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TL
SUPERINTENDENT TO RESIGN, CITES JOB STRESS
Citing personal reasons, Dan
Bower is resigning as superintendent of the Tupper Lake Central
School District.
Bower, who took over as Tupper
Lake superintendent in 2005, plans to step down from the position
effective July 31.
He said the decision stems
from the medical problems he endured last year, specifically a
heart attack and bypass surgery.
“Within the last year I’ve done a lot of thinking about
my health and my family after having the heart attack and surgery
last year,” he said. “I realized that as much as I love my
job, there has been a cost associated with it.
And I just thought it was time for a change.”
Bower said he’ll be looking
for a new job. He
hopes to stay in Tupper Lake, where he and his family moved from
the Rochester area when he became the district’s business
administrator in 1998. “We’ve
become part of the community and hope we can stay,” he said.
That’s what made the
decision to step down so difficult, Bower explained.
“The people in the school district and community here are
like family,” he said. “It’s
always tough to make decisions like this when you feel that way
about the people you work with.”
Bower said his end date is
flexible. “I’m
willing to stay longer or leave earlier depending on when the
board finds a replacement,” he said.
“I want a smooth transition and I’ll do whatever I can
to make that possible.”
The superintendent submitted
his letter of resignation to the school board Monday night.
“While I enjoy the job most of the time and feel that I
have served the district well, I believe that I have done so at
the expense of my health, at times,” Bower wrote, saying he
needs to be able to focus more on his family.
The board is expected to
discuss the superintendent search at an upcoming meeting,
according to board president Michael Dechene.
He said the board understands
the reasons why Bower is stepping down. (news11)
“I can understand as a parent and a husband, the stress
that’s brought on by the job.
It’s tough to deal with.
We totally understand Dan’s taking care of his family and
himself before the job.”
Dechene said Bower was an
“outstanding” business manager and superintendent.
“He was well liked by the community, the staff and all
the faculty,” he said.
Lake Placid School
Superintendent Ernie Stretton had nothing but praise for Bower and
the work he’s done in Tupper Lake.
“He’ll be sorely missed because he’s a good fella and knows
what he’s doing,” he said.
“He understands school finance extremely well.
People like him and he has a good way with folks.
Its hard to find people like Dan.”
Stretton said he knows
first-hand that the position of superintendent can be stressful. “They’re 24-7 jobs,” he said.
The pending departure of Dan
Bower means all three Tri-Lakes school districts will have new
superintendents this year.
The Saranac Lake School Board
recently hired former high school principal Gerry Goldman to serve
as its new superintendent.
There are currently three
finalists for the superintendent job in the Lake Placid School
District – Benjamin Bragg, a principal from St. Andrews Middle
School in Charlestown, S.C., James Donnelly Jr., a principal at
Dolgeville Middle/Senior High School in Dolgeville, and Joseph
Morgan, principal at Willink Middle School in Webster, NY.
-Chris Knight
POWER
AUTHORITY WILL COVER TL, LP SURCHARGES
The New York Power Authority
has agreed to step in and cover mysterious surcharges that more
than doubled the electric bills sent to Lake Placid and Tupper
Lake. The authority will also be investigating what caused the
surcharges to spike.
“We’re going to do our
best to work with all concerned parties to investigate the root
causes of the unaccounted-for-energy charges the two systems are
experiencing,” said Roger B. Kelley, NYPA president and chief
executive officer.
Earlier this month both
villages received bills for the month of January that had more
than doubled over the previous month.
A new contract signed by both
villages now made them liable for power lost over the transmission
lines. That still didn’t explain how so much power was logged as
missing. More than a fifth of Lake Placid’s $1.2 million bill
was for power produced in Niagara Falls that never reached the
local substation.
This week the power authority
told Lake Placid and Tupper Lake it was agreeing to resume paying
these costs while it investigates, said NYPA spokesman Michael
Saltzman.
“We will suspend passing
along this charge which is to Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, through
June. And amounts paid in January will be credited on the
system’s February bills,” he said.
