Reply #3: Final Version of the Association of Towns Resolution Here:

[Bill Bored]

Thanks for the post!

As usual, WheresThePaper, uh I mean WheresTheLever!, is on top of it! See:

http://www.wheresthepaper.org/2009LegislativeProgramFINAL_TheAssocOfTownsFeb18_09.pdf

To: The Governor of the State of New York

To: The Members of the New York State Assembly and Senate

To: The Heads of the Several State Departments, Divisions, and Other Agencies of New York State Government

To: Members of the United States Congress

The resolutions contained herein were adopted by the Delegates to the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Association of Towns of the State of New York on February 18. As such, they were passed by a majority of the delegates present and, in respect to these issues, represent the legislative positions of the Association for 2009.

About New York's Towns . . .

New York State local government structure is made up of four general purpose municipal corporations: counties, towns, villages and cities. A town is a general purpose municipal corporation with Constitutional “home rule” powers. More than 8.1 million New Yorkers or nearly 50 percent of our population live in towns; in fact everyone in New York who lives outside a city or an Indian reservation lives in a town. There are more towns in New York than there are cities and villages combined.

About the Association of Towns . . .

The Association of Towns of the State of New York was established by town officials in 1933 as a means for united action of the towns of this State and of the officers thereof for the improvement and preservation of town government. In 1935, the Association organized the Town and County Officers Training School and obtained a charter from the Board of Regents to conduct training courses of both a regional and state-wide nature, for various town and county officers; including, town board members, clerks, tax collectors and receivers, assessors, finance officers, justices, attorneys, and planning and zoning board members. The Annual Meeting of the Association of Towns is a peak in the Association’s internal affairs each year. The group sessions for the respective officers provide not only formal instruction, but also a medium for the exchange of ideas and information. For the past 40 years, the annual meeting and training school has been conducted in New York City. As part of the Annual Meeting, town officials from around the state gather to vote on the Association of Town’s annual legislative program. The goals of the legislative program are many, including preservation of home rule and local authority, elimination of burdensome mandates and a means to strengthen the partnership between federal, state and local governments in order to foster our shared economic prosperity and to improve the quality of life for those who live, work and visit New York.

IMO, what we have here is just another "FRINGE" group (that happens to represent about HALF the population of NY State) trying to impose their wacky, non-computerized (albeit transparent, accurate, secure, reliable, affordable and HAVA-compliant vote-counting agenda on the rest of us!:sarcasm:

I guess you can say, like that song about Chicago, they are MY KIND OF TOWN(S)!