Cheektowaga Town Clerk

[BNPilarski]

THE BEST CHOICE FOR CHEEKTOWAGA TOWN CLERK

Dear Friends,

As you may be aware, I have announced my candidacy for election to the Town of Cheektowaga Clerk's position. I am asking for your help, your support, your endorsement and most important your vote on November 3, 2015.

I have always believed that Town Government should be open to the people and serve the interests of all. That is why I am running for Cheektowaga Town Clerk in 2015.

The Town of Cheektowaga needs to increase its transparency in Town Government and improve its services for all Town of Cheektowaga's residents.

If elected I will:

Increase Transparency

• All Town meetings will be published online via audio podcasts and video
• All agendas and minutes will be available for download via the Town of Cheektowaga website

Update Services

• Town Website redesigned and made more user-friendly
• Credit Card payment option implemented for all services
• Online handicapped permit processing

Better Practices

• Implement "Green" environmentally friendly business practices
• Town records filed electronically, saving paper, space and tax dollars
• Improve internal controls of all financial and cash processes

With your support, I intend to improve the Town of Cheektowaga's services. If you share my vision, I urge you to connect with me and help make it happen! Together, we can make a meaningful difference in Cheektowaga.

[nogods]

Sounds good Brian, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between candidates for town clerk. No real "issues" as between you and the other candidate. But I like your promise to broadcast town board meetings. Hell, it could be done just with a citizen volunteer using meerkat or periscope, no need to create a taxpayer funded position. Just appoint someone from your office to hold up a smartphone if you get elected.

So I'll probably vote for you just to have a change in the old guard. good luck.

[Pitbull]

Sounds good Brian, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between candidates for town clerk. No real "issues" as between you and the other candidate. But I like your promise to broadcast town board meetings. Hell, it could be done just with a citizen volunteer using meerkat or periscope, no need to create a taxpayer funded position. Just appoint someone from your office to hold up a smartphone if you get elected.

So I'll probably vote for you just to have a change in the old guard. good luck.

you would still need an employee to download it, archive it and put it up somewhere on the town website

[WNYresident]

you would still need an employee to download it, archive it and put it up somewhere on the town website

The next town Clerk can upload the video and we don't need an extra employee to do so. From what I was told by various town employees including a board member was that Alice was at work perhaps 60% of the time. That calculates out to about 24 hours a week for 85k+. That will give us 16 more hours to work with.

Do we really want more candidates collecting full time salaries for part time work? Let that sink in a little bit.

To save on cost Cheektowaga can have a youtube channel with the board meeting videos including a welcome video for our town.

Youtube makes it easy to live stream and then just store the videos for later viewing. Our town does not need to "over engineer" a webpage so that property owners can watch board meetings. Included in each video description we can have a link to the meeting minutes PDF, a link back to the town website and anything else we feel is needed. We will have statistics to see how many people are actually viewing the videos.


One laptop with a 1/2 way decent camera linked to the towns YouTube channel. In all honestly the board meeting doesn't really need to be streamed live anyways. A full recording of the meeting would be fine for later viewing. It's not like someone sitting at home is going to watch a live meeting and then decide to drive to the meeting because of something someone said.

They would most likely watch the board meeting at their convenience.

Credit Card payment option implemented for all services

I want to bid on the credit card processing service if that comes to be. My company works with some of the best credit card processing companies in the area.

Online handicapped permit processing

Not a bad idea. From what I read you still have to get a doctor to fill out some of the form and signature. Is that something that the end user would have to scan in if the process was done completely online?

http://www2.erie.gov/clarence/index....arking-permits

Handicap Parking Permits

The Town Clerk issues Temporary and Permanent Handicap Parking Permits. Forms are available that must be filled out by a doctor. A letter on a doctor's stationery is also acceptable. The doctor verification should be presented at the Town Clerk's Office and the permit will be issued. The applicant must submit his/her NYS drivers license or NYS identification card when applying for a handicap permit. License plates are issued through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

http://www2.erie.gov/alden/index.php...capped-permits

Handicapped Permits


Handicapped parking permit hangers are available at the Town Clerk's office in the Alden Town Hall. The application form, also available at our office, must be filled out and signed by the applicant and their attending physician. No fee is required.

If available, a valid driver's license number is required.

There are temporary handicapped parking permits and permanent handicapped parking permits. Permanent permits are issued for 5 yrs and are simply renewed here; you do not have to have a physician redo an application. Temporary permits require new documentation to be provided by the physician at renewal and are valid up to 6 months.

Click here for Handicapped Parking Permit Application

http://orchardparkny.org/content/Dep...Permits/View/1

Requirements: Orchard park

Pick up a form MV-664.1at the Town Clerk's Office or

Get on line

Applicant fills out their portion

Doctor fills out their portion

Bring in completed application MV-664.1 along with applicant's Driver's License

How can one eliminate that the applicant need to show a valid drivers license once the form is filled out? Including the fact the doctor needs to fill out the form?

[BNPilarski]

I promise I will provide more services not costing the tax payers an additional penny. I agree with Pitbull that I would still need an employee to download it, archive it and put it up on the website. That employee will be me and/or someone in the Clerk's office. No need for additional staff to provide additional services. Nogods, I appreciate your support. I agree that my opponents platform and mine look very similar. It was after our first debate at Maryvale Primary at the DUCA meeting that my opponent decided that she shared the same vision I do for the Town Clerk's Office.

