Transit service will add new Dundee route

PENN YAN -- The Yates County Legislature met for their monthly meeting Monday, March 12, where they heard an update from Friends of Yates Transit Services, Inc., presented by ARC President and Chief Executive Officer, Daniele Lyman-Torres. Lyman announced that the service, which began with five routes Jan. 3, 2017, will be adding to their schedule a midday route from Penn Yan to Dundee and a shopping route that travels the streets of Penn Yan. Both of these routes will be available in April, and the transit service will release additional details about the new routes soon.
The legislature also carried a resolution to form a plan with other contiguous counties in regards to New York state legislation. Starting in October, this will raise the age at which juveniles are automatically tried as adults from 16 to 18. This legislation states that adolescent offenders may not be detained in facilities with adult offenders.
Yates County, along with many other Finger Lakes counties, do not have a large enough population of adolescent offenders to justify creating its own detention center, so officials from 10 counties have met to discuss solutions which would be both efficient and responsive to the needs of smaller, more rural counties.
During the public question time of the meeting, Valerie Brechko of Penn Yan stated, "During the Public Works Committee meeting, a group from the Yates County Federation of Conservation asked the legislature to draw up a county law to allow deer hunting in tree stands on county land."
She raised the following questions: how would allowing hunters to use county land affect county residents, would the county have insurance liabilities, would the land be posted, would only county residents be allowed to use the land to hunt, and would there be a permit system to monitor those using the land?
Chairman Douglas Paddock stated that the questions would be considered by the Government Operations Committee.
Additional resolutions included:
•To designate April 2-8 as National Public Health Week.
•To recognize April 8-14 as National Crime Victim's Week.
•Ray Spencer, representing the Yates County Chamber of Commerce, resigned from the Tourism Advisory Committee and was replaced by Josh Trombley.
The next Yates County Legislature meeting will be held April 8, 2018 at 1 p.m. in the Legislative Chambers.