letter to the editor by guy thomas kempe 2-19-2013

Dear Editor:

The grant application titled New Paltz Municipalities: High Priority Planning for Efficient & Effective Government as submitted in 2009 to the NY Department of State secured financial resources to develop a “neutral feasibility study” of “merger, consolidation, dissolution and shared services.” The application asserted that both Village and Town residents will “have the facts and analytical information necessary to make an informed decision about the best governance structure at the most efficient cost” along with eight specific objectives; (1) public participation; (2) assessments of assets and liabilities; (3) short and long term fiscal implications; (4) resolutions and legislation needed to advance recommendations; (5) a calendar and schedule for implementation; (6) a metric to evaluate quality of services and costs; (7) a white paper to provide a model for other communities, and; (8) an application request to the state for implementation funding.

To date, I have been unable to locate a comprehensive and reliable source of information on either municipal website to facilitate my participation in the project. While some documents are available on the village website, the town website currently announces that the “Next working group meeting of the Government Efficiency Project is May 9, 2011, 9 am at Village Hall.”

The Planning Grant identified the following deliverables; (1) Dedicated pages on both municipalities website to provide a record of the study progress and include links to all relevant documents (FAIL); (2) Facilitation of community involvement (FAIL); (3) Analytical study of all options, including the costs, benefits and liabilities of current municipal structures, alternative models and shared services (Not found); (4) Written resolutions and legislation necessary to move forward with recommended scenarios (Not found); (5) A calendar and schedule to proceed (Not found); (6) A final Feasibility Study with Implementation Outlines (Not found); (7) A metric to be used over time to evaluate delivery of better governance (Not found); (8) White paper to evaluate the process and provide informed guidance for other communities (Not found), and; (9) Application for implementation funding partnership (Not found.)

Despite what I trust are best efforts by leaders and volunteers working on the issue, it is clear that we have a long way to go before the facts and analytical information necessary for the public to make an informed decision about any proposal to change local government structure can be evaluated.
-GTK