Winner Joins Local Officials To Continue Commitment To 'Shared Services'

Coopers Plains, N.Y.--

"These shared services efforts produce significant cost savings for local governments and property taxpayers," said State Senator George H. Winner, Jr. (R-C, Elmira) as he praised county and town officials for their effortslast week to demolish an abandoned house in the town of Erwin, Steuben County, that local officialssaid was a community eyesore and a threat to the health and safety ofnearby residents.

Thanks to a joint effort involving his office, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Steuben County, along with the town of Erwin and several other Steuben County towns, Winner said that a vacant house on Main Street in Coopers Plains, which had been declared a public nuisance because it was full of garbage and infested with rats, wasdemolished and hauled away at a significant cost savings to county taxpayers.

Officials said that the cooperative effort saved town and county taxpayers thousands of dollars and allowed the remediation project to be completed more quickly.

"Here's shared services eliminating a public hazard, a public nuisance, at a savings to all of the taxpayers," said Rita McCarthy, Erwin town manager.

Winner said thatlast week’s project represented a continuation of his commitment to local-state cooperation, a tradition that was a hallmark of the service of his predecessor in the State Senate, current U.S. Rep. John R. "Randy" Kuhl, Jr. (R-Hammondsport). Kuhl replaced retired Congressman Amo Houghton earlier this year, while Winner succeeded Kuhl in representing the state’s 53rd Senate District.

"Randyestablished a very successful tradition of shared services, and I look forward to opportunities to continue to encourage and facilitate local-state cooperation on important community projects," said Winner. "In this instance, shared services have allowed us to remove a community eyesore and public health threat at significant costs savings to the town of Erwin and all county taxpayers."

See the Friday, March 4, 2005 edition of the Elmira Star-Gazette for more details on this story.