The Cost?

[bwilson]

In light of Keven Gaughan's The Cost presentation and Donn Esmonde's column today I would like to put this question out there.

Should The Town of Hamburg Look at reducing the council to three members?

Should the Villages of Hamburg and Blasdell look at the same idea?

How do you feel about the possibility of merging villages with the town?

[FJB]

In light of Keven Gaughan's The Cost presentation and Donn Esmonde's column today I would like to put this question out there.

Should The Town of Hamburg Look at reducing the council to three members?

Should the Villages of Hamburg and Blasdell look at the same idea?

How do you feel about the possibility of merging villages with the town?

I have been on record at he town board meetings stating that the only way for our community to succeed and grow back to a prosperous state is to reduce the size of government. This includes losing levels of government that can be merged. The less government we have, the lower the taxes and more attractive we become to others. I lived in Jacksonville Fl. during the time that they merged all townships to a single county government. That was in 1983 and now they are 10 times the size they were then. We can learn from the lessons of others. The best thing our leaders can do is realize that they don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just follow the examples of those who have been successful.

[ECL]

I think all 3 should be merged together. But remember, they tried to merge the village of Hamburg police department with the Town Police Department a few years ago and it was a drag out fight. They certainly do not need all 3 municipalities.

[bwilson]

FJB ECL thank you for your responses...I'm glad to see some intererst in an actual issue. I posted this as a legitimate issue, but I have also been able to determine that other people posting on Walter's budget i.e. gamesy, vah and hamburg voter are not interested in the real issues.

[JustMakeSensePlease]

In light of Keven Gaughan's The Cost presentation and Donn Esmonde's column today I would like to put this question out there.

Should The Town of Hamburg Look at reducing the council to three members?

Should the Villages of Hamburg and Blasdell look at the same idea?

How do you feel about the possibility of merging villages with the town?

I would like to see any plan that would help to keep the taxes in line..Also I think a merge of school districts and shared services that way would also be a great idea..And for the record..I do like Steve Walters..I voted for him..I wanted change. And NO I am not his wife..Just letting you all know before the attack begins..

[bwilson]

I would like to see any plan that would help to keep the taxes in line..Also I think a merge of school districts and shared services that way would also be a great idea..And for the record..I do like Steve Walters..I voted for him..I wanted change. And NO I am not his wife..Just letting you all know before the attack begins..

Great point about the school districts. I really think the consoloidation should begin there and that is where we would realize the biggest savings. I respect your vote, your opinion, and your approach to discussion in these forums

[JustMakeSensePlease]

Great point about the school districts. I really think the consoloidation should begin there and that is where we would realize the biggest savings. I respect your vote, your opinion, and your approach to discussion in these forums

Thank you..I respect yours as well..I am willing to bet the public school teachers will not be so pleased. But then again, neither am I.

[HamburgVoter]

FJB ECL thank you for your responses...I'm glad to see some intererst in an actual issue. I posted this as a legitimate issue, but I have also been able to determine that other people posting on Walter's budget i.e. gamesy, vah and hamburg voter are not interested in the real issues.

I find it interesting that you find disagreement with your position as disinterest in issues

[bwilson]

I find it interesting that you find disagreement with your position as disinterest in issues

I haven't taken a position on any issues in this thread I simply posed a question, I then commented that disinterest in the aforementioned issues shed some light on your actual motives on this forum. I am really curious to know your position on the issues that I started this thread with. Let's discuss, that's all I'm looking for here. Do you truly want to advance our commun ity...well let's exchange ideas, put our collective heads together and use this forum as a vehicle to let the public officials know what we think (you know they read it). Hamburg Voter...what do you think about consolidating villages and towns? what do you think about reducing the number of board seats?

[HamburgVoter]

A discussion of issued without any innuendo, name calling or belittling would be refreshing.

I accept.

I would like to see the Town of Hamburg with no incorporated Villages and with a 5 member Town Board. All municipal functions (ie.. Highway, Police, Recreation, etc...) would be carried out under the auspices of the Town of Hamburg.

Voters would pick representatives for 4 districts with 1 at large member who would be the Town Supervisor. To ensure true representation, residence within the specific district would be mandatory for election.

Since the Villages are unique and have unique needs, each would be an election district with their own elected representative on the Town Board.

Since the northern areas of the Town are vastly different and have different needs and concerns that the southern areas, there would be a "north district" and "south district" Town Board representative for each area, excluding the Village within that area.

The Town Supervisor would be elected on a Town wide vote, as is currently the case.

In this scenario, the Villages would maintain their identity without the duplicaton of services that currently exists, saving money and reducing taxes.

[ECL]

I like your idea. I am thinking 5 members isn't enough if the villages are eliminated.

[bwilson]

I agree with you for the most part HV...The biggest challenge to that Idea is the representation of the villages. If you assign one board member or district to each of the villages, they could not legally have the same vote on the town board as they would represent different numbers of people. The only solution would be to assign a weighted vote. This is one of the reasons the Board of Supervisors was eliminated and Erie County was divided into 20 equally sized legislative districts...to ensure equal representation.

I would think that if the district were drawn up correctly then each area of the Town would be represented adequately. A councilmember would most likely represent Blasdell and woodlawn, and perhaps a few more neighborhoods to cover 1/5 of the Town's Population.

[Jim Ostrowski]

I think the larger towns should be divided into council districts.

[gamsey]

I find it interesting that you find disagreement with your position as disinterest in issues

You needn't throw stones or point fingers Bwilson. Myself, VAH and all the others on here have been defending Steven Walters from the personal cheap blows and lies that are being dealt about him on here and in the town council meetings. You obviously take the same stance when it comes to the 4 council members...so don't be a hippocrate. Its obvious throughout these past few weeks that you don't practice what you preach...this is speak up western new york. We choose to speak our minds, and if you don't agree with it fine...but don't prosecute us for being uncivilized individuals who only want their pound of flesh before signing off...because one can point the finger right back to you (...."shameful!"...)

[bwilson]

So gamesy what do you thing of the options we are discussing in this thread?

Is there room for consolidation? Do you think a 3-member board would be able to function. I like the idea of maybe a seven member board with the elimination of the village governments, even though the town board would be getting large we could perhaps eliminate 10+ other elected positions.

The idea of cutting every municpal board by two members as Mr. Gaughan proposes really concerns me. I just don't like the idea of major issues being decided by only three people. If I may I waould like to draw an anology to our criminal justice system. We have 12 jurors in every trial for a reason. Now having less jurors would certainly be less expensive and convenient, but I think we would be losing something there. I know I'm not comparing apples to apples here, but do you guys see my point?