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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2011 PAGE3 (DEADLINES) ( The Rep~blican/Sentin~l View ) The following are various deadlines Can Compton s proposal find support? for The Westfield Republican and Mayville Sentinel News papers and the Quality Guide. CLASSIFIEDS Monday by 3 p.m. for the papers Wednesday by noon for the Guide LEyALS Monday by 3 p.m .. for the papers ADVERTISEMENT Monday by 5 p.m. for the papers Wednesday by 5 p,m. for the Guide NEWS ITEMS Friday by noon for the following week's newspapers Notice to Our Readers Letters to the editor are wel- come, but must be no more than 3 50 in length to be accepted. Letters must also be signed and include the authors name, town or village of residence and phone number. Letters will be edited fo.r clarity and brevity. We do NOT use \thank you., let- ters, letters endorsing candidates or letters from announced political candidates. The editor does not necessarily · endorse the viewpoints expressed in such material. Readers are reminded that the deadline for news items for publi- cation in the Westfield Republican and Mayville Sentinel News is Friday at noon. Listings for clubs and o~~ot1s.1,hould be deliv- ered .to ·.. :p.: ~P .. ~per ·.at least two weeb be ·a the «ent ts to occur. The Westfield Republican and Mayville Sentinel News staff wel- comes your suggestions for feature stories on local people and events. Remember, a local paper can be successful only with the coopera- tion of local residents. We want your news! Send it to us via any of the following methods: STANDARD MAIL P.O. Box 38 Westfield, N.Y. 14787 EMAIL editorial@westfieldrepublican.com WEB SITES www. westfieldrepublican.com www.mayvillesentinelnews.com click on the box that says \SUBMIT NEWS AND PHOTOS\ ' PubliBhed wee illy by The Westfield Republfuan Newspapers 41 E. Main St., £0, Box 3S, Westfield, NY 147!17 Entered aa Perindir.alo 1/m!tage Paid. at Westfield, NY t4787, and addilinnalll!licea at . Jamestown, NY IA!711L. Postrnaaten: Send address changes to: 1lbe Westljelll: ReDublican, 41 E. Main St.. £ill Box 38. Westfield, NY l411S7 For assia$j11J!e wiljh tile plaaement of subscription otdets, editollial copy, displll!' and classified advertising, cal1716-326-3163 or tqll: !'rile l..SIJ0.284>-7336 or fax 716--326-316& Office hours : Monday - Fridajr from SAM t<> & PM Editorial email: editorial@westlieldrepublican.com Advertising email: ads@Wl!Stfieldrepubill!an.<om 1. V.ar Subscription prices: in county $35.00, out of county $41>.00 Some of us have to be pushed to .. offices we have in Chautauyua County. think outside the box. Others of us are He says it makes no sense that we fully occupied just trying to survive m have 27 town supervisors, 27 town the box as it is. highway superintendents, 27 town And then there is Sid Cumpton. As derks. Most of the 27 towns have two From the elected leadership of those seven districb would come the limited countywide governance that is needed. There could be, for example, an appointed manager to oversee the day- to-day services that would continue to be handled at the county level - social services, health and elec'tiuns, for example. Craly and .far out'> Or vision- ary and gutsy'> we learned when he was supervisor of the town of Chautauyua, his mind often is out 'there in the stratosphere of what sounds to the rest of us like ip1possible and crazy ideas. justices. There was, for example. his craLy idea a few years back for the town of Chautauqua to buy the old Mayville Central School building and renovate it for office space. With the townspet~ple following where Compton was leading them, the building on the hill is now fully occupied. It houses the county's Family Court, town offices and offices of private firms - all providing Compton has laid out his argument to eliminate the top heavy system of management and governance .in the county by replacing the existing county and 27 town governments with just seven districts (see Letter to the Editor below). That would include five dis- tricts formed from the 27 towns, and two from the cities. \This simply makes sense in this time of burdensome leveb of govern- ment,\ he said. Yes it does. As Chautauqua supervisor, income for the town. ' At the time, county Executive Greg Edwards said it took vision and guts to see that project through to the end. Except for a few countywide agen- cies, services would be organized by district. Instead of having highway departments in each Qf 27 towns, two cities and the county, there would be seven. Instead of 27 town boards and two city councils, we would have seven governing boards. Instead of 29 city and town clerks, we would have seven, and so on. Cumpton proposed saving ·the town's property taxpayers $500,000 a year by contracting with the county instead of maintaining a