AFTON – The Town of Afton on Saturday named the current, and hopefully future, town hall after their 24-year veteran supervisor and longtime Afton dairyman, Robert Dee Briggs.
Briggs, who never faced opposition for his seat, has led the town in local and county-level lawmaking since 1988. He is currently chairman of the Chenango County Agriculture, Buildings and Grounds Committee and, previously, served as chairman of the Chenango County Board of Supervisors for two years.
Briggs is the second longest serving Afton supervisor since records were first kept in 1900. (Supervisor Ernest L. Poole served 29 years from 1946-1975.)
New York State 107th District Assemblyman Cliff Crouch joined town officials and Briggs’ wife, Anne, in honoring him at the luncheon and dedication ceremony. 127th District Assemblyman Peter Lopez and Senator Tom Libous sent citations.
The town currently leases meeting space from the Village of Afton in the municipal office building at 169 Main St. If a proposed building project is approved by voters, the designation sign would be transferred to a new highway garage/town hall on 1484 state Hwy. 7.
The building project was made necessary after the Flood of 2006 which largely destroyed the town’s highway garage at that location. Federal Emergency Management Association disaster relief funds in the amount of $500,000, a portion of reserves and some borrowing would be used to build a new 4-bay garage for trucks with attached offices for the town supervisor, justices and highway superintendent as well as a boardroom/courtroom.
A decision to go to a public referendum on the project could be determined at the next town meeting on Oct. 13. At that time, Briggs said the building committee would be recommending it for board approval.
“It’s one of the biggest things that we’ve tried to do. I believe it’s a worthwhile project and the majority of the board is in favor of this,” he said.
Under Briggs self-described “ultra conservative” leadership, the town is debt free. To combat current economic and weather-related hardships, the board has tapped into the town’s reserves over the past two years in order to keep property taxes in check. Taxes have been lowered or kept as close to zero as possible, all while meeting the obligations of a budget that hovers just barely over a million dollars.
“We’re in good financial shape, as good as any (town) in the county and better than some,” Briggs said.
However, the retiring superisor said he fears that higher mandates for social services and hefty pension increases will put a considerable amount of pressure on town boards going forward.
“With a 2 percent cap on property taxes and mandates increasing by 6 percent, obviously it’s going to be quite a time to put those things in line,” he said.
At the county level, Briggs said he was proud of his role in making decisions, particularly about building the Chenango County Public Safety Facility on Upper Ravine Road in Norwich. He said he has always been concerned about what the county can afford to do and can’t afford to do.
“That was a major accomplishment. I thought at the time that we should have financed the jail for a longer period of time, especially because interest rates were so low, but it has worked out very well for us with the facility being paid off in 2012,” he said.
During his tenure, Briggs said the town board was grateful to receive an addition to the medical center. It is currently working on a road use ordinance that would regulate the heavy truck traffic anticipated with future natural gas development in the region.