Lancaster Industrial Development Agency (LIDA) resignations

[shortstuff]

At the January 3, 2022, Organizational Meeting, Ronald Ruffino, Dino Fudoli, Grant Getzoni, Kevin Lemaster, Lynne Ruda, Frank Todaro, and David Rinow were appointed members of the Lancaster Industrial Development Agency (LIDA) to serve at the will of the Town Board. A very diverse group politically and in business and public careers

The only returning LIDA member is Town Supervisor Ronald Ruffino who was appointed and served as LIDA Chair in 2021. The newly appointed LIDA members held an Organizational Meeting yesterday and appointed former Town Supervisor Dino Fudoli Chairperson for 2022.Fudoli was the only name nominated for Chair consideration and was appointed by a 6-1 vote; Ruffino casting the lone ‘no’ vote.

Immediately after the Chair vote took place Supervisor Ruffino submitted his resignation and left the meeting.

This morning LIDA Chief Financial Officer & Assistant Secretary Pamela Cuviello submitted her resignation. Cuviello serves as Director of Administration and Finance (LIDA CFO) and as Director of Administration and Finance (LIDA PILOT billing.

Cuviello serves as Town of Lancaster Director of Administration and Finance, appointed by Ruffino when he took office in 2020.

Dino is on the LIDA...well, now maybe transparency and accountability can occur. Folks with knowledge and experience will use better judgement when handing out the tax abatement benefits for small businesses. I wonder if the Lancaster Airport is requesting new IDA's to replace the ones expiring???

This must be Dino's one foot closer to the Supervisor's seat. Supervisor Ruffino is a disappointment, it looks like he did not handle the pandemic well and when you fail at the huge issues, politics plays towards leadership change as a result of those failures.

As for Dino's tax issues, pay the damn taxes before you enter back into politics. Just my opinion only

[mark blazejewski]

Submitted Without Comment:

Ruffino resigns from Lancaster’s IDA board
January 20, 2022

by JAMES SINNER Editor

“I did it before for four years when I was town supervisor,” said Lancaster Industrial Development Agency Board member Dino Fudoli on stepping into the chairman position. The move follows current town supervisor Ron Ruffino’s resignation from the IDA board after an internal decision to remove him from the lead spot.

While the move is unusual in recent Lancaster Town history – to not have the sitting town supervisor as Lancaster’s IDA chair – Fudoli says he feels confident he can get the job done.

“I’ve been in business for myself for 30 years, so I think I bring a lot of experience. It’s a great opportunity, in my opinion, to serve the town.”

On Ruffino’s departure, Fudoli wishes the supervisor had chosen to stay on the board, believing his active role on the town’s board proves a valuable asset. “I told the members of the Lancaster Town Board that I wanted Mr. Ruffino to be on that board. He [Ruffino] felt that maybe it should have been automatic to be the chairman.” Fudoli said the new members who were appointed to the IDA board “asked me if I would serve in that capacity [as chair]. I said yes. Ultimately, that triggered the response from Supervisor Ruffino.”

Fudoli said that when being considered for the top officer position by the IDA members themselves, he added a stipulation that the town board – which controls general appointments to the IDA board – would reappoint Ruffino to the IDA, which they did. “The town board did not want to reappoint him [Ruffino]. When I was asked to do it [consider the chair position], I refused to serve on it without the town board appointing him [Ruffino] because I felt it was the right thing to do,” he said.

Ruffino did provide a letter of resignation, stating, “It has been my pleasure to serve as chair of the LIDA for the last two years and am very proud of the great achievements made.”

On what’s to come, Fudoli wants to keep things by the book. “My vision is that any project which we induce must first and foremost follow the letter of what the IDA’s scope of work is intended to be. In other words, under the law that was established for industrial development agencies for New York state.”

He added, “But just equally as important as that, the projects need to benefit the town as a whole. In my opinion, it has always got to be focused on what is best for the town. Wherever we can find the most benefit for the town, those are projects we will entertain.”

Ruffino's Explanation:

(Click On Image To Enlarge)

2022-01-20.png

References:

https://www.lancasterbee.com/article...ers-ida-board/

Supervisor Ruffino's response may be found on page 9 of the January 20, 2022 Lancaster Bee.

[Frank Lee Blunt]

Gorga and Breezless, listen up. Frank Lee Blunt IS everywhere! Frank IS on the TOL board! Frank IS on the LIDA board! Frank IS in charge of the Lancaster highway dept! Frank IS sitting on the VOL board! Frank IS alive at the VOL DPW!

