New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc.
OGS and Truck Contracts
Currently, OGS is working on simplifying their previous survey into multiple choice questions which can be put on a website for quick responses. They believe this information is critical to their process as they need data on how to best structure the next contracts. Their hope is that better data will identify well defined contracts for each class of truck at greater volume for a better price to local governments.
Our Association will be sure to email you information about this survey as soon as it is available. We want to get the best response possible.
OGS will also be the first presentation at the June Highway School in Ithaca. In addition to discussing their services and taking questions, they will invite people to complete the survey there if they have not done so already.
The process for getting out the new truck contracts was held up initially by the Comptroller's Office. A change in the Governor's budget this year has made it such that the Comptroller no longer has "pre-bid" review of these contracts, but still retains "post-bid" review responsibilities. This means that the Comptroller's opinion still holds for any past contracts, but OGS can now move forward without this "pre-bid" review on new contracts. Even so, they are still looking to address the Comptroller's original questions which largely surrounded getting the best large volume price and the fairness of pricing on non-OEM options such as dump body and plow.
Our officers from NYSAOTSOH and NYSCHSA provided some good suggestions toward what could shape the new contracts. OGS has promised to follow up with the truck manufacturers for more input on these ideas. We will also follow up with OGS again for another meeting to be sure the process keeps moving.
Vendor Meeting in Ithaca
Our association will host a Vendor Meeting during the June Highway School in Ithaca on Tuesday, June 12 at 9am. We will meet in the Taughannock Falls Room which is upstairs from the snack shop in the student center where all of the sessions are held.
The fall conference brochures will be ready by then. We will take time to discuss the logistics of the Expo and any questions you may have. This is also a great opportunity to talk with officers and staff about how we may best serve you. The Association is active in meeting with legislators about a number of bills as well as with OGS about state contracts. We would like to use this opportunity to report directly to you.
83rd Town Highway Conference and Expo
83rd Town Highway Conference and Expo
Mark your calendar for our annual state-wide opportunity to meet collectively as superintendents, industry professionals, and invited guests. We will discuss the important needs of our local highways, departments and communities.
Place: Hyatt Hotel and Riverside Convention Center, Rochester, NY
Dates: September 25-28, 2012
The conference will offer a variety of educational opportunities and a marketplace for innovative and cost-effective products and services to provide support and solutions in maintaining our local roads and bridges. We are building a sound infrastructure for the businesses that support the livelihood of our neighbors. Please join us as we come together to shape the work we do to enable others to work in our home communities.
Stay Connected with the Town Highway Superintendents
Your sponsorship makes a difference. It's a great way to draw attention to your company, maximize your return on investment and demonstrate your support for the profession. You can become an exclusive sponsor or join in with a group of companies or distributors to gain direct access to this active targeted audience. There are a variety of sponsorship opportunities to fit any budget.
You will have the opportunity to:
- Meet face-to-face with Town Highway Superintendents.
- Build relationships with other industry leaders and potential business partners.
- Gain insight into the challenges that our members face and the products and services they turn to for solutions.
- Strengthen your company's relationship with Town Superintendents from across the state.
- Support quality education programs.
Click here to download the Sponsorship Brochure.
Please call Association headquarters to discuss your participation.
Future Conferences Survey
Our 2013 Fall Conference is being planned for Lake Placid and now we are making plans for 2014. We value your input in evaluating where we should go, as well as what training and events we should offer. Please assist us by using the link below to fill out a very brief online survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TownHighwayFutureConferences2012
Your feedback makes a big difference in helping us serve your needs. Thank you!
2012 Grassroots Campaign for Local Roads & Bridges Campaign Wrap-up
Six hundred county and town highway superintendents, commissioners and other highway industry professionals traveled to Albany to report to state lawmakers on the conditions of their local systems and make the case for increased capital investment in local roads and bridges. Click here for the official press release.
The New York State County Highway Superintendents Association, Inc. and the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc. rallied together to protect jobs and increase economic vitality across NYS to garner legislative and public support for adequate funding for the State's local roads and bridges infrastructure which make up 87 percent of the state's roadways and 52 percent of its bridges.
The advocacy program began on Tuesday evening, March 6th at the Hotel Albany, with a legislative briefing and strategy meeting, followed by the Local Roads Reception which attracted over 30 legislators and a representative from the Governor's office.
