Dundee supports villages in fracking court cases

    DUNDEE—The Dundee village board agreed to support the towns of Middlefield and Dryden in two court cases with gas drilling companies over home rule law, during the Tuesday, Dec. 27, board meeting.
    Board member Judy Duquette explained this was tabled from the previous board meeting.  Mayor Fred Cratsley Jr. said the drilling companies sued the towns over their laws involving drilling.  He said it’s a “fight to protect zoning laws,” whether a gas drilling company or someone else challenges the regulations.  He reiterated that supporting the villages was not meant as a stance against drilling companies.
    “Why have zoning laws, a code book, if we don’t have the jurisdiction to enforce them?” he said.
Trustee Greg Wright abstained from the vote.
    In other business:
    • The board held a public hearing for and later approved residency changes to be on various boards and committees.  People appointed to village office (such as village clerk, code enforcement officer, historian, etc.) must either be residents of Yates County or any county bordering Yates.  Members of the historic district committee and the arbor committee need to either be: a resident of Dundee, an owner of property in Dundee, or own a business within the village.  The number of planning board seats was also dropped from seven to five.
    • Clerk Christine Sutherland presented the board with a list of fire department members who qualified for the Length of Service Awards Program (LOSAP) in 2011.
    • The board will have Attorney Ed Brockman review a report that Time Warner Cable underpaid the village $828.37.  Dundee might be able to get that amount from the cable company, but Cratsley added Time Warner could just pass the money on to customers in a reduced bill.
    • The board did the annual review of the procurement policy.
    • Superintendent of Highways Andy Howell said he would be starting his own budget process and said he would welcome comments and input from the board.
    The next village board meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m.