Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 816. It's the Friday Extravaganza on FLX Morning. We're joined by the chair of the Seneca County Board of Supervisors, Mike Enzlo. Good morning and welcome back.
Mike Enslow: Good morning, Ted. Great to be here.
Paul Szmal: On behalf of everybody at FLX Local Media, let me thank you for your support of this program. That is appreciated tremendously.
Mike Enslow: Well, I appreciate what you guys do. I enjoy the program. You know, it's always blaring in my shop every morning and I listen to it. So, I think it's a great thing. I love the interviews you're doing. I've learned a lot from it. It's been educational. So, I tune in every day to listen to it. It's great.
Paul Szmal: You just forwarded me this morning a voicemail message that someone left you that was full of obscenities and veiled threats and just doesn't have any place in our discourse. So, what do you want to tell us about that?
Mike Enslow: Yeah, you know, we unveiled the tentative county budget Tuesday and yesterday morning about 5 a.m. I received multiple unidentified calls and then one turned into they left a voicemail. There's obviously somebody in the community that is upset about the press release that came out talking about the budget. And you know, things happen. You know, this is not the first time I've received, you know, things. But this is, so far, you know, this is the worst thing I've received. And it's just, I wish everybody, I wish people knew that, you know, you see it in the news, you see it in national politics, you know, you see it, you know, with the last presidential election. But, you know, it does happen in in our own community. I mean, I'm disheartened with the message that I received.
But, you know, I am not, I am not a typical politician at all. I'm a business owner. I'm a family man. You know, my family means the world to me. And, you know, I am not in this for money, you know, power. I got in it, you know, for the passion of trying to do what's best for our community. And, you know, I just, for whatever reason, this citizen believes that, you know, I have ill will or a minute for putting in my own pocket. But I think it's pretty sad state of affairs when we get to the point where a budget, a 2025 tentative budget that's not even adopted, can push somebody to feel this harsh on someone's life. It's sad. I wouldn't want, I wouldn't want anybody to experience this. But it is, you know, at the end of the day, it is what it is. I mean, but I am truly here for the right reasons. I do believe that and that's what guides me. And I have my family support. And that's what drives me every day to do this. But eventually, you know, who knows this, it takes a toll, it takes a toll on everything. But we're working on it, you know, we'll just keep working.
And I think it's important about the budget that people understand, you know, they see numbers. And looking back, I think maybe the the press release could have been written a little different to maybe help people understand a little differently. Maybe it was, you know, maybe it could have been communicated a little different. But, you know, the last thing anybody wants to do, including me, or the budget task force, or the Board of Supervisors wants to do is raise property taxes. That is not what we want to do.
And the thing about this tentative budget, I think people should know is, this is a wish list, right, Ted. So this is like, you know, you write your list to Santa, what you want for Christmas, do you always get everything? No, you know, so like, this is a list. And this was numbers that were budgeted, that was put out there. Some of it is a wish list, but some of it is state mandates, you know, programs that we have to have and expenses and costs and salaries, and benefits that we have no control over, you know, and we tried to whittle this down when we started the process. You know, and normally at the county manager would have done it on their own with the help of finance and taking input from the department heads. Same house since June 9, we did not have a county manager and I assume responsibilities, not the pay. I want to be clear, my pay has not changed whatsoever. I took on the added responsibility, because I was the default. And, you know, I have to do what I have to do because I took an oath. So I took up I went this step, you know, because of what we were dealt.
So we started this process, I didn't want to do it alone. I formed a budget task force, and it has myself and two other supervisors, and people from our finance department, another department head, I built a team to take all the information in and analyze it and make cuts and try to do what we can. We already have whittled down $5 million off this tentative budget. To start with, it's what we felt comfortable going this far, because the next step to go farther needs to be done by the body, the Board of Supervisors, they need to make the hard decisions together. Because it's going to have it's going to be a harsher effect.
Paul Szmal: I want to jump in here because we kind of we don't have a real long time this morning. I will say there there's another budget hearing set for November 26, where the people have a chance to be heard. And thanks for sharing that with us. And for people wondering, what did this guy say on the phone? I can't even play five seconds of that without violating every FCC law there is. That's how that was.
Of course, also at the most recent meeting was a hearing on the solid waste plan. And of course, that always becomes a referendum on Seneca Meadows. Do you think people just want to want to vent and be heard? Or are there still a lot of people who think that the Board of Supervisors or the town board of Seneca Falls could do something about this?
Mike Enslow: I think it's both Ted and I'm sorry to ramble on. I didn't mean to do that.
Paul Szmal: But no, that's fine.
Mike Enslow: I think that it's both right. People want to be heard, and they should be heard. That's why we try to respect their time to talk and listen to them. I do still think they're, you know, I don't know, I think they truly believe, you know, because they're passionate about it, that we can stop it. And, you know, everybody tells me we can't alone. It's the DC. So I think you know, they're passionate about it, they should be heard. And I just, you know, the decision the DC and hopefully people can put some pressure on them to listen. And now Supervisor Trout said we need to invite them to our meeting so we could talk to them. And we're going to pursue that. But the DC, the state, you know, their program, they're the ones that are controlling that approval. I mean, the town can do things too, to a certain extent, but the county has no active role in this, you know, thus far has never done anything with this, because, you know, that it's been in the towns in the DC. So, but we appreciate people coming, you know, I mean, listening, letting their voices be heard. That's, that's what we're here for. That's what we should do. I just don't know if we have that magic answer or one that they're looking for to solve, you know, what what they view as a problem and their, you know, their feelings. And it's just tough, Ted.
Paul Szmal: Another discussion at the board meeting this week was concerning security upgrades for the courthouse. There's some American Rescue Plan Act funds. And so so tell us about what's going to be done for the courthouse to upgrade security.
Mike Enslow: Yeah, you know, some of those the upgrades from the court mandates different upgrades and different security could be cameras, you know, access, you know, body scanners, things that coming into the court, there's different requirements by the court that's handed down that we have to, we have to meet. So and we're also also looking at safety, you know, safety of the court of the people. So it's just upgrades that have to be have to be done. So we're always working on that.
Paul Szmal: One other thing, there was some discussion there, there's opioid funding available from the settlement that that was reached with some of the opioid manufacturers. And so the county is putting out a request for proposals for what to do with that money. So tell us about that process and who might what some agencies that might get some of that money.
Mike Enslow: So when that settlement started happening and funds started coming in, there had to be a opioid committee formed. So that committee gets together meets and then they they try to figure out the best way and the best use of the money. So I don't have all the answers to your question, Ted, unfortunately today. But so they meet and they get together and they're trying to figure out ways to spend that money and the best means and what it's need for. And there's also restrictions on that money. So it's all part of the settlement agreement that came in when that money came in.
Paul Szmal: Okay, we got time for one last thing. And that is the Fayette Historical Society is getting some money to fix up their headquarters, a former church building.
Mike Enslow: Yes, I was talking with Supervisor Trout and they are they really want to utilize those funds to have a place in a center in the town of Fayette for their society. And, you know, they came to us looking for some assistance. And there's money in that from the tourism grant stuff, you know, the money we have the tourism tax program we have coming in. So they applied and they're going to get that to help further further their program.
Paul Szmal: All right, Mike Enslow, Seneca County Board of Supervisors Chair and now official sponsor of this program. We're gonna have to get you your own special music when you come on.
Mike Enslow: I appreciate that, but I don't know if it's necessary.
Paul Szmal: All right, thanks for your time. And then for the update, as always, we appreciate it.
Mike Enslow: Thanks, Ted. Have a great day.
