July Committee and August Session Update
With summer being a slower time of year for county business, only three committee meetings needed to be held in July. This time of year is traditionally quiet as most county departments are hard at work crafting their budgets and funding requests for the next fiscal year, as the budget review process at the Legislature begins in September.
The Public Safety Committee featured administrators from three county departments detailing their current funding needs. Commissioner Daniel Wears from the Department of Emergency Management spoke about $846,000 in funding to replace the county’s aging emergency mobile command vehicle. Half of the money would come from a federal grant and the other half would be from Onondaga County.
The vehicle would replace the one known as EM-50 which you may have seen around the county over the years. It can be used by every public safety agency in Onondaga County to support response and recovery to large-scale emergency incidents and preplanned events in the county. The vehicle provides a centralized location allowing all agencies to seamlessly work together and has repeatedly proven to be a critical emergency services resource.
Onondaga County's emergency mobile command vehicle, EM-50. (Photo/Department of Emergency Management)
Commissioner Wears explained that the current vehicle is 21 years old and that his department met with 4 different vendors, deciding on Farber Specialty Vehicles. The company built the current vehicle and continues to offer the best pricing for a new vehicle with needed features and technology. They are also offering a $75,000 trade in allowance for the current vehicle.
Committee Chair Mark Olson (10th District) mentioned the $846,000 price tag and asked, “Just out of curiosity, what did it cost 21 years ago?”
Commissioner Wears answered, “It was like $500,000. We started talking about this about two years ago and the cost has jumped $150,000 in the last two years.”
The Commissioner added that if funding is approved, the new emergency mobile command vehicle could arrive in Onondaga County as soon as April 2025.
The committee also learned about a funding request from the Department of Emergency Communications/E-911 for the purchase of land in the Town of Elbridge. The land on Whiting Road has been leased since 2008 and is now available for purchase by the county.
The site includes the 2,500 sq. ft. tower site and a roughly 54,000 sq. ft. access road/utility route. The County is also interested in expanding the tower site to 5,625 sq. ft. to provide a buffer zone), which would result in a total estimated purchase price of $7,096.09.
Public Safety Shift Supervisor Sean Sparks explained the potential cost savings to the committee. “Since we started this 17 years ago, to date we’ve paid $58,140. The total cost for this current year is $4,453 and by the end of the automatic renewals which are built into the lease through 2033, we will have paid $102,473.29. So, the purchase price for the land is quite reasonable and it would amortize in under two years.”
Representatives from the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) also presented at the committee meeting. Two of their three resolutions related to accepting $100,000 in New York State Division of Criminal Justice Service’s Public Safety Program grant funds to support a new mental health initiative for officers through OCSO and the creation of a new position, the Director of Support Services, to oversee that.
“This new position will help to address mental health needs and concerns felt by Sheriff's Deputies and first responders throughout the community” Legislator Richard McCarron (11th District), the committee’s Vice Chair, said. “Having served with the Sheriff's Office for over 20 years I saw first-hand the stresses and emotional battles experienced by our emergency responders. To be able to provide them with an additional resource to help them deal with some of the things they see and go through every day will benefit not only the public safety personnel but all our community as well.”
The third resolution would allow the county to accept more grant funding – this time from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to assist OCSO with the acquisition of qualified law enforcement technology and equipment.
All the resolutions and funding requests presented at the committee meeting were advanced to the Ways & Means Committee.
The County Facilities Committee held their monthly meeting at the Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center in Liverpool. The building houses a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Cultural Center operated by the Onondaga Historical Association, as well as the offices of the Onondaga County Soil & Water Conservation District.
Before touring the facility, the committee had two resolutions to discuss. One was to make $400,000 in county funding available for renovations to the Law Library on the fifth floor of the Onondaga County Courthouse.
Commissioner Archie Wixson from the Department of Facilities Management explained that the county has a contract with the New York State Unified Court System in which the county handles maintenance and landlord services for the Courthouse. Part of that is doing capital improvements, with the county initially providing the money with an eventual reimbursement from New York State. The Law Library renovations would include built-in shelving demolition, drywall, custom veneer walls/doors, painting, minor electrical and general cleaning.
Committee Vice Chair, Legislator David Knapp (12th District), says he’s been familiar with the Law Library for probably 30 years and has served as the Legislature’s representative on the Library’s Oversight Committee for a long time. “It’s really a wonderful asset that we have” he shared. “Any lawyer in the county can go up there and access everything from case law to legal treatise to historic information for free.”
The Library can also be utilized by private citizens. Knapp said one thing he’s enjoyed seeing are the incredibly old documents related to the founding of Onondaga County. The Law Library resolution was advanced to the Ways & Means Committee.
The other resolution discussed was a Department of Transportation request involving a land purchase in the Town of Tully that, as Commissioner Martin Voss explained, is all about the county DOT maintaining access.
“This is part of a larger project involving Honeywell and the State of New York and the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Onondaga Nation” he said. “There’s a land transfer that the state’s doing with the Onondaga Nation and we have a road that runs through there with a culvert that needs to be maintained and needs to be properly replaced in the next few years in order to maintain the drainage of a small channel stream that runs through there.”
The area being considered is Tully Farms Road, C.R. 234 and C.R. 238, intersecting the Tully Recreational Area and Nature Preserve. The DOT resolution was advanced directly to August Session.
