Doles recently wrote to Village of Kiryas Joel Mayor Abraham Weider, Harriman Mayor Stephen H. Welle and Village of Monroe Mayor John Karl III, requesting support to “begin a policy of inter-municipal cooperation and/or consolidation of services wherever and whenever appropriate.”

“Cooperation versus proliferation of services and consolidation versus duplication of resources between the town and villages is essential as we pursue the goal of dynamic and responsible local government,” Doles said.

He also noted that the New York State Department of State provides shared municipal service incentive awards for cooperation between communities, and suggested a combined effort in applying for the benefits.

When interviewed he said he is looking for common ground in services that can be shared within the community.

“We live in a town that has multiple Departments of Public Works and courts with the prospect for an additional court, as well as four public safety organizations and four fire companies,” the council member said. “We need to work toward controlling our budgets rather than have costs impact our residents.”

Doles said he has recently had a meeting to discuss merging some services with the Villages of Monroe and Harriman but also didn’t meet with success. He said they don’t anticipate at the present time any inter-municipal merging stating, “the timing is not right.”

“However, I can’t imagine a better time,” he said. “If not now, when?”

In a later interview, Karl said “we’re looking at various inter-municipal endeavors but we have question marks on what we’re doing now. For example, we’ve been trying to put a fire district in place but the town hasn’t done their share.”

He continued: “We have problems with the (town) court, garbage district and the fire district. For example, inequities exist between village and town residents - we’re getting less service and paying the same for garbage pickup.”

During his election campaign, Karl proposed forming a village court rather than relying on the town court to address violations. He has said that the village should be receiving a larger share of fines collected by the town.

Plans between the town, villages and various fire companies to form a regional fire district have been on and off for the past fifteen years, and current negotiations seem to have stalled with no progress.

In regard to combining municipal services, Monroe Town Supervisor Sandy Leonard said: “Any time we can merge municipal services and save the taxpayers money it makes sense. It’s time to talk about municipal cooperation.” She said the Highway Department is a possibility and Doles was investigating this with Town Highway Superintendent Roy Montanye.

Harriman Mayor Welle and Kiryas Joel Mayor Weider were unavailable for comment.

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