town highway depart- ment. He wa~. as the cliche goes, thrown under the bus by county leader- ship that did not have the guts needed to implement the sensible plan. This time around, Sid Compton is going to need strong, vigorous and gutsy allies from outside the usual sphere of local leaders. Yes it did. Now Compton's focus is on our bloated system of local governance and, in particular, the 500 elective \Notice by the way. it is the man- agement that is downsized, not the work force,\ Compton says. We hope he finds them. (~ _____ L_e_tt_e_rs_T_o_T_h_e_E_d_ito_r ____ ~) Return stolen property To Whom [I May Concern, Would the person who stole or took my grape pick- ing carts please return them or call Henry Rohman at Rohman Farms, 7371 Prospect Road in Westfield at 716-720-0915. Henry Rohman Westfield Plan for districts would end multiple layers, 'waste' , By SID COMPTON How on earth did the county of Chautauqua go from a balanced budget in 2006 to an $18 million deficit in 20 12? \Why cannot someone just figure this out!\ That was my first thought when [ read an editorial weeks ago based on a study by the state Comptroller Office regarding the cost of construction per mile of road. Why cannot anyone figure this out? At first glance it seemed straightfor- ward to compare the cost of construction of a mile of highway anywhere in the county. However there is no comparison in building a vil- lage road to building a town road or a county road or a state road. I called the New York state comptroller's office in Albany after I read the afore- mentioned article and they admitted that they did not take into consideration the differences of road construc- tion types for the different levels of highway. Look at the numbers After much thought and deliberation, I believe the question boils down to this: Why do we have so many levels of government when they are overall completely repetitive? We have 27 towns. 15 villages. two cities and 18 school districts. It makes no sense to have 27 town highway superinten- dents, 27 town clerks and so on. This is unimaginable. In comparison, the county roads and bridges are man- aged by only three managers. There are well over 500 elected officials in this coun- ty. The problem is not the work force as much as it is the management. We already have great examples of shared services in this county and it is proven to work. Let's expand on that and get government in thi~ county boiled down to a workable unit. We are acting like the federal gov- ernment in this county; we need to change this now. Seven county districts The best case scenario: form seven county districts to include what is now coun- ty. town, village and city governments, and highway departments. Ol:!viously this is an ambi- tious project. So let's begin smaller. For example, the two cities Jamestown and Dunkirk-Fredonia would each be a district and the remainder of the county would be split into five other districts. Using an example of five towns comprising each dis.- trict, the supervisors from each town could form the initial board of the new dis- tricts - adding extra repre- sentation in the interim, of course, as needed to balance the population. Right there alone we would be getting rid of up to 20 elected board members for the new dis- trict, four elected highway superintendents, four town clerks, and eight judges. Notice, by the way, that it is the management that is downsized, not the work force. The new districts could then hold elections for one supervisor. one district clerk. one highway superintendent and two district judges. Additionally, each district could possibly take charge of weed control for their por- tion of the lake. This simply makes sense. And down the road, think of the cost sav- ings if the schools within the districts are merge. That would eliminate II school superintendents and 214 other elected posts. The estimated cost sav- ings for everything would be about $7 million per year. Look at the numbers Moving on to the county government where much continuing waste is evi- denced, we need to rid our- selves of the county execu- tive position and replace it with an appointed county manager who will truly work for the people to over- see the services that would continue to be handled on a county basis, such as social services. elections and health. Such an appointive posi- tion would not ·have to be concerned about political strongholds; rather it would be first and foremost respon- sive to good governmental spending. Should the posi- tion become too political, that individual can be replaced by the district supervisors at any time. We would not have to wait for the normal fgur- year elec- tion process as our current situation. Next, each of the supervi- sors for the newly created seven county districts can act as the Board of Supervisors, which would eliminate the over-burden- some 25-person county leg- islature that is usually dead- locked on decision making. Municipal charters can be changed and referendums can be forced onto the ballot when necessary. This simply makes sense and is common sense in this time of burden- Classic, no-~attery toys still entertain By JOYCE SCHENK CORRESPONDENT Although Christmas is more than 10 weeks away as the calendar flies. every retailer in the country 1s rush- ing to stock toy shelves with the hottest items available. And even in this tough economy, doting parents will once again strain the family budget to insure that the toy- of-UJe.