So breezless and Gorga get used to it. Frank IS Lancaster!
The LIDA board will soon have a full house of competent people. Mr. Ruffino is a baby. He was replaced by a person who will lead a board with a new sense of direction and purpose.

Frank Lee Blunt is everywhere you two goofballs.

[Lee Chowaniec]

The Lancaster Bee report on Supervisor Ruffino’s resignation from the LIDA explains why the two Ruffino anonymous-antagonists attack dogs once again attempt to debase / distort a thread into something other than intended – attempting to defend the defenseless by malicious distraction and unfounded unrelated character assassination of others in the process.

By resigning from his appointed LIDA membership because he was not nominated by any LIDA member for the Chair (CEO) of the agency, Supervisor Ruffino sent a clear message to the residents of Lancaster that his ego and best interest was more important than the community’s best interest.

In the past, and because the town board has been under the control of the Democratic Party (66 of the past 70 years), by rote curtesy the Town of Lancaster Supervisor was appointed Chair by the LIDA membership. Ruffino's claim that the that LIDA's newly appointed board for the first time is politically motivated is nonsense - and in fact he voted approval of the appointments at the January 3, 2022, Organizational Meeting.

Town residents this year overwhelmingly voted into office a slate comprised of Conservatives and Republicans primarying Republican endorsed candidates – and in the election as well. Residents voted for change. The elected candidates were given a mandate to make change and such change was reflected in the make-up of the LIDA membership.

The new LIDA membership wants to take the agency into a different direction and did not appoint Supervisor Ruffino Chair. He anticipated this action and already had his resignation paper prepared for submittal. He leaves the LIDA without town representation – a precedent.

It has always been the custom to petition Town and Village board members to serve on the LIDA board - to represent the interests of their municipality and to hold the LIDA accountable. The Town of Lancaster needs to fill that void with a town board member, IMHO.

Supervisor alleges his resignation is based upon political recriminations, that he was wronged because ‘the Town Supervisor was always appointed the LIDA Chair.’ Shades of a former Supervisor who consistently claimed, ‘this is the way it has always been done.’ This is the way it has always been done because the town board has been under Democratic Party control for the past 66 of 70 years.

Everything is about politics. Supervisor Ruffino knows that all too well. He openly stated last year, “I have the votes.” He and a colleague told former Supervisor Dino Fudoli, “We have the votes and will let you serve at our will.” The circumstances have been reversed and Mr. Ruffino is departing claiming he has been wronged – leaving the residents of Lancaster without Town Board representation. And departing while failing to convince other LIDA members to leave with him and failing to coerce any newly appointed LIDA member to nominate him for LIDA Chair.

The LIDA also needs to fill a void created by the following day resignation of LIDA Chief Financial Officer & Assistant Secretary, Pamela Cuviello. Cuviello serves as LIDA Director of Administration and Finance (LIDA CFO) and as Director of Administration and Finance (LIDA PILOT billing.

Cuviello also serves as Town of Lancaster Director of Administration and Finance. She was appointed by Ruffino when he took office in 2020. Coincidental resignation, or contrived?

Ah, politics, don’t ya just love it. As usual, the losing political party squealing like pigs! The tribe (Lancaster voter) has spoken. 'To serve and protect' appears to be missing from Supervisor Ruffino's acumen.

[mark blazejewski]

By resigning from his appointed LIDA membership because he was not nominated by any LIDA member for the Chair (CEO) of the agency, Supervisor Ruffino sent a clear message to the residents of Lancaster that his ego and best interest was more important than the community’s best interest.

According the the Lancaster Bee, Ruffino claimed that the make-up reflected a Republican politicization of the Board:

"Lancaster Town Supervisor Ron Ruffino’s decision to leave Lancaster’s Industrial Development Agency Board should not be unexpected, says Ruffino, a longtime local Democrat who believes the 2022 shift into a Republican majority on the town’s board prompted a political effort to see his and fellow Democrats’ efforts stifled."

Ruffino failed to emphasize the fact the current membership now includes only two Republicans.

Specifically, in addition to the two Republicans, the Council approved three enrolled Conservatives, one enrolled Democrat, and one non-affiliated "Blank."

Supervisor Ruffino, a Democrat, who in 2019 described himself as one who holds a capital "C" "Conservative record," and lower case "c" "conservative values," in fact voted "Yes" on all appointments, including his own.

