Former Mayor Don Cass was ousted at the polls and has dropped out of sight; former City Manager Rich Rising retired to the Beach; former City Attorney Clark Cannon resigned in a huff, and then came back to work for twice the hourly rate.
Capraro lost an election by nine votes. Having successfully petitioned the Attorney General of New York State to look into widespread irregularities in the election, Capraro was deprived opportunity for the Assistant Attorney General to inspect voting machines-- that thanks to the re-setting of voting machines by Ontario County election officials. He remains civically engaged. Augustine continues the fight for open government and accountability from her Council seat.
Councilor Ron Alcock campaigned against disunity and dysfunction, but he has appeared cantankerous and divisive during the televised meetings. Councilors Hagerman and O’Malley are collegial and Mayor Einstein is doing his best to be inclusive and keep the peace.
The Finger Lakes Times has run only two editorials on Council action, one to scold Einstein and another to support Ken Camera’s call for a full SEQR review of the proposed ethanol plant in Seneca County. They have not covered NoStringsGeneva-- which goes to show their previous stories on Geneva’s fact-based point of view were only to do the bidding of Cass and Rising.
Council has been meeting frequently, with the vast majority of meeting time spent behind closed doors, in executive session, hiring a new City Manager. According to the minutes posted on the City of Geneva website, from January 2, 2008 to May 7, 2008, Council met 14 times from January 2, 2008 to April 30, 2008.
The meetings were as follows:
1. January 2: Regular Council Meeting (organizational meeting)
2. January 23: Work Session (multi-year financial plan)
3. February 6: Regular Council Meeting
Executive Session (town sewers)
4. February 20: Special Council Meeting (ethanol plant)
5. March 5: Regular City Council Meeting
Executive Session (topic unspecified)
6. March 11: Special Council Meeting (City Manager search)
7. March 19: Special Council Meeting (City Attorney position)
Executive Session (City Manger Search)
8. March 26: Special Council Meeting
Executive Session (town sewers)
9. April 2: Special Council Meeting
Executive Session (employment histories)
10. April 3: Special Council Meeting
Executive Session (City Manger search)
11. April 4: Special Council Meeting
Executive Session (City Manager search)
12. April 9: Special Council Meeting
Executive Session (City Manager search)
13. April 23: Special Council Meeting
Executive Session (City Manger search)
14. April 30: Special Council Meeting (City Manager search)
Other:
May 7: minutes not yet posted
According to accounts in the Finger Lakes Times, all of the meetings since May 7th (over eight meetings total) have been executive session meetings to interview candidates or otherwise discuss the city manager search process. That means that City Council has met over 20 times in just five short months...a record-setting schedule.
Besides the City Manager search, there’s been little action on Council. Back in January, Council looked, some, into the fire horn that some residents and tourists find obnoxious and decided to leave it be. They’ve taken a stand on community based regional planning and passed a resolution concerning the ethanol plant in Seneca County. They are trying to comply with federal procedures for drawing down grant money to demolish 305 Main Street, finding out what Capraro and Augustine and NoStringsGeneva and the 305 group had been saying all along about flaws in the process were true. There is a Quality Communities lakefront planning process underway, but Council is not directly involved in that undertaking. D’Amico and Alcock have spent their time working to reverse the flow of traffic on West Street, something they say was a major issue during their campaign, and it looks like the rest of the council will follow along. The green committee, the code of ethics, and the neighborhood safety committee are still in the works.
While they’ve approved a lot of spending and new debt for road construction projects, there has been no public discussion about initiatives to either increase revenue or cut spending. That sounds like the Council might be gearing up for a significant tax increase. Sounds like that will be the first item on the new manager’s agenda.
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