Highlights of the April 16, 2024 meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Legislature Approves Resolution to Expand High-Speed Internet Service to Unserved Addresses in Tompkins County

By a unanimous vote (14-0) of the Legislature, a resolution was passed authorizing a partnership with Point Broadband to expand high-speed internet service to unserved addresses in the County. $100,000 will be spent with Point Broadband to complete a preliminary engineering study, opening the ability to access New York State funding to develop the infrastructure to serve approximately 1,216 locations in the County not currently served by wired broadband.

Tompkins County Strategic Operations Plan Update Presented

Consultants from BerryDunn, the firm hired by Tompkins County to facilitate its inaugural strategic operations planning effort, presented the draft mission, vision, values (updated from current), and strategic priority areas. The draft document was made available to Legislators for feedback. Legislator Amanda Champion (D-Ithaca) gave an overview of the process so far, outlining the internal steering committee process as well as staff and community feedback processes.

The five draft strategic priority areas are organizational excellence, equitable service delivery, health and safety, climate change mitigation and resiliency, and economic opportunity and quality of life. Each priority includes various draft objectives to be achieved by County departments.

Legislator Deborah Dawson (D-Lansing) asked about including language around accomplishing objectives as they are possible within County fiscal constraints. BerryDunn responded that it will be inserted into the next round of documentation.

Legislature Received Presentation on Tompkins County's State of Energy and Sustainability

Tompkins County Chief Sustainability Officer Terry Carroll delivered a presentation to Legislators on the County's energy use and environmental sustainability efforts.

Carroll's presentation included energy cost savings realized from the hydroelectric facility in Waterloo, New York, which totaled $71,000 in 2023. Carroll outlined the County's Green Fleet efforts, with a quarter of the County's vehicle fleet being electrified so far. The County is installing charging stations for electric vehicles at several facilities, including some solar-powered battery charging stations being purchased through Congressionally Directed Funding.

Phase One of the Green Facilities Program has been completed, including geothermal installation at the Public Works Building, heat pump and VRF technology installed at County facilities, and electrical infrastructure upgrades. Phase Two will be discussed in an upcoming Facilities and Infrastructure Committee meeting.

Tompkins County is Certified as a Silver Climate Smart Community by New York State, Silver is the highest level that can currently be achieved.

A video was shared with Legislators featuring the County's sustainability and climate adaptation efforts: https://youtu.be/kGzTWUWOKS8?si=7Nkm2fxNruFiwMMm

Among Other Business

By a unanimous vote of the Legislature (14-0), Maury Josephson was appointed County Attorney effective May 28. Josephson thanked Legislators and remarked that he was humbled by the trust and faith that Legislators are placing in him to provide sound, timely, and useful advice and counsel. Josephson is joining the County from the City of Ithaca's Attorney's Office.

County flags were flown at half-staff on April 16 to acknowledge the tragic deaths of two law enforcement officers in Syracuse earlier this week.

A resolution passed 11-2 (Legislators Lee Shurtleff (R-Groton) and Randy Brown (R-Groton) opposed, Legislator Mike Sigler (R-Lansing) not present) giving NYSERDA the right to lease 65 acres of County Land atop a closed landfill site on Caswell Road to develop a solar array and battery energy storage system. Revenue from the lease will help fund the County's Green Capital Program.