Did Ruffino not know the party affiliations of the proposed membership at the time he voted for all of the appointments?

If he did not, the Supervisor, once again, did not do his complete due diligence before casting a vote in the people's name, eh?

With that all of that said, assuming that Ruffino did know the party affiliations of the proposed LIDA membership, if Ruffino truly believed that in their LIDA appointments, the Town Council was politicizing the LIDA, why on Earth did he vote "Yes" on all of LIDA appointments to begin?

Perhaps Mr. Ruffino's resignation is revealing.

Apparently Ruffino found this LIDA Board so politicized that it required his resignation because it "stiffled" the "efforts" of his fellow Democrats.

Does that not support the long-time suspected: Mr. Ruffino was never one who held true conservative values, but for many years, disengiously manipulated the Conservative Party voters strictly for electoral considerations?

[gorja]

Then, you have this LIDA board member who doesn't believe hunting laws apply to him.








These were charges that were dismissed











It's people like him that cause the Lancaster citizens to be deprived of the Heritage Trail during big game season.
He got one charge dismissed from 2009 and repeated it in 2011

[Frank Lee Blunt]

Gorga, why did you leave out some information about Mr. Rinow's game law violation charges? The same app that shows this also says it happened in Illinois. Does the Heritage trail go that far? If you think I have not known about this for some time, you're being foolish. I agree, as a sitting member of the LIDA, Mr. Rinow deserves the scrutiny that comes with the position. But I am not so sure game law violations as minor as it seems his were are of any impact or bearing. Gorga ,just as I am aware of Mr. Rinow and Mr. Fudoli's background, I too am aware of most of the player's background, including you and your son's. I will not swing down Gorga, but tread lightly, Detective Gorga with your toy.

It is nice to see you are still working the corner for Ruffino.
Your game is weak as usual. Your opinions drip with hate still. You lost.
You'll have to find something better than what you are selling now.
I understand you haven't shown your face at any Town Board meetings lately.
Why not attend and bring your assertions right to Mr. Fudoli or Mr. Rinow or for that matter Mr. Sojka? I know they attend all the meetings.


Stay tuned

[gorja]

So it's okay if he violates the hunting laws out of state, as long as it's not local,eh?

[Frank Lee Blunt]

Once again, Gorga, you come up short. If this is your only findings on Mr. Rinow you've done him a favor. Compared to most Dems in the TOL his "rap sheet" seems to be rather lacking.

Maybe it is time to start revealing theirs?

[gorja]

When Mr Rinow speaks act Town board meetings, he speaks as if he is holier than thou. The way he badgered Mr Wozniak and Amatura as if he was without sin. Just pointing out that he will do what he wants when he wants whether it's lawful or not.

[Breezy]

Gorga and Breezless, listen up. Frank Lee Blunt IS everywhere! Frank IS on the TOL board! Frank IS on the LIDA board! Frank IS in charge of the Lancaster highway dept! Frank IS sitting on the VOL board! Frank IS alive at the VOL DPW!

Get a load of this, Readers! And the key capitalized words! Is this guy full of himself, or is he just plain deranged?

Or is he a budding megalomaniac? (Frank, ya might have to look that one up, pal, LOL)

Like you have any influence at all! Gee, a college-level psychology class could have a heyday with this fool.

AND FRANK LEE BLUNT CLAIMS TO BE THE VOICE OF THE NEW LANCASTER GOP/CONSERVATIVE REGIME!

So breezless and Gorga get used to it. Frank IS Lancaster!

In this line he claims to go beyond politics and his ego engulfs the entire town.

Frank, can your head get any bigger? Is it still inflating to take in even more communities?

Frank Lee Blunt is everywhere you two goofballs.

I guess when someone suffering from megalomania calls you a goofball, you should count your blessings!



YIKES!

[Lee Chowaniec]

Lancaster residents deserve an explanation

The Town of Lancaster will start livestreaming all its board meetings held at Town Hall beginning with Monday evening’s town board meeting. The Lancaster Industrial Development Agency (LIDA) has committed to likewise livestream its meetings held in the same Town Hall room. Openness and transparency to the max!

Unable to attend meetings anymore for age-related health reasons, I am looking forward to watching the meetings livestreamed. However, there is no LIDA minutes / agenda meeting scheduled on the Town’s ‘Recent Minutes and Agendas’ website menu.

