Dissolution would be irresponsible without knowing outcome for services
Editor:
As many of us have been, we too have closely followed the ongoing debate regarding dissolution. We are not opposed to shared services and or consolidation if it is done properly. This upcoming vote is neither. It is not a vote to create “One Medina.” It is an elimination vote that would cause there to be no Medina!
We are not the Village of Seneca Falls that was located entirely within a township of the SAME name and could seamlessly consolidate with that township. Medina being split between two townships extremely complicates all aspects of this dissolution! This fact is being greatly overlooked.
There have been a lot of numbers thrown around and “promised” savings. If the savings are so great and the numbers are so accurate, why would CGR (Center for Governmental Research), the agency that conducted the feasibility study, recommend NOT dissolving the Village without merger of the towns?
Everyone keeps asking for better ideas. Here is one, petition for a consolidation vote of Ridgeway and Shelby. This should be the FIRST step in the process! Let all constituents who this affects have a say in the matter to determine if everyone truly wants One Medina.
To ask village voters to decide if they should dissolve Medina without having the knowledge of what the townships will do is irresponsible and frankly unfair to both village and town residents. Creating districts and LDCs (Local Development Corporation) that will all have taxing authority would make more government layers with voters having less voice. It would just put an invisible line on the map of what was the former village. If you are going to do this, you might as well keep the village.
The village is the biggest entity with the equipment, personnel, and infrastructure already in place. Why would you just throw that away and hope the towns could pick up the pieces, reinvent the wheel, and effectively provide these vital services.
Forcing this on two unwilling townships is not the answer! Medina would forever be the black sheep of the towns. This is not a test that we can try for a few years and then go back if we don’t like it.
This vote is final, and it would be a mistake that this area would spend decades trying to recover from. Vote NO on Jan. 20, and let’s start working with the towns instead of against them!
Respectfully submitted,
Don and Nancy Draper
57 years of combined service to the Village of Medina
(Mr. Draper is a retired Medina police chief and Mrs. Draper is a retired village court clerk.)