Salztman said the power
authority doesn’t control the surcharges that drove up the
bills. Those costs had been handed to the power authority by the
New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s
power grid.
Lake Placid Mayor Jamie Rogers
commended the power authority for offering relief. “I think the bottom line is they realized when they looked
at this number what impact that it had on our residential
customers as well as our businesses,” Rogers said. “And one
our responses that we made once we got this charge was how do you
expect our businesses to be able to absorb this kind of cost
that’s up and down and all over the place month after month
after month without any justification? And how do we, as a board,
continue to pay a bill when there is really no proof what this
bill is for?”
Tupper Lake’s municipal
electric superintendent, John Bouck, said he’d received similar
word from the power authority.
Mayor Jamie Rogers said he’s
been informed that the governor’s office has called a meeting of
the state Public Service Commission, the New York Power Authority
and National Grid – which owns many of the transmission lines.
He said he hopes to get some answers to how and why these
surcharges spiked so dramatically.
-Jacob Resneck
PATERSON
PRAISED BY NORTH COUNTRY LAWMAKERS
David
Paterson was officially sworn in as New York's governor on Monday,
becoming the state's first black chief executive and vowing to
move past the prostitution scandal that has rocked the state
Capitol.
Paterson,
who is legally blind, was interrupted several times during his
address with thunderous applause.
“This
transition today is an historic message to the world: That we live
by the same values that we profess, and we are a government of
laws, not individuals,” Paterson said.
Paterson,
who becomes New York's 55th governor, has said he will get right
to work on the state budget and other matters. The Legislature
faces an April 1 deadline to pass an estimated $124 billion
budget.
“There
have been turbulent weeks in New York’s past and there will be
anxious weeks in our near future,” he said.
“But we move forward.
Today is Monday. There is work to be done.
There is an oath to be taken.
There is trust to be restored.
There are issues that need to be addressed.”
Paterson
received a boisterous welcome and hearty applause for his calls
for bipartisanship on tough issues facing New York. He said health
care, education, jobs and problems facing “the single mother
with two jobs” needed immediate attention.
He
said it's time for New York politicians to put power struggles
aside in the interest of public service.
Most
politicians, including the North Country’s representatives in
Albany, said they were hopeful that Paterson can help the state
recover from the shock of the past week.
State
Senator Betty Little, a Republican, said it was a fresh start. “I
feel honored to have witnessed one of New York State's brightest
and most significant historical moments,” she said.
“I welcome this unique opportunity to work constructively
with our new governor to achieve positive results, particularly on
issues important to upstate, such as property and business tax
relief.”
Assemblywoman
Teresa Sayward, a Republican, said she was impressed with what
Paterson had to say. “He talked about working together in a nonpartisan way
where everybody would move forward and move the state in a
direction it needs to go. He
did indicate we had a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re going
to do it together so I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Republican
Assemblywoman Janet Duprey called Paterson’s speech
“outstanding.” “He talked about putting partisan politics
aside and working together,” she said. “He mentioned the upstate economy and the crush of real
property taxes. He
summarized by saying one person alone, no matter how intelligent,
can’t get anything done. Outstanding
speech – he said exactly the things that needed to be said on
this day as we begin Governor Paterson’s term.”
Paterson
was Spitzer's lieutenant governor for just 14 months. Before that,
he was a Democratic state senator since 1985, representing parts
of Harlem and Manhattan's Upper West Side. He would be the first
legally blind governor to serve more than a few days in office.
-Chris Knight
LP
TREASURER RESIGNS, INTERIM REPLACEMENT HIRED
Lake Placid has hired an
interim financial officer following the early resignation of its
treasurer.
Karen Huttlinger, who served
as village treasurer since 2003, was told last month by village
trustees she wouldn’t be reappointed this spring.
Huttlinger said her supporters
gathered signatures on her behalf but she decided it wasn’t
worth fighting for her job.
“There was an atmosphere of
intimidation and nastiness that was having an effect on everyone
whether they were involved in the situation or not,” Huttlinger
said. “And I just felt that to be constructive, it was just time
to move on.”
Mayor Jamie Rogers declined to
comment saying it was a personnel issue.
