About the study

 

The Towns of Ridgeway and Shelby encompass a 97-square-mile area in the southwestern corner of Orleans County, New York. The Village of Medina is a 3.3-square-mile area contained wholly within and divided nearly equally between Ridgeway and Shelby — which creates a complex municipal structure. About 11,700 residents live in the Towns, with 52% of the population residing inside the Village boundaries.


The Village successfully applied to the state's Local Government Efficiency (LGE) program for a high priority planning grant to conduct a feasibility study in cooperation with the Towns. The Village wants to explore whether dissolving the Village could result in increased efficiency and cost savings and also assess other viable options for streamlining government.


Separately the Towns successfully applied for an LGE grant to conduct a merger feasibility study in cooperation with the Village. The Towns want to present residents with information on merging the two Towns and also assess other viable service delivery options.


In 2010 the municipalities engaged the Center for Governmental Research (CGR) to conduct a project combining the objectives of both grants into one study. The study includes opportunities for public engagement. The anticipated completion date for the study is June 2011.


CGR met twice with the boards of the Village and Towns to discuss the study and initial baseline information that had been gathered. In April 2010 the boards agreed to appoint a 12-member citizen-based committee to oversee the project, meet with CGR, and make recommendations to the boards. Appointments to the Committee were completed in May 2010. Committee members are:

 

Medina

Ann Bunch, abunch@brockport.edu, 585-395-5501
Don Colquhoun, DColquhoun@arcoforleans.org, 585-798-4406
Charlie Slack, charlieonannst@gmail.com, 585-798-3463
Adam Tabelski, mayor@villagemedina.org, 585-590-0107
Alternate: Andrew Meier, awmeier@hotmail.com, 585-233-4369

 

Ridgeway
Patty Blackburn, pblackburn12@yahoo.com, 585-798-4743
Nelda Callard, dbcnbc50@hotmail.com, 585-798-1507
Rosalind Lind, rclind100@gmail.com, 585-798-9392
Jeffrey Toussaint, jstmlt@rochester.rr.com, 585-766-8084
Alternate: Robin Gardner, rgardne3@rochester.rr.com, 585-798-4047

 

Shelby
Merle Draper, skipdraper@verizon.net, 585-798-7055
Lawrence Fox, lmfox2001@yahoo.com, 585-798-1643
Nathan Pace, ndpace@nysbar.com, 585-798-1000
Howard Watts, ewatts1@rochester.rr.com, 585-798-0378
Alternate: Ken Schaal, khs1jr@aol.com, 585-798-4045