Common Council to discuss stalled union contract
PLATTSBURGH — The City of Plattsburgh Common Council will meet this evening in Council Chambers, City Hall.
At 5 p.m., councilors will hold a hearing to hear public comment from the involved attorneys on the impasse in negotiations between the city and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 66 Local 788.
At the regular meeting to follow at 5:30 p.m., items to be considered include moving the council meeting to Nov. 20 for Thanksgiving week, two Xtreme Combat mixed martial arts competitions planned for the Crete Civic Center next year, a North Country Mustang Club car show at the waterfront parking lot next July and housing-rehabilitation projects.
The meeting is open to the public.
Clinton County Board of Elections extends hours
PLATTSBURGH — The Clinton County Board of Elections office at the Government Center is holding extended hours this week to allow absentee voters to come in.
The office will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Nov. 3.
Franklin County hosting three public hearings
MALONE — The proposed 2013 Franklin County budget, a redistricting plan and an override of the property-tax cap will be topics of public hearings in Malone today.
The budget hearing is scheduled first at 4:30 p.m., followed at 5 p.m. by a public hearing on overriding the 2-percent property-tax cap. At 5:30 p.m., the county’s proposed redistricting plan will be discussed.
The meetings, which are open to the public, are in the fourth-floor chambers of the County Legislature.
The overall proposed budget is $99,740,402, a decrease of 11.4 percent from this year. The amount to be raised by taxes is $15,410,538, an increase of 5.57 percent. The average tax rate per $1,000 of assessed-property value is $4.29 per $1,000 compared to $4.06 per $1,000 this year.
— By Staff Writer Denise Raymo
Essex County sends generators to hurricane victims
LEWIS — The Essex County Office of Emergency Services has dozens of generators headed for storm-wracked Flushing.
Essex County Emergency Services Director Donald Jaquish said Flushing officials called with a request for help.
“We had 30 generators we could spare, and the Town of Jay had six. They are on their way.”
County Department of Public Works Superintendent Anthony LaVigne volunteered his department’s help to transport the generators to Flushing. The trucks left Wednesday, Jaquish said.
“They have them for up to 30 days. Then we’ll have to go down and get them.”
Firefighters from various departments in the county have volunteered to go to parts of the state, such as New York City and Long Island, that were slammed by Hurricane Sandy.
“We did a survey, and we know who we can send,” Jaquish said. “We’re waiting for deployment orders.”
The storm only grazed the North Country Monday into Tuesday, but downstate areas and the New Jersey coast were severely damaged by high winds and flooding.
— By Staff Writer Lohr McKinstry
