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General News: Village Candidates Share Views on Govt.
March 15, 2010
This is a re-run of an earlier article. The village trustee election is Tuesday, March 16.
The three candidates for village trustees faced off in a forum on March 6 in which the incumbents, Rick Gioia and Barbara Gosda, highlighted their accomplishments during their first term in office and the challenger, Jim Kane, spoke of his ideas to improve the operation of the Cornwall-on-Hudson municipality.
More than 30 people attended the 90-minute forum to listen to the candidates who are running to fill two vacant seats in the March 16th election. They began with a brief presentation about their vision for the village.
Rick Gioia
Trustee Rick Gioia talked about his dedication to the village and said that if he had to find one word to describe his vision, he would choose “sustainability,” saying that he wanted to find a path that would provide the village a sustainable future that preserves local life as it is. To that end, Gioia described his efforts to secure funding for a hydro-electric project that would provide some of the electricity need to run the Black Rock water filter. He also proposed ways of helping residents by allowing them to pay taxes in installments and by offering insurance for sewer and water line repairs.
Barbarba Gosda
Trustee Barbara Gosda, who is also the deputy mayor, said she has focused her efforts on building community and saving money. She talked about organizing Hudson River Day last summer, the village-wide yard sale and new welcome signs at either ends of Hudson Street. But she also stressed her focus on money-saving measures, like changing the phone system and trying to protect the village from costly litigation. “Unfortunately, everything costs money,” she said, “and we have none so we have to be patient with progress.”
Jim Kane
Jim Kane, an attorney and a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves, is making his second run for trustee, a move he said was inspired by a family tradition of community service. Kane criticized what he called a lack of direction and leadership by the current village board, citing the lack of progress on the master plan, the view preservation and the steep slope laws that had been discussed a year ago. He also called for the village to design and adopt a long-term plan to maintain the infrastructure and a well-thought-out debt payment strategy that would reduce fear of taking on any new debt to pay for maintenance.
DPW Building
Following their opening remarks, each candidate responded to a series of questions. Candidate Jim Kane was quick to criticize the current leaders for their handling of the recent evacuation of the DPW building after it was found that engineer plans and a certificate of occupancy were both missing. Kane questioned why Mark Edsall, a trustee who is an engineer, wasn’t told of the problem before action was taken, saying the hasty move could cost the village unnecessary expense in the long run. Trustee Gosda defended the evacuation order from the building inspector, saying that if structural problems existed that could lead to employees being hurt that the village could be sued. Trustee Gioia agreed with his colleague and argued that if these documents ever existed, they should have been stored in a safe place.
Cutting Costs, Saving Tax Money
Cutting costs and running a more efficient government were themes that surfaced again and again. Rick Gioia and Barbara Gosda pointed to the lack of funds to pay a professional planner as the main stumbling block for adopting a village master plan that was presented to the board two and half years ago.
Jim Kane had a suggestion for how taxpayers could save a little on their taxes. He proposed that garbage services be paid by the village as part of its operating budget and that residents pay for the service with tax money that could then be claimed on state and federal tax forms. Barbara Gosda said this would only be possible if the village created a sanitation district, which Kane said the village should do.
Long-term money saving was also brought up by Rick Gioia, who said that the village was starting an energy audit of its buildings that could lead to greater energy efficiencies.
Water Woes
The three candidates also discussed how to protect the village water wells from being adversely impacted by the adjoining wells that may one day be operated by the fast-growing village of Kiryas Joel. Barbara Gosda said though county officials have been largely unresponsive to requests for help, the village “needs to stay in their face about it.” Jim Kane said the village’s hope that the county would seize the wells under the eminent domain policy was “delusional” and suggested the village needs to stay on top of usage, a step that Rick Gioia said the village has begun by running tests to establish a benchmark.
At the end of the forum, the candidates agreed that the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, its people, its roads and its scenic beauty are top priorities. It is now up to the voters to decide which of the candidates will get a chance to attain these goals during the next two years.
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