Updates

One of the main duties of Mayor is to balance the budget. That has been extremely hard in recent history. Last year The Onondaga County sales tax agreement expired and as a result the Village of North Syracuse lost approximately a half million dollars from our revenue stream. Additionally the cost of business has been escalating. Energy prices and pensions costs are just two of several areas that have risen quickly.

We have been making changes in the Village Government to reduce costs while maintaining the high quality of services that we are accustomed to. We have made changes that will result in the savings of approximately 400K. To reach that reduction we had to make some difficult decisions. The following is a summary of personnel changes.

• Converted 5 fulltime positions to part-time Combined three clerks into two
• Eliminated two part-time positions

We have also changed the legal representation of the Village and other miscellaneous contracts saving thousands of dollars.

We are exploring different ways to reduce our electrical bill for street lighting. Our current bill is approximately 400K per year. We are looking at reducing some lighting and ensuring that what we have on, is the most efficient form of lighting.

I believe that another important duty of the Mayor is to look at all options. This requires due diligence. I have served on several committees prior to being elected and as an elected official. On all of these committees I have explored all the options, prepared a report, and briefed the Village Board. As an example, a few years ago I was asked to be on a committee to research the sufficiency of operating the Village Government in the existing building on South Bay Rd. I developed options and briefed the Village Board. The Village Board decided to have public hearings to receive feedback from the community. As a result of that process that Board decided to make only some minor changes to alleviate some hazards identified by the workplace violence protection program. The needed energy improvements and poor interior design will have to wait. I will continue to look at all reasonable options in an effort to improve the Village of North Syracuse.

What you are reading are facts. If you hear or read anything different and would like clarification please feel free to contact me at Village Hall.

Communication and Feedback are essential to any successful organization.  Government is no exception.  There are internal and external communication processes that I intend to focus resources on while I am the Mayor of North Syracuse.  I will also highlight the different methods of providing feedback.

Internally to Village Hall, I meet one-on-one weekly with my Department Heads.  We discuss their daily operations, to include the service they provide to the Village, specifically the effectiveness and efficiency of their operation. We also talk about any additional services that they might be able to provide in the future.  Of course, the bottom line is funding. There is a balancing act between providing the high quality services that we are accustomed to in Village and sourcing the funding.  We will continue to brainstorm ideas that will make the Village of North Syracuse an even better place to live.  Monthly, all the Department Heads meet and discuss ongoing issues that affect Village Hall in a macro sense.  Issues are discussed that cross Department lines that require immediate feedback at the table while all the decision makers are in attendance.  The goal is to get involved with issues early on and determine resolution prior to becoming a problem.  Quarterly at this meeting, we also convene an Employee Safety Committee meeting.  We have been successful in reducing our employee injury rate, reducing our workers compensation insurance rates, which saves the Village money. This also provides a forum to share and develop ideas amongst a group of dedicated public servants that will enhance the services that the Village provides.

External communication between Village Hall and our citizen neighbors within the Village is mandatory for a community government to be successful.  We have two public meetings a month.  They are on the second and fourth Thursday of the month.  The first meeting of the month is at 6:30PM and the second one is at 4:30PM.  They are both held at the Community Center.  The agenda for the meetings will be available at Village Hall or on our website (northsyracuseny.org) the Tuesday prior to the meeting.  They are also available at the meeting.  During the meeting, there is a citizens voice that allows for all Village citizens to get up and voice there opinion regarding Village business.

Our website is also an excellent tool to utilize for providing feedback.  We have a Public Safety Committee that is chaired by Trustee Fred Fergerson.  There is a link on our website that allows you to provide feedback to this committee regarding public safety issues. Also on our website, there is a poll question that is rotated and developed by the Department Heads that is designed to provide feedback to better allocate their resources.  Please vote on our poll question.  On the website is a form to submit to our Police Chief with any public safety concerns that you may have.  All the contact information for key Village employees and elected Officials is also located here.  There is also an enormous amount of data such as meeting minutes, Parks and Recreation information, DPW schedules, current activities, etc.   These are the types of services that you will only get in your local Village Government.