Deep thoughts

One problem with running government "like a business" is that half of all businesses fail within the first five years. It is a coin flip.
Also too, government and businesses do different things.

A big win! And a huge loss

Kudos (no, really) to the Plattsburgh Common Council for voting to accept funding to continue the Saranac River Trail. These sorts of projects help create a place worth living in, and caring about.

The unanimous vote happened in no small part thanks to the persuasive arguments of Councilor Becky Kasper, who quelled yet another budget panic attack that could have doomed the trail and cost the city millions of dollars of infrastructure funding.

And then Kasper resigned from the Council, declaring quite eloquently that she no longer wanted any part of the current administration's "tyranny of despair."

I don't blame Kasper, at all, but this is terrible for the city. This happened on the same day that Community Development Director Paul DeDominicas, who's been in charge of handling nearly every major project on the city's plate right now, abruptly decided to resign. That's two more sane, experienced, open-minded city servants gone. Just like that.

To quote the bard Michael Ray Richardson, "The ship be sinking, and the sky's the limit."

Down the wrong path

UPDATED (Feb. 9)!
Tonight the Saranac River Trail is on the chopping block. It shouldn’t be, but this is life under Mayor Read, where if it’s not one stupid thing, it’s another. And another. And another ...

Yet this may be the dumbest mistake of all.

The Saranac River Trail (full disclosure: I was once chair of the Saranac River Trail Advisory Committee) is what we call a nice thing. And it’s a nice thing with a payoff. People like to use non-motorized trails. They exercise on them. They commute on them. They get a little dose of nature on them. They play on them. And for those lucky enough to live near trails, they make money from them, because their property values increase.

Yes, nice things cost money. Fortunately, much of the money for the Saranac River Trail’s planned expansion comes from state or federal government grants.

Here’s a rundown of past and present trail funding, by phase:

Phase 1 (completed)

Cost: $1.2 million

This is the part of the trail Plattsburghers already enjoy, which opened up the river from the southern part of Pine Street to Steltzer Road  and on through the SUNY campus. The whole 1.3-mile stretch was covered by the state Dept. of Transportation multimodal fund, and was done in conjunction with previously planned city and state spending on road improvements to Steltzer, Pine and George Angell Drive.

Phase 2 (planned)

Cost: $2.1 million

Cost to City: 20% of cost, but could go down to 5%

This section will connect create a safe route up Pine Street to Stafford Middle School, connect Pine Street to Saranac Street and a new riverfront park, connect the new park to downtown via Durkee Street and then head north to Bridge Street. It would be funded by the state DOT on an 80-20 match, but the city is eligible for additional state funding that could drive city costs down to 5%, or $105,000. To get the grant money, the city must have two bridges across the Saranac River, at Durkee Street and at Pine Street (more on this in a bit).

Phase 3 (planned)

Cost: $1.3 million

Cost to City: 20%, but could go down to 5%

This phase would take the trail east to Green Street, and on to the waterfront marina, making a nearly seamless pedestrian and cycling route from Lake Champlain all the way to George Angell Drive on the SUNY campus.

Tonight’s vote could jeopardize all of the above. When the original Phase 2 grant came in, the city thought it could refurbish the old Saranac Street bridge, which had served as a de facto pedestrian bridge for years. But the bridge was beyond repair, and had to be taken down. The trail suddenly needed a new bridge. Without that bridge, the city would rescind the right to all $2.1 million of the Phase 2 grant money, because the Phase 2 project calls for two bridges. There’s no negotiating this.

Thankfully, in 2016 the city and the Friends of the Saranac River Trail hunted down and procured a $500,000 grant from the state’s parks and historic preservation department to fund a new bridge. Problem solved.

Enter the Read administration. Suddenly, some city councilors have cold feet about the cost of the whole project, and last week tabled a vote to accept the $500,000 bridge grant and move ahead. If they don’t accept the money, all of Phase 2 falls apart—and with it, likely Phase 3. Because if you’re a state agency, do you really want to waste your time and money on municipalities that give back your funding?

The ripple effects would be devastating. Phase 2 was designed to be built in tandem with street upgrades for Pine Street near the Police Station and Stafford Middle School, and was to be a linchpin in the downtown redevelopment initiative. Years of planning and thousands of volunteer hours have gone into making the Saranac River Trail a reality. Prior city administrations made smart deals that will provide maximum bang for the taxpayer’s buck—a $5 million infrastructure upgrade for about a $700,000 investment. 

And yet the city is seriously considering turning down money that will vastly improve the community.

I’d love to end this with a snarky punch line. I can’t. This is too depressing.

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Big Bill

Some new information on Mayor Colin Read's hiring of Bill Owens has been circulating, so it seemed a good time to, as we say in the blog business, throw it out there.

But first, some background: As you may recall, the current mayor made a big deal of hiring the former congressman to wage war on the Town of Plattsburgh for having the temerity to consistently use fractions in an ancient PILOT agreement.

"From 1992 on the city was expected to get up to $850,000 a year," said Plattsburgh Mayor Colin Read. But in 2009, Falcon Seaboard sold the plant to Saranac Power. That's when the PILOT payments to the city, town, county, and school district started to drop off. The value of the land went down, and so did the value of Saranac Power.

"The facility was originally assessed at $200 million. It went down to about $32 million -- that's a significant decrease. The energy market has changed significantly," said Plattsburgh Town Supervisior Michael Cashman.

So the Town of Plattsburgh quickly struck a new agreement with Saranac Power to pay for so-called special districts that respond to the plant in an emergency. "The city has continuously received two thirds of the PILOT money that was negotiated. This other agreement was separate for the special districts," Cashman said.

Interestingly, Owens' firm had a hand in the original agreement, according to this fascinating letter to the editor. Well-played, if you're a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose fan.

Neither the mayor nor the attorney, for some reason, would say what the fees would be. But now we know. And Bill's bill on the back end is.... $350 an hour! And it's a discount. Such a deal.

Keep in mind that Owens and Read serve on the same board of directors, but that is entirely coincidental and perfectly legal and totally ethical and has no bearing on any of these completely good-faith dealings, so shutupShutUpSHUTUP!!!

But wait, there's more!

Behold, citizens, your tax dollars at work.