Why Do We Need to Become A Village?
An incorporated village would allow the residents of South Shirley to take control of its own community and the quality of life issues we are facing. Code enforcement and absentee Landlords are just two examples why it would be beneficial to be a Village....Zoning issues, like 450 Unit Developments at the Links, would have to come through the Village for approval. We have become a dumping ground for sex offenders, sober houses and section 8 rentals by the Town of Brookhaven and the County. For our community, becoming a Village is the only option left to stop the degeneration that is currently happening.
What is an Incorporated Village?
In it's August 13, 2008 New Release, The New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM) provided a fact sheet that states the ways in which villages are democratic, efficient and responsive:
BACKGROUND:
*That a village is "a general purpose municipal government that is created by a vote of the residents of a community in order to provide an enhanced level of government services not otherwise provided by the surrounding town."
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IS DEMOCRATIC SELF-GOVERNMENT:
*Unlike other classes of government whose boundaries are originally established by the state legislature,the creation of villages occurs when a cluster of people decides it wants to secure particular public services and exercise greater local control. This pure form of self-governance allows residents to design an efficient government.
*Villages are created by citizen initiative without any discretionary interference or approval from other governing bodies at the state or local levels. There is no authority for anyone but local residents to decide the question of whether to incorporate. That said, the people who want to live in a village vote to create the Village. And if the village residents decide they want to dissolve, they have the power to collect signatures on a petition and cause a referendum to be held on whether to dissolve the village.
VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IS EFFICIENT AND RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT:
*Being the level of local government closest to the people, as well as created by the people (and subject to dissolution by the people), village government is inherently responsive to residents' demands for efficiency. Villages also work with other local governments - town, cities and counties - to help make them more efficient through the use of intermunicipal agreements for shared services.
*An assumption is often made that mulitple levels of government must equate to duplication of services among those mulitple layers. When it comes to villages, this is usually not the case. The reason for creating and maintaining a village is to provide a service that is not being provided by the surrounding town.
On January 29, 2007 in Albany, New York, Peter Baynes, the Executive Director of the NYCOM testified before a hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary and the Honorable John A. Defrancisco, Chair, on the Reform of the New York State Justice Courts. This is what he had to say about Village Justice Systems:
"New York's village justice court system is a unique and valuable resource to the communities that they serve. Village Justice courts allow New York's citizens to have many of their criminal and civil court cases heard and adjudicated in their community, by a justice who is both a member of and elected by their community. Justice courts offer a fair and convenient service to both individuals and businesses, allowing them quick access to a court that is familiar with the community and its issues. Moreover, in many instances, justice courts offer local governments a convenient, cost-effective means of dealing with local traffic, parking, zoning, building code, property maintenance, and criminal matters."