Riga reorganization meeting draws crowd

Close to 60 people attended the Town of Riga's re-organizational meeting on January 3. This was the first meeting in which newly elected and appointed officials participated.

Supervisor Pam Moore said she was pleased with the attendance at the two hour meeting which began with a member of the community leading those in attendance in the pledge of allegiance. "I said I was going to make some changes and having a resident start the meeting was one of them," Moore said.

The meeting resulted in "healthy discussions" and Moore said it was harmonious.

More than 50 resolutions were passed at the meeting, many were housekeeping items that Moore said didn't quite comply with New York state regulations.

"One of the things we did was to dissolve the historical committee," she said. "That committee was not recognized under state law, so essentially we were running an improperly constituted committee."

Moore and her board also replaced the zoning enforcement officer position with two positions. "We now have an individual to focus on code enforcement and one to handle fire protection issues," she said. "The splitting of the two positions will give the residents access to two individuals whose strengths will play better into their positions ad offer a greater level of expertise to the town."

The board also appointed two attorneys. Lamarr Jackson, a native of Riga, was named town attorney and Lucien Morin II was named deputy town attorney and will preside over the planning board. He is also a former Riga resident.

One of the biggest issues the board addressed was the fact that the town's insurance policy was written with the understanding the town building was equipped with a generator. Moore said the purchase of a generator was in the original plans but had never been installed.

"Because our insurance carrier believed we had a generator in place, if there had been a loss, and it was determined we didn't, it's a significant error," she said.

To address the issue Moore said the board has authorized the town highway department to put together bid specifications but she said with the hurricanes in the south, generators are in short supply. "We were told we can't get a generator until March - after the threat of winter is close to over," she said. "We can't afford to wait that long."

Other options are being explored by the town. "We need to get a generator installed as soon as possible," she said.

January 8, 2006