APPENDIX D

PROGRAM WORK PLAN

Contractor: Village of East Aurora

Project Title: East Aurora Dissolution Study
Contract No. T-098830

1) Project Description
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a) Project: The Village of East Aurora will retain a Project Consultant to study the
feasibility of achieving cost savings through all available options, such as improved
efficiency of operation and shared services within existing Village & Town
governments, dissolution, and annexation.

b) Geographic Area: Erie County

c) Partners: None

d) Goals and Objectives: The project’s goal is to provide taxpayers with high quality
services while reducing costs to taxpayers. The objective is to study the fiscal
implications of municipal options for change. Tax rates help to capture annual
financial concerns, in addition, current infrastructure conditions will be considered.
This work will benefit from previous SMSI and LGE grants outlined below.

e) Studies: N/A

f) History of Project: In recent years, the Village of East Aurora and Town of
Aurora have made steady progress toward consolidating government services with
the objective of maintaining a high level of service while reducing costs for taxpayers.
The two communities have a long history of cooperation, dating back more than 75
years and encompassing numerous administrations. During that time, the Town
and Village have merged numerous functions, recognizing the financial savings and
improved service delivery resulting from shared services and cooperation. The
Village provides the Town with the following services: Police protection, ambulance
service, fire dispatch, fire protection to Town Fire Protection District #1, water service
to Town Districts #6 & 6A and billing for residents on South Street, drainage
service to Town District #1, and ownership of the building housing the Senior
Citizen Center (all programming, utilities, and staff are Town responsibility). The
Village has turned over management of sewer operations to the Erie County
Division of Sewerage Management. The Town of Aurora provides the Village
with all justice court services, animal control, property assessment services, and
building and zoning inspection services.

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 g) Relationship to Other Projects: The Village and Town are currently involved in
completing the Aurora Public Works and Highway General Efficiency Planning study
funded by the LGE program to study the feasibility of a consolidation or merger
of the Town Highway Department and Village Department of Public Works.

2) Project Components
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a) Objectives: The project objectives are to review the feasibility of additional service
sharing options, and the feasibility of consolidating remaining village services and
departments. An outline of service, fiscal and organizational elements of a dissolution
plan will be developed, including: the fiscal (tax rate) impacts on the Village, Town and
Town outside Village areas. The study will also examine ways and associated cost
savings in which the Village and Town could participate in a more advanced level of
shared services should the dissolution not be achievable.

b) Problems: The New N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act
of 2010 requires the signatures of only 10% of the voting public in a given municipality
to place the issue of dissolution referendum on the local ballot. If the referendum
passes, the municipality must then develop a dissolution plan within a set timeframe.
However, the law makes no provisions for educating the voting public regarding the fiscal
impacts of the dissolution prior to the referendum. This study will provide essential
information to the residents of East Aurora.

c) Tasks: The dissolution study will consist of the following tasks:

Task #1: Project Start-Up - The Village Administrator, under the supervision of the Village
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Board, will prepare a Request for Proposals and hire a qualified Project Consultant to conduct
the feasibility study. The Project Consultant will be supervised by the Village Administrator.

Task #2: Citizen Survey - The Project Consultant will conduct a Village-Town survey to
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measure current satisfaction with services, trust in local officials, support for change in
service delivery and administration, support for dissolution and other potential changes,
and key demographics (age, income, home ownership, etc.)

Task #3: Examination of Outstanding Debt - The Project Consultant will examine
outstanding debt and develop mechanisms to address the debt upon Village dissolution.
The Village has incurred debt and has outstanding bonds for water, sewer, and roadway
reconstruction and large equipment purchases.

Task #4: Disposition of Existing Agreements & Creation of New Service Districts - The
Village has numerous agreements with the Town of Aurora for the provision of services to
Village residents. The Village and Town of Aurora have agreements pertaining to:
1. Village responsibility for all police protection in Town since 1971;
2. Village responsibility for all ambulance service since 1990;
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 3. Village responsibility for all fire dispatch since 1975;
4. Village responsibility for fire protection in Fire Protection District #1 since 1938;
5. Town responsibility for justice court and rental of court room space from the
Village since 1975;
6. Village responsibility for water service to Town Districts #6 & 6A since 1988 and
1991 respectively and billing for residents on South Street;
7. Village responsibility for drainage service to District #1 since 1990; and
8. Town responsibility for programming, utilities, and staff for Village-owned Senior
Citizen Center.
The Village has agreements with the Erie County Water Authority and the Erie County
Division of Sewerage Management. The Project Consultant will conduct a review and an
assessment of each of these agreements to ascertain whether the agreement needs to be
terminated, or reassigned. In addition, the Project Consultant will determine special districts
that may need to be created as part of a dissolution plan, for example: lighting, sidewalk
maintenance/replacement/snow removal and leaf pick-up. The fiscal impacts associated
with such arrangements must be determined.

