By Dennis Phillips

dphillips@post-journal.com

FALCONER — It will be up to the voters in November to decide if the term length for town of Ellicott councilmembers should be extended from two to four years.

On Monday, the Ellicott Town Board held a public hearing on the proposal. Patrick McLaughlin, town supervisor, said no one spoke during a public hearing about Local Law No. 1 dealing with the term length extension. He said following the public hearing, the town board approved the local law.

“It will be on the ballot this fall as a proposition,” he said. “It’s up to the voters now.”

During last month’s board meeting when the public hearing was scheduled, McLaughlin said the other three town elected positions– clerk, highway superintendent and supervisor — all have four-year term lengths. Also, McLaughlin said there has been times when council members have worked on town projects and then had their terms expire before completion of the project.

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“Historically, it takes time to have federal and state government projects you have planned for come to fruition. It makes sense for council members to witness what they have worked so hard for,” he said. “I think this is why other towns have four-year term lengths.”

In other business, McLaughlin said the board discussed the federal stimulus money the town will be receiving. He said the town, which includes a percentage going to both the villages of Celoron and Falconer, is scheduled to receive more than $900,000. McLaughin said it’s unknown how much of the funding will go toward the villages of Celoron and Falconer at this time. Also, he said the stimulus is a two-year program, so the town will receive $450,000 this year and another $450,000 payment next year.

McLaughlin said he has been told the funding can go toward infrastructure projects and COVID-19 relief. He said town officials are exploring the idea that the funding will go toward the water tower project at the airport this year and the sewer project along Fluvanna Avenue next year. However, he said because of the unknown on how exactly town officials can spend the funding, no official decision has been made on how it will be spent.

“Everyone is in agreement that we will wait until the May meeting to finalize what it will be used for,” he said.

TRUCK-LITE SITE

With the recent news that Truck-Lite officials are exploring three options for a new facility — remain in Chautauqua County at a new, more economically feasible location at the Mason Industrial Park, move to a new site to be constructed over the state line in Warren County or move operations to the Erie, Pa., region — McLaughlin said he hopes the longtime Falconer-based company will remain in the town.

“Obviously, its a sad situation. I’ve been in contact with Mark (Geise) and Rich (Dixon) at the IDA and we’re trying to move forward with the property in the industrial park, and (seeing what type of) PILOT programs and possible grants (Truck-Lite could receive),” McLaughlin said. “Our hope is that (Truck-Lite) will see the value of that property and the value of retaining employees in this area for the town and county.”

Truck-Lite recently ceased manufacturing at its Falconer plant, though it did retain its corporate offices in the village.

“As it stands right now, Mark (Geise) and Rich (Dixon) are working every day to get this accomplished and we all hope it will get done. The land is ready to go. If Truck-Lite makes the decision to stay, we will see how quickly we can get this done,” McLaughlin said.