Volleys fly as Maziarz visits Lewiston Town Board

Photo and story by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, May 3, 2008

Flanked by Lewiston volunteer firefighters, Sen. George Maziarz aired his concerns
over the lack of assistance for Lewiston’s fire companies from the NYPA agreement.

Sometimes you never know what you’re going to get into when you stop by Lewiston Town Hall.

Such was the case Monday evening when, upon approaching Town Hall coming down Indian Hill, one found fire company trucks and emergency vehicles scattered about the fire lane and at its front entrance.

What was going on here? A fire? An emergency?

Well an emergency of sorts, you could say.

State Sen. George Maziarz, R-C, 62nd District, Newfane, paid a visit with members of Lewiston No. 1, Lewiston No. 2, Upper Mountain and the Sanborn volunteer fire companies. He was there on their behalf to confront Supervisor Fred Newlin and the Lewiston Town Board on questions and concerns they had over low-cost power allocations and other forms of assistance to Lewiston’s four volunteer fire companies.

Low-Cost Power Promise

“We’re here tonight to meet with the Lewiston Town Board, to hopefully ask them why these four fire companies in the Town of Lewiston were granted low-cost power last year as part of the Power Authority relicensing settlement,” said Maziarz. “They received no low-cost power even though they were promised by the town supervisor that they would receive the benefits from the power relicensing agreement. They received this low cost power for only two months, September and October of 2007.

“In the middle of November, coincidentally after the election, they were told a mistake had been made,” Maziarz continued. They were not eligible for the low-cost power.

“Not only was the low-cost power allocation taken away from them, but they were told they have to pay back for the two months that they got the allocation. That prompted them to contact me.”

In his remarks both outside to reporters, and later continuing inside at the Town Board meeting, Maziarz vented his displeasure into the background of the Community Host Agreement that the New York Power Authority reached with the town through its negotiations with the Niagara Power Coalition, of which Lewiston was a member. “We’ve been looking into the entire agreement … every page that we turned over we find more and more bad news. We asked the town to release information on what they spent on legal fees,” Maziarz said, adding that that has yet to come.

Demands Action

Seeking to resolve the issue, Maziarz stated that evening he wanted the town to:

•Reject the protocol that Lewiston came up with in the distribution of Greenway monies. “It’s absurd,” said Maziarz, arguing the compact “was written by lawyers, for lawyers to feed lawyers.”

•Enter into negotiations with the four town volunteer fire companies – Lewiston No. 1, Lewiston No. 2, Upper Mountain and Sanborn. In particular Maziarz was asking that they receive a percentage of the annual host agreement money that Lewiston receives from the New York Power Authority.

“When there’s a fire, an emergency at the New York Power Authority, they don’t call for their lawyers, they call for these men and women to go in and save lives,” said Maziarz.

The dialogue grew heated inside when Maziarz went on to argue on the fire companies’ behalf, saying that they were told by the town they would be taken care of as a result of the Power Authority relicensing agreement that was signed in 2005, and that nothing has yet to come. “To date … despite massive amounts of hydropower, despite hundreds of thousands of dollars, not one job has been created as a result of this agreement. Not one Greenway project has been completed, approved or even started.”

Good Deal?

Maziarz continued in detail to raise issue over what’s not contained in the agreement for Lewiston, notably regarding town infrastructure or safety considerations for the fire companies. “Was this a good agreement? For some it was,” said Maziarz as he pointed out Niagara Falls, for example, which was provided $26 million in infrastructure funding while Lewiston received zero. He also pointed out that in the Power Authority’s relicensing discussions for its hydropower generating plant in Massena, for example, that finalized agreement provides Alcoa Aluminum, a major upstate industrial employer, with 478 megawatts of low-cost hydropower per year for 30 years.

Saying he felt that Lewiston, as result of Newlin’s direct involvement in final negotiations, got cheated in its NYPA agreement – receiving 6.5 megawatts of low-cost per month or 78 megawatts per year versus Massena’s 478 megawatts per year – Maziarz continued his attacks. “The New York Power Authority’s Agreement for the Town of Lewiston is a disaster,” Maziarz shouted, again asking Newlin why he and the town signed onto the plan.

