ERIE COUNTY LEGISLATURE
Olmsted Conservancy gets $360,000 grant
Erie County will send the Olmsted Parks Conservancy a much-needed $360,000, matching the amount the organization raised from donors for its care of the famed Buffalo parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
The grant, unanimously approved by county lawmakers Thursday, lets the conservancy finish the year as planned and without cutbacks in its care of the six parks, which an official called “regional treasures.”
“It’s 10 percent of our budget,” Thomas Herrera-Mishler, chief executive and president of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, said of the county money Thursday. “At this late date of our calendar year, it is really, really important for us.”
Legislators had set aside $360,000 as a so-called “matching grant” when they approved the 2009 budget at the start of the year. Herrera-Mishler said the organization had accumulated its own match by summer.
County Executive Chris Collins filed papers to release the money this week, enabling the Legislature to approve the grant only after Election Day.
Even though the conservancy had requested the money months ago, aides to the county executive said the sum was withheld as Collins, City Hall and the conservancy discussed an agreement that could have governed the care of all Buffalo parks in 2010 and beyond.
The conservancy has been a third party to the 2004 contract that let Erie County care for Buffalo’s parks and playgrounds in exchange for a fee. City and county leaders never agreed to new terms, so the care of Buffalo’s parks reverts to City Hall at the end of this year.
Herrera-Mishler said he and city leaders have had “some excellent conversations” about a deal that will address the conservancy’s role in caring for the Olmsted parks starting in 2010. But until they sign an agreement, Collins is unwilling to provide another $450,000 county contribution that has been discussed.
Majority Leader Maria R. Whyte, D-Buffalo, and Chairwoman Lynn M. Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda, said they appreciated Collins’ decision to release the $360,000. They had been among the legislators trying to prod the matter along.
There was little visible rancor between the Legislature’s Democrats and the county executive’s staff Thursday as lawmakers gathered for the first time since learning that Collins- aligned candidates will take over three Legislature seats next year.
The Democratic majority will narrow from its current 12-3 dominance to 9-6, according to unofficial election results. That will give the Republicans a stronger hand to play in selecting a Legislature chairwoman or chairman next year, because Democratic divisions tend to appear during leadership battles.
Lawmakers on Thursday also approved a contract with the government’s blue-collar workers. The pact, negotiated by Collins and narrowly ratified by Local 1095, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, provides six annual raises of 3 percent each through 2015 in exchange for concessions on paid leave and employee contributions to employer-provided health insurance.
It affects about 1,700 workers for the county government, Erie Community College and Erie County Medical Center. It also gives workers $1,000 for each of four years they had gone without a contract, according to Collins aides.
ECC President Jack Quinn wrote to legislators to warn that the contract will create budget problems for the college in 2010, but lawmakers said they expect the state-appointed control board to help pay some up-front costs with the millions of dollars in “efficiency grants” it controls.
The control board, which sends a representative to observe contract negotiations, has said it’s willing to help cover new labor agreements that lead to long-term savings.
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