By PAUL WESTMOORE
If Supervisor Robert B. Cliffe only gets to serve two terms in office, it will probably be his own fault.
After calling for term limits during his election campaign, Cliffe on Monday proposed the Town Board consider limiting a town supervisor’s time in office to two terms.
He directed Town Attorney Robert O’Toole to research the matter and come back to the board with a proposed local law placing term limits on the supervisor post.
“I’m going to have my new law clerk, Jeremy Hourihan, help research the matter and prepare a draft of a local law” creating the term limit, O’Toole said. He said the directive came just in time since Hourihan, a law student, starts his internship today.
O’Toole said he believes such a proposal, if approved by the board, would require a public referendum to become law.
As Cliffe explained, “What I’ve asked Bob (O’Toole) to do is find out what other towns have done where they’ve been successful. I’d much rather model after other people’s success than try to come up with our own” creation.
“My preference would be to have two, four-year terms. If it’s good enough for the president of the United States, it should be good enough for the Town of Wheatfield supervisor,” Cliffe said.
Cliffe feels there is a moral imperative for having term limits.
“Now we have two-year terms and no limits. So it’s a constant money chase. The supervisor is always looking forward to the next buck he can put into his campaign coffers. It shouldn’t be that way” and it takes away from the true spirit of public service which is representing the public good, he said.
In other business, the board was informed by Recreation Director Edward Sturgeon that the furnace at the town Recreation Center on Nash Road, an office-maintenance complex, needs to be replaced.
“We came into the building four times in the past two weeks and the furnace was off,” Sturgeon said.
He said every time it’s repaired it costs the town at least $200. He said it would be cheaper to buy a new furnace which would run about $2,550.
The new furnace would be less expensive in a number of ways, he said.
“A new furnace will be more energy efficient and cost the town less in the long run. The old furnace we have now has been in that building since at least 1995. If we don’t replace it the pipes (in the building) could freeze at some point and cause more damage that the town would need to repair,” he said.
Cliffe told him he would be able to just purchase the new furnace by getting (Cliffe’s) approval as allowed under town regulations. He said it would not require board approval because the cost is less than $3,500.
Sturgeon said he would come back to the board in two weeks anyway with a resolution calling for the purchase of a new furnace.
The board also approved retaining the SPCA at $699 a month to collect and dispose of small dead animals found throughout the town — excluding skunks — and kennel dogs which are caught running loose by town dog wardens.
