Riga supervisor gives State of Town address

Riga supervisor gives State of Town address

During her State of the Town address, Supervisor Pam Moore offered a challenge to all Riga residents, "to not just share a zip code but to help Riga become a 21st century community." During this workshop meeting on Tuesday, April 18, Riga Town Board members and more than 50 Riga residents heard Moore's vision for the future of the town.

During her address, Moore discussed many town issues including the challenges she faced during her transition into office, completion of a full review of town personnel procedures, the town's accounting system and a complete inventory of the town's computer and software systems. She spoke of her meetings with key community and public leaders.

As part of her plan for change, Moore called for completing a full overhaul and establishment of new town personnel procedures in order to become "proactive to problems rather than reactive." She also found a lack of alignment with town job descriptions and responsibilities. "Some job descriptions were not available nor did they align with job responsibilities," she said.

After Moore found that town Medicare payments, as well as other town monthly bills, were not made on time and were delinquent, she requested an audit on the town's finances. She requested this audit in order to "assist in overcoming the weaknesses in our systems." Ray Wager, an accountant with experience in working with other local municipalities and school districts, was called in. Wager's audit recommends converting the town's accounting system to an accrual system, training employees in financial procedures and he will assist the town in the completion of its annual state audit report. Moore admitted this audit has been the subject of much discussion. She also said, "The Office of the State Comptroller has commended our town for taking action to fix our problems."

The discovery of pirated software on town computers, troubled Moore from an ethics standpoint, she said. She called upon town personnel and town board member Ken Kuter to investigate. To date, all town computers are operating with legal software and all licensing fees and fines are paid.

During her first 100 days in office, Moore has met with key county and state officials in hopes of building relationships. The topic of her meetings with County Executive Maggie Brooks focused on the Mill Seat landfill and the landfill agreement with Monroe County and Waste Management LLC. Moore said, "The host community (Riga) should receive some benefit for hosting this landfill." She also explained, "I have a firm agreement from Maggie Brooks to discuss this agreement."

Moore discussed plans for developing the South Sanford Recreation facility, hosting community forums to find out community priorities and issues, and working with Churchville-Chili schools to develop recreational programs with an educational component. Moore also invited any resident over the age of 14 to serve on ad hoc advisory committees.

"We have the means to become a modern day community that is responsive to the community needs," Moore said. She called up Riga residents to "become modern-day pioneers," and challenged residents to share their skills and talents.

Moore's address was well received by residents. Riga residents, Mark and Nadine Majewski, worked on Moore's election team. Nadine said Moore is a team motivator. Mark said, "Pam has put a team together and will connect everyone to keep our town going."

Town Board member Bob Ottley commented after the meeting that he was, "disappointed so much of the supervisor's speech focused on past problems." He added, "I'm hoping we can learn from the past and move ahead in the future in an expedient manner."