SMYRNA – Smyrna Supervisor James B. Bays said he expects to be challenged for his position each election year.
“As a Democrat in these Republican-dominated towns in upstate New York, it would not be wise for me to think otherwise,” he said.
So it came as no surprise when designating petitions returned to the Chenango County Board of Elections last month revealed that a Republican challenger had thrown his hat into the race for supervisor of Smyrna.
Bays will offer his own candidacy at the Aug. 11 caucus in his town, saying, “If the Dems will have me, I’ll run again and serve with pride.”
The candidate, John Grosso, could not be reached for comment. A call to Republican Party Chairman Tom Morrone to confirm Grosso’s candidacy was not returned by deadline this morning.
A lot has happened in this tiny north central Chenango County town over the past six years under Bays’ leadership. The population, about 1,493 for the town and village combined, has experienced the natural gas drilling phenomena like no other. Smyrna is the county’s epicenter for Herkimer Sandstone drilling, and starting point for numerous discussions at the county level about taxation, spacing units, compulsory integration, road use agreements, seismic testing permits and the future of high water volume hydraulic fracturing of the region’s Marcellus and Utica shales.
The town’s assessed value grew by $10 million last year as a result of natural gas production, a 20 percent increase from 2009. Bays said his board is anxiously awaiting 2011’s figures and carefully budgeting as a result.
“Gas assessments are based on a five-year average, so one has to be careful when considering lowering tax rates. You might be faced with raising the rate if you drop it too far initially,” he said.
Norse Energy, Inc., the Norwegian company actively exploring and producing natural gas in several Chenango and Madison county towns, was the first to file a permit application to drill following release of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposed draft of drilling regulations for shales. Norse will target the Utica in a 418-acre spacing unit on Maynard Hill off Wilcox Road in Smyrna.
“The traffic will be tenfold what it was with the sandstone wells, plus there’s the ever present concern about the environment,” said Bays.
Permits for high water volume hydraulic fracturing won't be issued until a final version of the DEC report is complete, which isn't expected until some point next year.
Bays said the town is currently reviewing a draft of a recently completed Chenango County road use agreement. He said his town has had a “pretty good partnership” with Norse already with respect to the town’s roadways, but would use the document as a model for a more formal municipal-level policy.
“Obviously there will be some highway degradation. But, where they’ve had impact, we’ve had a good agreement about repairs,” he said.
In a new development in May, the town of Smyrna board signed a Teamsters contract for its three-person highway department, and will be negotiating with the union again in the next few months for a 2012 contract. The department is looking forward to taking delivery of a new truck later this summer. Bays called the purchase “a big deal,” adding that it had been “a very long time” since the town has purchased any equipment at all.
Historical preservation took center stage during the past few years with the celebration of it bicentennial in 2009. Since then, a historical group has formed within the town and the village and rehabilitation initiated on the historic town hall. The town also acquired new identification signs that greet visitors entering from either end of state Route 80 and from county Route 20 South.
“Based on the attendance at our band concerts on the library’s balcony on Monday nights in the summer and chicken barbecues on special Sundays, there’s growing pride in our village and in the town,” Bays said.