AUBURN - Cayuga County emergency officials are looking for a place to call home.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Cayuga County legislators listen to a presentation by Brian Dahl of Cayuga County Emergency Management Services during Tuesday afternoon's Legislature meeting at the Emerson Park pavilion.
Cayuga County legislators listen to a presentation by Brian Dahl of Cayuga County Emergency Management Services during Tuesday afternoon's Legislature meeting at the Emerson Park pavilion.
The Cayuga County Legislature approved Tuesday afternoon a resolution allowing the emergency management office to seek funding for a public operations center.
The facility would act as a planning and information center in the event of a major emergency or disaster. It would also serve as a location for county employees and members of the public to undergo emergency training.
Before the legislators voted on the resolution, emergency management services Deputy Director Niel Rivenburgh said the need for such a center exists. It would serve as headquarters for local, state and federal emergency workers in the event of a major natural disaster such as a flood or catastrophic snowstorm, he said.
“It is not a question of will we need one. It is a question of when we will need one,” Rivenburgh said to the Legislature.
Rivenburgh said the county will seek local partners as well as state and federal sources to fund a project.
The prospective location for the center is the county's fire training facility on Quarry Road, Rivenburgh said. Ideally, the county's new 911 center would be housed at the operation center.
While he said a price tag has not been set, an operations center would not come cheap.
“We are looking big,” Rivenburgh said. “We need partners for funding, or we are never going to get this accomplished.”
The county does not currently have such a center, he continued. If there was a major emergency or disaster today, Emergency Management Services would likely set up a makeshift headquarters somewhere in the Cayuga County Office Building on Genesee Street, Rivenburgh said.
“We're trying to take this in a step-by-step process,” he said. “We have the concept first, and the support is to follow.”
In other news:
• Legislators unanimously approved the contract between the Cayuga Community College Board of Trustees and the CCC Faculty Association. The vote marks the final step in the negotiation process, as trustees and the faculty association have both approved the contract, which reaches back to September 2004 and lasts through August 2011.
The new contract includes 3.25 percent pay raises for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 academic years, 3.5 percent raises for the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, and annual pay raises for the remainder of the contract.
The agreement also includes faculty health insurance policies where the college will pay the following percentages of the premium: 85 percent upon the contract's ratification, 82 percent starting Sept. 1, 79 percent as of the same date in 2009, and 75 percent in 2010.
- The Legislature authorized spending approximately $12,000 to survey land and hire engineers before construction begins on the mental health project at 164 North Street.
The county recently awarded the $365,000 contract for the project to C&S Companies. The contract requires the county to fund a survey of the property and pay geothermal engineers to study subsoil conditions.
The lowest bidder for the engineering services was CME Associates, Inc., of Cicero, which bid $4,700. The only contractor to submit a bid for the survey project was Watkins Land Surveying, of Auburn, which bid $7,576.
- The Legislature will hold a public hearing June 24 on proposed changes to the job description for the county's director of both Mental Health and Community Services Board. A public hearing and legislative vote on the proposed local law were originally scheduled to take place in April but were postponed.
- Legislators approved a resolution extending the lease between the county and city of Auburn for use of space in the Historic Post Office. The city currently leases space in the Genesee Street building for its municipal court.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.
The facility would act as a planning and information center in the event of a major emergency or disaster. It would also serve as a location for county employees and members of the public to undergo emergency training.
Before the legislators voted on the resolution, emergency management services Deputy Director Niel Rivenburgh said the need for such a center exists. It would serve as headquarters for local, state and federal emergency workers in the event of a major natural disaster such as a flood or catastrophic snowstorm, he said.
“It is not a question of will we need one. It is a question of when we will need one,” Rivenburgh said to the Legislature.
Rivenburgh said the county will seek local partners as well as state and federal sources to fund a project.
The prospective location for the center is the county's fire training facility on Quarry Road, Rivenburgh said. Ideally, the county's new 911 center would be housed at the operation center.
While he said a price tag has not been set, an operations center would not come cheap.
“We are looking big,” Rivenburgh said. “We need partners for funding, or we are never going to get this accomplished.”
The county does not currently have such a center, he continued. If there was a major emergency or disaster today, Emergency Management Services would likely set up a makeshift headquarters somewhere in the Cayuga County Office Building on Genesee Street, Rivenburgh said.
“We're trying to take this in a step-by-step process,” he said. “We have the concept first, and the support is to follow.”
In other news:
• Legislators unanimously approved the contract between the Cayuga Community College Board of Trustees and the CCC Faculty Association. The vote marks the final step in the negotiation process, as trustees and the faculty association have both approved the contract, which reaches back to September 2004 and lasts through August 2011.
The new contract includes 3.25 percent pay raises for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 academic years, 3.5 percent raises for the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, and annual pay raises for the remainder of the contract.
The agreement also includes faculty health insurance policies where the college will pay the following percentages of the premium: 85 percent upon the contract's ratification, 82 percent starting Sept. 1, 79 percent as of the same date in 2009, and 75 percent in 2010.
- The Legislature authorized spending approximately $12,000 to survey land and hire engineers before construction begins on the mental health project at 164 North Street.
The county recently awarded the $365,000 contract for the project to C&S Companies. The contract requires the county to fund a survey of the property and pay geothermal engineers to study subsoil conditions.
The lowest bidder for the engineering services was CME Associates, Inc., of Cicero, which bid $4,700. The only contractor to submit a bid for the survey project was Watkins Land Surveying, of Auburn, which bid $7,576.
- The Legislature will hold a public hearing June 24 on proposed changes to the job description for the county's director of both Mental Health and Community Services Board. A public hearing and legislative vote on the proposed local law were originally scheduled to take place in April but were postponed.
- Legislators approved a resolution extending the lease between the county and city of Auburn for use of space in the Historic Post Office. The city currently leases space in the Genesee Street building for its municipal court.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.
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