. If the board decides to appeal they will be telling the judge that he was wrong in his well thought out decision. Not the move to make if you want to stay on the judge's good side.

The town board also discussed fire lanes and the reasons for them. This is both a simple and complex subject.

Fire lanes in their simple form are just a set of rules about how wide and high a space is needed to quickly get emergency vehicles down a private road. The complex part comes when an existing road does not comply with the new rule. Who pays to make it comply? If it requires more land then who pays for that? If it needs to be maintained, who pays for that? Many private roads run across different property owners land so when a problem occurs who is responsible to correct it? Just to name a few areas. This is going to take a long time and upset many property owners who will be forced to comply. Should make for some lively meetings. This all started last year when John Snavlin, Tully resident and past Tully Town Board member, who owns a summer camp on Song Lake, filed a complaint when he felt the road leading to his camp was not big enough for a fire truck. He has a 9-foot right of way, which has served UPS, FedEx, contractor's trucks, lumber delivery trucks, moving vans and Preble's fire truck. 9 feet is also the width of the lane of just about every road around these parts. Why Snavlin felt 9 feet wasn't enough is unknown. That's how it started and now we're stuck with it. If you look at the opinion from the Attorney General here you will see that every town HAS to create a fire lane rule or failing that the county will, failing that the state will. So you see we have to do it or others will decide for us. If you have any thoughts on the matter you should pass them along to your favorite board member. The roster or list of board members is here.

Pick your fav and let them know what you think. Once they have all the information they will come up with a rule and there will be a public hearing. Again this is something we have to do. It involves the safety of our firefighters and us. Remember that the quicker the fire truck can get to you the better. It is easier and safer to put out a campfire than a bon fire. If the fire fighters are delayed getting to the fire then it is more dangerous for them. Recent events in New York and Manlius painfully prove that to all of us.

As a property owner with a half-mile of private road that will become a fire lane, I am concerned about safety but I want to be treated fairly if more of my land is needed to comply. I'm sure other property owners have the same concerns. I'm very happy that a rule will be put in place that will ensure the safety of our firefighters and we should all support our town board in this effort. It is in many respects a full can of worms and the town board will be spending a good deal of their time resolving this. It shouldn't be all that bad. Everyone had a moving van when they moved in. Fire trucks aren't much different. If the moving van had trouble getting to your place then changes might be required for a fire lane. However, it will be much better to find that out now and fix it rather than wait for a fire to find out.

I sense I am rambling due to my cold so I'll go now.

Frank Hogg

4/8/2