Following the meeting, the Executive Director of the Onondaga County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD), Mark Burger, shared some details about his agency and how they help the people of Onondaga County. Their mission is to protect environmental and agricultural resources in the county. One program is their Agricultural Spill Response which they started 24 years ago. When there’s a spill of things such as manure, milk or dried fertilizer, SWCD responds to help with containment and cleanup.
Director Burger highlighted a spill earlier in 2024 that SWCD respond to and assisted the Fabius Volunteer Fire Department. “There was an 18-wheeled tractor trailer that had overturned” he said. “It was moving manure from the farm out to the farm fields and it overturned near Fabius Brook. The manure was flowing down a road ditch towards Fabius Brook. We were able to use our pumps to be able to help get that material back into the farmers tanker that they brought over and taken to the farm field. It worked out really well.”
Legislator Knapp, who serves on the SWCD Board, added that the agency is the only one in the entire country that has this capability.
Finally, the committee toured the Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center, the main occupant of the building which sits just off the Onondaga Lake Parkway. It’s run by the Onondaga Historical Association and their Executive Director Lisa Romano Moore led the tour. They walked through the exhibits and saw historical artifacts relating to Haudenosaunee culture and learned about some of the stories and native people who once called this region home.
The committee also visited a collection of buildings that show what life was like on these grounds in the 17th century. Widely known as “Sainte Marie Among the Iroquois,” the site recreates a Jesuit mission which was located on the eastern shore of Onondaga Lake from 1656-1658. Visitors can explore the blacksmith and carpenter’s shops, sleeping quarters, kitchen, and a chapel, and can learn about the interactions between those at the mission and the local indigenous people, the Haudenosaunee.
Committee Chair Debra Cody (5th District) said, “Although I have been to Skä•noñh in the past, I had never before visited the mission site. It was a very informative and eye opening experience. OHA Director Lisa Romano Moore was a great teacher and provided such an interesting experience for us.”
Committee member, Legislator Cody Kelly (14th District), added “I especially enjoyed touring the outdoor fort at the Great Law of Peace Center. After seeing inside some of the buildings I could vividly remember school field trips there, with period actors and livestock roaming the grounds. I am proud that we have so many educational resources throughout our county, to inspire children to become lifelong learners.”
You can visit the Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center at 6680 Onondaga Lake Pkwy in Liverpool. Click here to learn more and to see their current operating hours.
Of the above resolutions which then came before the Ways & Means Committee in July, all were approved and advanced to Session.
During the discussion period, Committee Chair Colleen Gunnip (4th District) asked about the state grant funding to help the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office with equipment purchases. “This is to replace existing equipment, to update it?” she asked Chief Deputy of the Civil Department Lisa Dell, who said the funding would be used for the purchase of new equipment such as drones and computers, and the purchases could be completed this year if approved.
Speaking on the resolution to accept federal grant funds and use county money for a new emergency mobile command vehicle, Committee Vice Chair and Republican Floor Leader Brian May (2nd District) said, “It’s used or deployed all over the county and just another example of the good things the county is doing. I commend the use of fund balance for something like this. This is what we should be doing. It’s another example of how we’re using fund balance for these one-time, long-term investments rather than going out and taxing people for these kinds of things again or taking on debt service. This is the right way to do it.”
The only new resolutions to come before the committee were also advanced to Session:
Confirming two appointments to the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency: Vincent Mangan and Elizabeth Bough Martin
Naming a courtroom in the Criminal Courts Building at 505 South State Street in honor of the Honorable Langston C. McKinney, a trailblazing longtime Syracuse City Court Judge
August Session was fairly routine, with all resolutions presented being approved.
Prior to the vote on the resolution to accept state grant fund for a new mental health initiative at the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, and more specifically, the creation of a new position to oversee it, Leader May said he planned to support it but first wanted to offer a reminder to his fellow Legislators. “It’s easy to make these additions, these creates of positions and fund them, but this body has the responsibility of thinking about sustainability and its impact out into the future” he said. “There are fringe expenses that we need to consider in such decisions and in the future hopefully we can have that reflected into these requests somehow.”
Legislature Chairman Timothy Burtis (3rd District) presented the resolution to rename a courtroom in the Criminal Courts Building for the Honorable Langston C. McKinney, who passed away in May.
With the late judge’s wife and others standing at his side, Chairman Burtis called Judge McKinney a trailblazer, noting some of his many accomplishments. They include being the first Black person to serve as a Syracuse City Court Judge, sitting on the bench from 1986 through 2010 and positively affecting many lives during that time.
“It is my honor to put up this resolution to recognize Judge McKinney for his outstanding service, laudable achievements, and his commitment to public service and all those who appeared before him” Chairman Burtis said, before presenting Mrs. McKinney with a framed copy of the resolution.
Also at Session, the Legislature celebrated the life of former Legislator E. Clyde Ohl. He served from 1994 to 2001 and passed away in June at the age of 94. Legislator Julie Abbott (6th District) came to the front of the chambers and presented an In Memoriam resolution in remembrance of Legislator Ohl. His daughter, Debra, stood next to Legislator Abbott during the presentation.
“He really cared about kids and community” Legislator Abbott said, adding that Legislator Ohl was “clearly a great father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and he will be remembered.”
Chairman Burtis called for a rising tribute to Legislator Ohl and all Legislators rose to their feet for a moment of silence. In addition to serving as a Legislator, Mr. Ohl was a Mayor of the Village of Camillus, a Camillus Town Supervisor, a 30+ year educator with the West Genesee Central School District, an Air Force Veteran and a 40+ year volunteer at the Camillus Erie Canal Park.
