January 2009 Monthly Announcements

1.   Tug Hill Commission Energy Efficiencies & Alternatives Workshops - The Tug Hill Commission will be offering a half-day workshop on Tuesday, January 20^th from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm at the Boonville Municipal Building. The workshop is designed for the local government official, schools, commercial or small business owner, or individual interested in learning about energy cost savings, alternative sources of fuel, and energy-related economic development. Topics to be discussed will be:

Improving Efficiencies: Save on energy costs by using less electricity, natural gas, and fuel oil. NYSERDA and National Grid will present on programs available for commercial, institutional, and municipal building owners.

Alternative and Supplemental Sources: In the face of rising electric and heating costs, alternative technologies are becoming more attractive to a variety of energy consumers. Come and hear presentations about using biomass/wood, wind, solar and geothermal to offset and in some cases replace the need for energy from traditional sources.

There is no registration fee. If you have any questions, contact the Commission toll-free in the region (888)785-2380.

2.  NOCCOG's NYS  Archives Grant 2009-10 - NOCCOG is currently working with Kent Stuetz and Ancestry.com  on a project to digitize  historical records for our towns and villages. Kent and Gerry Ritter  have been meeting with town and village clerks and record management officers and historians to further explain the program in more detail. This grant will be written and submitted by NOCCOG for the 2009 -10 grant cycle which is due February 2, 2009. The grant would be for historical records only and the records would contain genealogical and local government history information.  Grant participants will need to provide a letter to support by January 23^rd.  There is no financial obligation for any of the grant participants.  If you have questions, please contact Gerry Ritter at 392-2260 or at GJRitter01@aol.com

3.  Tug Hill Commission's Local Government Conference   - Registration information is in the mail to local officials for the Tug Hill Commission's Annual Local Government Conference on Thursday, March 26 at JCC.  There is wide variety courses for all elected and appointed officials. When sending in your registration forms, please mark the registration form in the lower left corner for the courses you would like to take.  If you have any newly elected or appointed officials please provide the NOCCOG circuit riders contact information so these new officials will receive future mailings.

4. Legislative  Member Items - Municipalities, fire departments, libraries and not-for profits organizations that  plan to request a  legislative member item for this year from their assemblyman or senator,  need to submit a request in writing in January.  Please be clear in what project you plan to do and provide as much information as possible as well as letters of support. All requests will be carefully reviewed due to the state's fiscal problems. Contact information for local state senators and assemblyman is attached. 

5.  Department of State On-line Training for Planning Boards and ZBAs - The NYS Dept. of State is now offering an on-line tutorial for planning board and ZBA members to help them meet the yearly training requirement.  The first two hour course, "Planning Board Overview" is now available. The training would have to be approved by the local governing board for credit.  A course designed for ZBA members will be ready later this winter. Some basic information is needed to register for the course and receive an user name and password .Please contact Linda King, Land Use Training Manager at the NYS Department of State to register for this free course.  Linda's number is 518-473-3355 and email address is linda.king@dos.state.ny.us

6.   NOCCOG Monthly Announcements - We will be posting the monthly announcements on the NOCCOG website - NOCCOG.org  - starting the end of January 2009.   We will be developing a distribution list for these announcements that will be available to our member communities.  We are working with Digital Towpath on the distribution list and more information will be available soon.  The circuit riders will continue to pass out a hard copy at the monthly municipal meetings.

7.  Tug Hill Commission's Annual Newsletter Headwaters - This yearly report of regional projects in the Tug Hill area will be mailed out in January to local officials. Please look for your copy of Headwaters in the mail later this month.

8.  NOCCOG Dues Vouchers  -  Vouchers for 2009 have been  mailed out  the first week of January.  The voucher, a copy of the adopted NOCCOG budget for 2009 and a copy of the minutes for NOCCOG's 2008 Annual Meeting were mailed to the chief elected official for each of our member towns and villages.  Dues will be remaining the same at $550 for 2009. 

Email addresses:

Gjriiter01@aol.com or gerryritternoccog@frontiernet.net

hmoonen@twcny.rr.com  &  smartin47@roadrunner.com