Task #5: Volunteer Fire Department - The Village Fire Department provides fire
protection services to Town Fire Protection District #1. The Project Consultant will assess
the fiscal implications associated with creating a special district to provide the Village with
fire protection services and/or with expanding the geographic limits of Town Fire
Protection District #1 to include the Village proper.

Task #6: Public Works and Police Departments - The Project Consultant will review the
Village services provided by the Police Department to determine the ability of the Town
of Aurora to absorb this function and the resources needed to accommodate this
consolidation. The Project Consultant shall review reassignment of law enforcement duties
to the Erie County Sheriff’s Department. The Project Consultant will reference the results
of a LGE study currently in progress which is studying the consolidation or merger of
the Town Highway Department and Village Department of Public Works.

Task #7: Buildings and Other Assets - The Project Consultant will evaluate key
infrastructure issues/conditions, and address the disposition of all buildings and other assets,
including equipment, vehicles, and property owned by the Village, as well as any associated
debt.

Task #8: Impact on Current Employees - The Project Consultant will examine employment
opportunities for current Village employees with the Town of Aurora in accordance with
staffing requirements following both the expansion of shared services, dissolution and other
considered options. The Project Consultant will also examine the costs associated with
anticipated buy-outs and retirements.

Task #9: Impact on Retirees - The Project Consultant will examine the costs associated with
retired Village employees and the impact of all options on those costs.

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 Task #10: Local Laws and Ordinances - The Project Consultant will perform a general
review of the local laws and ordinances and a more detailed assessment of those deemed
most relevant, related to incorporation into Town of Aurora laws and ordinances and the
associated costs.

Task #11: General Government Services - The Village Administrator's office handles
most general administrative government services provided by the Village. The Project
Consultant will examine both the consolidation of and the transfer of administrative services
to the Town and the costs associated with such a transfer. Services to be considered
include those associated with the Village Board of Trustees, including Mayor's office,
special oversight boards and committees, the Village Administrator's office, and services
pertaining to, but not limited to, taxation, records management, historic preservation,
permits, registrar and zoning.

Task #12: Survey/Public Meeting/Presentation – The Contractor and Project Consultant

will hold a public meeting and presentation at the completion of the project to present the
study findings.

Task #13: Project Close-Out – The Contractor will prepare Final Project Summary Report
and any other close-out materials requested by the Department of State.

Task Deliverable Budget Schedule

1. Prepare RFP & Select Consultant Copy of RFP & Contract   1/11
2. Citizen Survey  Copy of Survey & Results $15,000.00  2/11
3. Examine Outstanding Debt  $2000.00  3/11
4. Disposition of Existing Agreements $6,000.00  3/11
5. Volunteer Fire Department  $5,000.00  5/11
6. Remaining Departments  $5,000.00  5/11
7. Buildings and Other Assets  $4,000.00  5/11
8. Impact on Current Employees  $4,000.00  7/11
9. Impact on Retirees  $2,000.00  7/11
10. Local Laws and Ordinances  $5,000.00  9/11
11. General Government Services  $6,000.00  9/11
12. Public Meeting/Presentation  Copy of Presentation and  $1,555.55  11/11
Final Report
13. Project Close‐Out  Final Project Summary    12/11
and other Close‐Out 
Materials 
TOTAL   $55,555.55 

a) Procurement: In securing contractual services, the Village of East Aurora will

comply with Municipal procurement policy and General Municipal Law section 103.
(See Appendix A-1 Attachment 4).

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 b) Other:
i. Documentation: All documents created as part of grant funds must specify the
following “This (document, report, map, etc.) was prepared with funds
provided by the New York State Department of State under the Local
Government Efficiency Grant Program." See page 11, Section III.
ii. Environmental Review: An environmental review will be completed as
required in Section XV of this agreement and transmitted to the Department of
State.
iii. Deliverables: The principal deliverable of this planning initiative will be the
Project Consultant’s final report, entitled “East Aurora Dissolution/Service
Consolidation & Efficiency Study” that will summarize major findings
and recommendations to the Village Board. The Contractor shall submit
drafts of studies/reports prepared with this grant to the Local Government
Efficiency Grant Program for review and comment.
The Contractor shall notify the Local Government Efficiency Grant Program of any
meetings/hearings to be held regarding this project in advance.
The Contractor shall submit on a semi-annual basis (Appendix A1, Section II-I) or
with each request for reimbursement, whichever comes first, a Project Status Report
(Appendix A1, Attachment 3) which provides detailed project information including a
report of each project task as listed in this work plan.
The Contractor shall provide all plans and/or reports developed as part of this project
to the New York State Department of State. The Department of State may make these
items available as part of its technical assistance program. (Appendix A1, Section IV).

c) Schedule: This project shall commence upon execution of the agreement with New
York State for these grant funds and shall be completed by March 31, 2012.

3) Review and Status

a) Department of State shall review Project Components for consistency with the
applications.
b) Contractor shall provide Project Status Reports every six months or when payment is
requested.