When going to the LIDA website for information, I discovered the website has not been updated in 2022 – nada, no listing of new members, minutes, and agendas, etc. When asking a newly appointed LIDA member for reason, I was only informed there are some transition issues, that it’s ‘a work in progress.’

The LIDA’s purpose is to serve the town in promoting commercial development, job creation and other functions that help grown the town’s tax base as well. No transition, the result of membership change, should impact its function. The town’s best interest should be front and center.

Lancaster residents are owed an explanation why the transition is not going smoothly. What impact did Supervisor Ruffino’s resignation have – resigning directly after the vote for LIDA Chair took place at the opening Organizational Meeting portion, and where he was not elected Chair. IMHO, this resignation was tendered in Supervisor Ruffino best interest, not the town’s.

The same can be said of LIDA CFO Pamela Cuviello resigning the very same day. As Town of Lancaster Director of Administration & Finance, Cuviello held the LIDA position as CFO for the past two years - as others in her position did by rote for years. Cuviello stated in a correspondence submitted to the LIDA: “Thank you for your consideration, however, I am no longer interested in the position of CFO for LIDA.”

The LIDA is now missing a town board representative sitting on its board; a first in my memory. The LIDA should have Town and Village board membership representing their municipality’s best interests.

The LIDA for the first time in my memory is absent a CFO, a position held by the Town of Lancaster Director of Budget & Finance.

Do either of these resignations have anything to do with the LIDA website not being updated, and where no LIDA activity news is being disseminated remains to be determined. Maybe not, but those are the only two changes that are obvious to one on the outside looking in. The public has a right to know why they are being kept uniformed. Why the LIDA website has not been updated.

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
As Town of Lancaster Director of Administration & Finance, Cuviello held the LIDA position as CFO for the past two years - as others in her position did by rote for years.

Just as the town supervisor has held the LIDA chairman position habitually for years

[mark blazejewski]

Lancaster residents are owed an explanation why the transition is not going smoothly. What impact did Supervisor Ruffino’s resignation have – resigning directly after the vote for LIDA Chair took place at the opening Organizational Meeting portion, and where he was not elected Chair. IMHO, this resignation was tendered in Supervisor Ruffino best interest, not the town’s.

The same can be said of LIDA CFO Pamela Cuviello resigning the very same day. As Town of Lancaster Director of Administration & Finance, Cuviello held the LIDA position as CFO for the past two years - as others in her position did by rote for years. Cuviello stated in a correspondence submitted to the LIDA: “Thank you for your consideration, however, I am no longer interested in the position of CFO for LIDA.”

Does a scorched earth approach to governance well-serve the best interests of Lancaster's residents?

Methinks not.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
As Town of Lancaster Director of Administration & Finance, Cuviello held the LIDA position as CFO for the past two years - as others in her position did by rote for years.

Just as the town supervisor has held the LIDA chairman position habitually for years

Indeed. When appointed to serve on LIDA, the town supervisor as a courtesy was elected Chair. Considering the town was under Democratic Party control for 66 of the past 70 years (from 1996-2021), the Chair appointment was a given.

The town board now under control of recently elected Conservative- ‘real’ Republicans decided to go a different direction, appointing, and returning only Supervisor Ruffino to the seven member LIDA Board of Directors.

At the Organizational Meeting, at time of Chair voting, Supervisor Ruffino received no nominating petition. Suspecting such happening, Supervisor Ruffino submitted an immediate written resignation correspondence and left the LIDA meeting. This is analogous to a playground child who brought the ball to the game, was not elected ‘captain,’ and in anger took his football and went home leaving his team behind and their best interest. Ruffino should have continued to serve in the town’s best interest.

In his 20 years of public service in the Town of Lancaster, Mr. Ruffino has sat on Democrat controlled boards as Councilmember and in the last two as Supervisor. He as other Democrats in office have openly stated ‘we have the votes. The circumstances have reversed, and he cuts and runs?

A former Supervisor was asked repeatedly why the town was consistently acting on certain matters when it was obvious change was needed. His answer: “Because we have always done it this way.” The new LIDA board wants to take the board in a different direction and has the authority to do so.

Supervisor Ruffino was appointed to LIDA and choose to leave on his own volition.

After serving two years in LIDA as CFO, Cuviello chose to not continue to serve. Cuviello was not removed. She also left on her own volition; a first to my knowledge.