Maziarz then presented a poster-size facsimile of an e-mail that Newlin received on June 26, 2005, from attorney Paul Nolan, who was assisting the town in the NYPA negotiations with the NPC, advising him to reject the plan. “I strongly recommend not signing the agreement,” Nolan wrote. “Should Lewiston sign the agreement, it will only prove that the contract is being signed under duress (and/or influenced by considerations not in the public interest) and that the contract is one of adhesion.

“… You are (at) a significant disadvantage with regard to future amendments to the (NYPA) agreement, Greenway funds and power allocations,” Nolan stressed, urging Newlin to reject the plan.

Tension Heats Up

Maziarz also argued he felt Mount St. Mary’s Hospital and Health Center got cheated in the NYPA negotiations, saying it was promised NYPA money and received none. Saying that 19 members of the Niagara County Legislature rejected the NYPA protocols, he argued that Lewiston should have done the same. Maziarz went on to blast Newlin as being “disingenuous and patronizing” in the NYPA negotiations process.

As one would expect, by this time the tension in the Town Board meeting room was approaching a fever pitch as Newlin began to dispute the senator, both on his opinions of how Newlin crafted the pact and how Lewiston got shorted as a result.

Newlin conveyed to Maziarz and to the overflowing crowd his strong backing for the volunteer firefighters, saying he also agrees the Power Authority should better support Lewiston’s fire companies. He then took Maziarz to task on the continuing special exemption status the Power Authority enjoys for its Lewiston operations, which comprise thousands of acres of tax-free lands in the town.

Calls Input ‘Nonexistent’

“State level action should be pursued to restructure the Power Authority’s non-tax situation,” said Newlin. Town Attorney Dave Boniello joined in, pointing to the special exemption status of the NYPA Lewiston operation and suggesting that Maziarz should be more proactive in pursuing this on the state level.

As the dialogue continued between the two, it began to get nasty. Newlin chastised Maziarz on his remarks, saying he was becoming disruptive and requesting him to sit down. Newlin also said he felt he and the Town Board were getting unfairly attacked on this issue.

“Our state reps should be fighting more for greater monies from a state entity like the Power Authority,” said Newlin, as he criticized the senator’s lack of input in the NYPA settlement discussions as they drew to a close. “Where were you?” Newlin asked Maziarz, saying his involvement in the final end of the NYPA negotiations was “nonexistent.”

Calling Maziarz’ remarks at the session “a cheap shot,” Newlin rejected the senator’s claims of earlier promises made to Lewiston’s fire companies, and then asked Maziarz if he was this focused on the interests of other fire companies – be they with other NPC communities, or even those non-NPC members in Niagara County or through Maziarz’ 62nd District, which extends into Rochester. Maziarz offered no response that evening.

National Grid Mistakes

Newlin went on to explain this week what actually happened with regards to the low-cost power issue with the fire companies. In essence, he said that National Grid made mistakes at the onset as power disbursements and billing procedures were being established. “This is the first time that wide ranging electric discounts for residents as a result of relicensing had ever been attempted, so there were naturally going to be some mistakes,” said Newlin, saying that National Grid agreed with this. He also said the former electric distributor, Niagara Mohawk, “was absolutely clear as to who was going to get the discount -- residential customers.”

“I also told firemen two months before the election that the power discounts were going to residents and not to the fire companies,” Newlin said, adding he also told the companies he would be willing to work with them on “energy efficiencies if at all possible.”

“I never told the fire companies they were getting free power as George Maziarz asserted Monday night,” Newlin said on Thursday. “In fact, I never told anyone they were getting ‘free power.’

“I have always said that if Lewiston would ever get cheap power, it was going to go to its residents, and that is exactly what has happened since the deal began last September. Those savings will total over $2.2 million this year alone.”

Stay tuned for more on this one; the fireworks are certainly to continue.