Following Huttlinger’s
abrupt March 6 resignation, the village board voted unanimously
Monday evening to hire Peggy Mousaw as interim chief financial
officer.
A former deputy budget officer
for St. Lawrence County, Mousaw will be paid $1,200 a week plus a
weekly stipend of $400 for travel/living expenses for a maximum of
six months.
-Jacob Resneck
PLACID
TRUSTEES WILL KEEP VILLAGE HEALTH INSURANCE
A motion to strip Lake Placid
village trustees of their health insurance failed to pass, though
its sponsor vowed to keep pressing the issue.
Trustee Pat Gallagher said the
village should end the practice of offering family health
insurance plans to its trustees. Currently, board members have the
option of paying about 20 percent toward full health coverage
that’s estimated to cost taxpayers more than $14,000 per
trustee.
Trustee Dave Jones, one of
three board members insured by the village, said he felt
“blindsided” by the motion.
“I have no alternative plan
in place,” Jones said. “I have to vote against it.”
Trustee Paul Strack, who is
also covered by the village, initially said he had no comment but
then remarked that health coverage is one of the most important
issues facing the country.
“It’s important to me and
I don’t want to give it up,” he said.
Trustee Peter Roy, who is also
covered under the village plan, said that if trustees did wean
themselves off the health plan it would put them in a stronger
position to tell unions that village employees need to pay a
larger share.
After much back and forth,
Gallagher said he would be willing to see his motion die on the
floor but intended to keep pressing the issue.
“I understand that you have
to have a plan for your family,” he told fellow trustees.
“I’m willing to have a discussion about this but I want to
move forward.”
The motion died on a 3-1 vote
with only Gallagher voting in favor. Mayor Jamie Rogers abstained.
-Jacob Resneck
PSC
TAKES PART IN RECYCLING COMPETITION
Paul Smith’s College is near
the top of the heap in New York State as a nationwide recycling
competition wraps up.
The event, known as
RecycleMania, pits 400 colleges and universities against each
other as they try to reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus
waste.
So far, the Paul Smith’s
College community has recycled more than 13,000 pounds of paper
and cardboard since the event began.
The competition began in
January and runs through April 5. With less than three weeks to
go, Paul Smith’s is among the top three teams in New York State
in three categories: per capita classic, which averages the weight
of recycled material across the campus population; per capita
paper; and per capita corrugated cardboard, a category the college
currently leads.
“We want to create
long-standing behavioral change by joining this competition,”
said Melony-Ann Jones, one of the students leading the campus’
RecycleMania effort. “By using institutional resources and those
made available through RecycleMania, we hope to change the culture
regarding recycling and overall waste reduction at Paul Smith's
College.”
College officials say
recycling is an integral part a commitment to reducing their
overall carbon footprint and increasing sustainability-related
programming on campus. The
effort is being coordinated by the members of a new Campus
Sustainability course and the college¹s Recycling Action Team.
Every residence hall room has
been provided recycling bins as part of RecycleMania, and those
halls are competing amongst themselves as well.
Additional recycling bins were
also placed across campus in every building to increase the amount
of recyclable materials gathered. The college has been working
closely with Waste Stream Management, its hauler, to insure
greater compliance with its recycling program.
The RecycleMania program is
organized by several schools and administered by the National
Recycling Coalition.
POLICE
AND FIRE REPORT
Saranac Lake Police charged a
Brockport, NY man with third-degree criminal trespass at 6:05 a.m.
today. 25 year-old William A. Ekman was arrested after police
investigated a complaint of a person sleeping inside a local
business. Police say
Ekman allegedly entered the locked business without permission or
authority and had fallen asleep on the floor.
He was processed, arraigned and sent to the Franklin County
Jail in lieu of $300 cash bail.
Saranac Lake firefighters were
called to a reported chimney fire at 6:22 p.m. Monday.
One truck and seven members responded to 14 Lakeview.
They cleared ashes from the chimney.
The cause of the fire was attributed to creosote buildup
inside the chimney. Firefighters
were back at the fire station by 7:20 p.m.
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