Geneva Town & City to explore shared services

On Wednesday, November 19th, at 7:00 pm, residents of both the City and Town of Geneva are invited to listen in on a historic public discussionat the Hobart and William Smith Albright Auditorium. The discussion between City Council and the Town Board will be facilitated by the work of Simon Corson, who will be producing a report of cumulative information of how the City and Town and collaborate, stemming from multiple meetings with representatives from both municipalities and his understanding of their operations. Corson was brought on by Katie Flowers, who seeks out opportunities for Community Based Research (CBR) projects for students at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. “I went in as a true third party- an outsider of Boston coming to Upstate, New York. I had absolutely no leaning toward Town or City,” Corson said. I asked him what his method of research was. The junior from Hobart College, who is majoring in urban planning, explained his process of forty interviews with departmental employees in both the City and Town, documents and job descriptions showed him that “there are places that they haven’t worked together and could in the future.” “This is going to be a monumental and historic meeting,” said Corson. “It is our hope that the Town and City legislatures will agree to establish work groups to do deeper research on possible future collaborations,” said City Manager Matt Horn. “The City and the Town have the same last name. It makes sense to try to work together, coordinate and give better service to the people,” said Town Supervisor Mark Venuti. Whether on a micro level or a macro- household or community- collaboration between two different entities can bring about ideas and solutions that serve the greater good. “I want to make to make it clear,” added Simon, “That there is nothing in here about the two entities combining. It is all about how they can work together.”