On Wednesday, March 7th, members from both associations along with their business partners gathered for a buffet breakfast and heard Association leaders reinforce their message of adequate funding for the State's local roads and bridges infrastructure before heading up the hill to meet with their legislators.
While we have been increasingly successful in communicating our message during Advocacy Day, this year saw another great step forward to being heard, not only by legislators, but by the public.
The first aired on Channel 10 (ABC) during the event:
http://www.news10.com/story/17101549/lobbying-for-road-and-bridge-repair
- Click here to view the 2012 Advocacy Day Photo Gallery
We want to thank the solid and continued support of our Business Partners for their financial contribution and participation in advocacy efforts.
2012 Advocacy Day Sponsors
Diamond
- International Truck & Engine Corp. - Buffet Breakfast
Gold
- Chemung Supply Corp. - Name Badges
- LADA - T-Shirts
Bronze
- Creighton Manning Engineering
- Erdman Anthony
- Foit-Albert Associates
- Suit-Kote
- Tectonic Engineering Consultants P.C.
- VHB
Other
C&S Companies
Report Addresses Governor’s Call for Consolidation
In his State of the State speech yesterday, Governor Cuomo emphasized, "we must continue to rightsize our more than 10,500 local governments through consolidations, mergers and shared services." However, a report released last week by the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc. (NYSAOTSOH) titled Delivering Highway Services at the Town Level in New York State: Home Rule Accountability for Effective Highway Maintenance on Neighborhood Roads and Streets challenged some of the Governor's solutions. (For full report, click here.)
The report was independently prepared and sent to leaders in both the Executive and Legislative branches. In response to Governor Cuomo's calls to consolidate local governments for assumed cost savings, NYSAOTSOH President Roger Wolfe of the Town of Yates, Orleans County declared, "[Our] members have worked closely with Village, City and County governments to achieve cost savings through cooperation and shared services. Doing more with less is nothing new for local governments. Many of our service agreements go back decades with more costs savings per mile than State operations. Our constituents know every dollar they pay in Town taxes stays in their community, directly providing the services they need - and every other November they tell us how well we are doing!"
Read more: Report Addresses Governor’s Call for Consolidation
Associations Testify that State's Plan Jeopardizes Local Roads and Bridges
Presenting testimony on behalf of the two statewide associations of public works commissioners and highway superintendents was Randy Gibbon, P.E., Co-Chairman of the Legislative Committee for the New York State County Highway Superintendents Association (NYSCHSA). He was joined by Roger W. Wolfe, President of the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways (NYSAOTSOH).
It was reported to the Assembly panel, chaired by Assemblyman David Gantt, that the twenty-year needs of the local system exceed both that of the MTA and State DOT. According to a recent study by the State Comptroller, local roads have a capital need of $175.2 billion. At the current funding levels, over $56 billion of this will go unfunded.
To drive this reality home, Gibbon and Wolfe reported that DOT just closed a State bridge on a town road in Wayne County. This bridge is a single lane truss typical of those that span the Erie Canal. Even though the bridge averages over 4,000 crossings per day, there is no plan to address the deficiencies to allow the bridge to be used while waiting for its replacement, scheduled for late 2012.
The highway chiefs predicted that this is not the first and unlikely to be the last of this type of incident. The closing of bridges now and then may appear to much of the general public as an isolated incident, particularly if the loss of a crossing does not directly impact them. But the deterioration that leads to such bridge closings is systemic. It is a reminder that current underinvestment makes it impossible to maintain even a 20th century transportation system, much less provide one that will allow us to be competitive in the current global economy.
The State's Five Year Capital Plan, developed by the State Department of Transportation, establishes a benchmark for funding transportation in New York at an absolute minimum level to maintain the current system. The funding levels for the Two Year Capital Plan approved by the State this year fell well below those prescribed by the Five Year Plan and further jeopardize the integrity of local roads and bridges, the superintendents warned.
Also alarming is the fact that 65% of revenues to the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund (the primary mechanism for funding local road and bridge capital projects) goes to debt service, requiring State General Fund transfers of $700 million per year in order to keep the fund solvent.
Local Roads Matter! The highway groups hope that, partnering with the State and the public, New York can begin to rehabilitate and rebuild the local transportation system to where it once again can be a safe and efficient asset that helps to keep people, businesses and jobs in New York State.
A copy of the NYSCHSA and NYSAOTSOH joint testimony is available here.
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