-season waits undel' the tree for each youngster. This year's bst of must- have toys 1nclude such pricey. but sure-to-please. . gems a.s a rremote-conttol fly- ing fish, Let's Rock Elmo - the latest addition to the end- tess Elmo collectton - tbe Fism Price iXL - an etec- tronic gadget designed to \b.elp young clilildl:en with teading comprehension, number sk.ills, etc... - and Stinky Ehe Garbage Truck, wbi.cjl a~.:cording to the man- ~ is so entertaining it \may change the child's mind about becommg a garbage truck driver.'\ · Alii of these oot new bat- tery-powere<! toys are a trib- ute to today· s technology. Unfortunately, they draw lit- tle of their entertainment value from the most impor- tant talent kids bring to their play time - their imagina- tion. Through the years. the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, N.Y., has hon- ored the supersrars of the toy world_ Unlike the list of this season's bottest toys. two of Ehe most recent additions to the Hall of Fame have been of the no-batteries-required kind. In fact, these items were never even intended to be toys. The new indllctees into the Hall are the simple stit.:k and cardboard box. These long- time favoliites have taken their places in the musew:n' s collection beside such child- hood treasures as the baby doll, Mr. Potato bead and the Sbnk.y. The lowly stick bas been a favOiite plaything of children down through the ages. Available everywh.ere. this all-purpose, no-cost recre- ational star can become a wand. a fishing pole. a medieval knight's sword. an arm for a snowman or a drawing instrument at the beach. In addition, the stick has the added advantage of tolally uncomplicated \oper- ation.'' Including the cardboard box in the Toy Hall of Fame was an obvious choice. since every parent rec~es the play potential of this unpre, tentious 'hem that· s found everywhere. Like the stick. a box can serve as anything the child's imagination dictates from an Indian's teepee to a NASC AR racer to the cave where the pirate hides his gold-filled lnmk. A spokesperson for the Toy Hall of fame explained that ''longevity is a key crite- rion\ for an item to be a~.:cepted into the collection. Every toy included must be widely recognized and inspire leaming. creativity or disrovery through play And. those inducted: have to main- some levels of government. All government, especial- ly local government, needs to be responsive to its elec- torate. Where has the accountability gone') With more and more elections being uncontested, account- ability goes out the window. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has initiated $79 million incen- tive for government consoli- dation - now is the time to take advantage of it. What now? So, where do we go from here? We have now \set the table\ for a smaller, yet acce·ssible and better func- tioning government for Chautauqua County. The next step is implementation. In the columns, I plan to write regarding how to best make this plan a reality. Sid Compton is rhe former Chautauqua Town supervi- sor. Summer highlight was welcoming community As summer fades. [ reflect on the many warm weather good times. A definite highlight for me was the good fortune to receive an invitation to spend , a weekend at a friend's home on Chautauqua Lake. What an experience. I have traveled extensively. but have never encountered a more beautiful. friendly community. We enjoyed two superb tribute bands from the com- fort of my friend's pontoon boat - each a magical expe- rience with uncanny resem- blance to the original artists. The welcoming attitude of the people I met was a delightful and refreshing contrast to big city life. Keep doing what you're doing. I'll be back. Michael Armstrong Bexley, Obio tain their popularity over generations. As aP.other gift-buying season gets underway, manu- facturers across the country will bt; working non-stop to develop the must-have toys designed to light up a child's eyes on Christmas morninl}o But. after that morning's excitement dies down. after the tom wrapping paper and debris settle. it's a safe bet the kids will put aside these pricey toys with their spent batteries and rerum to such imagination-fired stand-bys as the ~tick and the card- board box.