I am on the Maryvale School Board and my first task was to get our meetings online and I am proud to say that we have started streaming our meetings online. We use an iPad and tripod. It did not cost the School District a dime.

Cheektowaga is behind when it comes to making our services easily accessible with technology. Many towns around us are already providing the services our tax payers deserve.

[WNYresident]

Here is an example Youtube Channel for

East Fishkill, New York

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB2...ZaqAo3mK-VREnw

The about page can have much more information compared to what is here

https://www.youtube.com/user/EF22NY/about


Here was an interesting one

The most outrageous local government board meeting EVER!!!

Uploaded on Apr 21, 2008

Village of Carpentersville President Bill Sarto demands that his chief political opponent, Paul Humpher, be removed from office for being convicted of beating his wife, and due for sentencing. When trustees Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Judy Sigwalt, and Keith Hinz refuse to allow a motion for discusssing the issue -- Bill Sarto loses all control. He screams at his fellow board members, calls one a "convict", says another trustee's son commits adultery, and ends his speech with what other board members take as a death threat. Recorded April 1, 2008, at the Village of Carpentesville Hall. (NOT an April Fool's Joke!)

[WNYresident]

I promise I will provide more services not costing the tax payers an additional penny. I agree with Pitbull that I would still need an employee to download it, archive it and put it up on the website. That employee will be me and/or someone in the Clerk's office. No need for additional staff to provide additional services. Nogods, I appreciate your support. I agree that my opponents platform and mine look very similar. It was after our first debate at Maryvale Primary at the DUCA meeting that my opponent decided that she shared the same vision I do for the Town Clerk's Office.

I am on the Maryvale School Board and my first task was to get our meetings online and I am proud to say that we have started streaming our meetings online. We use an iPad and tripod. It did not cost the School District a dime.

Cheektowaga is behind when it comes to making our services easily accessible with technology. Many towns around us are already providing the services our tax payers deserve.

Good job. Can you point us to where the school board videos are displayed?

[gorja]

Originally posted by WNYresident:
The next town Clerk can upload the video and we don't need an extra employee to do so. From what I was told by various town employees including a board member was that Alice was at work perhaps 60% of the time. That calculates out to about 24 hours a week for 85k+. That will give us 16 more hours to work with.

Do we really want more candidates collecting full time salaries for part time work? Let that sink in a little bit.

To save on cost Cheektowaga can have a youtube channel with the board meeting videos including a welcome video for our town.

Youtube makes it easy to live stream and then just store the videos for later viewing. Our town does not need to "over engineer" a webpage so that property owners can watch board meetings. Included in each video description we can have a link to the meeting minutes PDF, a link back to the town website and anything else we feel is needed. We will have statistics to see how many people are actually viewing the videos.


One laptop with a 1/2 way decent camera linked to the towns YouTube channel. In all honestly the board meeting doesn't really need to be streamed live anyways. A full recording of the meeting would be fine for later viewing. It's not like someone sitting at home is going to watch a live meeting and then decide to drive to the meeting because of something someone said.

They would most likely watch the board meeting at their convenience.

Sounds great. It looks like you've got all the details planned out.

[WNYresident]

Sounds good Brian, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between candidates for town clerk. No real "issues" as between you and the other candidate. But I like your promise to broadcast town board meetings. Hell, it could be done just with a citizen volunteer using meerkat or periscope, no need to create a taxpayer funded position. Just appoint someone from your office to hold up a smartphone if you get elected.

So I'll probably vote for you just to have a change in the old guard. good luck.

Where have you been.. Elections are right around the corner.

[BNPilarski]

http://www.maryvaleufsd.org/district.cfm?subpage=14497 is the link for Maryvale's meetings.

[WNYresident]

Cube is fine. I like youtube.com because we could have a history of pass meetings including information on the channel for the viewers.

[BNPilarski]

I would have meetings archived for the Town so I would also use YouTube. I would archive the meetings 1. So residents can watch them anytime that was convenient for them and 2. So we can hold our Town representatives accountable.

[grump]

Scrap the "environmentally friendly business practices". That sounds like nothing but new age bullsh*t. And a town keeps meeting minutes to hold itself accountable. I have to think even Cheektowaga does that. How you keep them technologically is up to you but merely keeping them doesn't create accountability. Accountability comes from within the members of the body. If your town keeps electing pond scum to your town board as you've done for a generation you can write the board minutes in the sky and it won't matter a bit.

[gorja]

The agendas and meeting minutes are archived now but to have videos of the meetings archived would be excellent.

The old Town of Lancaster website had a search function in the minutes and agenda section. The new website has more information but the search box only searches by years, no key word search.

[WNYresident]

Scrap the "environmentally friendly business practices". That sounds like nothing but new age bullsh*t. And a town keeps meeting minutes to hold itself accountable. I have to think even Cheektowaga does that. How you keep them technologically is up to you but merely keeping them doesn't create accountability. Accountability comes from within the members of the body. If your town keeps electing pond scum to your town board as you've done for a generation you can write the board minutes in the sky and it won't matter a bit.

I agree with Grump.

Better Practices

Implement "Green" environmentally friendly business practices
Town records filed electronically, saving paper, space and tax dollars
Improve internal controls of all financial and cash processes

I believe the town has been slowly filing/scanning old records over the years. Our town taxes have not been rising because of paper costs. Not that it's a bad idea but not saving paper is not why we have been losing population over the years.

OF the three things mentioned "Improve internal controls of all financial and cash processes" that is the most important.