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The OBSERVER’s View: No derailing county wage hike train

The OBSERVER’s View

We still struggle to justify automatic pay raises each year for Chautauqua County lawmakers — though judging from last week’s vote Republican lawmakers have no such struggle. In 2024, the county legislature voted to increase the base salary of individual legislators from $9,000 to $14,732, an increase of about 64%. It was the first pay hike in about 20 years. It’s a failing of the legislature that, in our opinion, they’re overcorrecting with the automatic pay raises now. The only reason the legislature didn’t get a raise over the course of 20 years is that the body didn’t ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Once again, merger ideas take time

The OBSERVER’s View

On its own, it’s not the biggest news that the towns of Ellington and Charlotte are looking to merge courts and share one judge. In 2021, the towns of Sherman, Mina, French Creek and Clymer merged their courts to a single operation. That was followed by the towns of Harmony and North Harmony court merger that took effect Jan. 1, 2025. These mergers are a logical reaction to the county’s declining population and the resulting decrease in rural court caseloads. There is no good reason why Ellington and Charlotte should not move forward with a formal court merger since they ...

Blaming state won’t bring jobs back

Commentary

Bush Industries is closing, leaving more than 200 people without work in the south of the county. In a region that has already absorbed losses from Truck-Lite and Serta, this is not just another closure. It’s a blow to the foundation of our community. And once again, instead of sitting with that reality and doing the hard work to solve it, our Republican leadership is reaching for a familiar script. Blame New York state. Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor both pointed to “burdensome regulations” and the cost of doing business in New York as the ...

Sadness, anger and rage in family grief

Commentary

Last month, in this column, I wrote about the grief of the families going through the unexpected death of their children due to school shootings. This month, I’d like to explore that idea further, of what behaviors and thinking patterns happen to members of these families and all families dealing with traumatic losses. In my tenure as a C.D. Counselor, (chemical dependency), I had the privilege to work with many families. I had never dreamed of being a family counselor, helping those going through intense grief due to one thing or another. I’m going to go through a number of ...

Small world facing danger with disease

Commentary

Ebola in Africa. Hantavirus on a cruise ship. A measles outbreak kills 560 children in Bangladesh, sickens 60,000. Major diseases are making the news. We ask ourselves, is this the next big one? Maybe. We are certainly doing everything possible to make ourselves vulnerable. President Donald Trump pulled us out of the World Health Organization.They are the source of the most valuable information. Who is spreading what and how? He also canceled billions of dollars in research grants to universities. Anything we might have been ahead of we are behind now. Hundreds of scientists have ...

Council’s response bolsters mayor’s points

The OBSERVER’s View

Nick Weiser, councilman at-large, is the sharpest on Dunkirk’s legislative board. After coming aboard in 2024 — right as the fiscal crisis was beginning — he was the first council leader to scrutinize the budget, even helping other council members who had served numerous terms understand it. So it made sense that he issued the press release last week after city Mayor Kate Wdowiasz said she would no longer be attending council meetings in the future. Both Frank Torain and Gary Frederickson are still learning the ropes in their first five months while Michael Civiletto is still ...