Elections have begun
Last week saw the start of the 2007 student government election process as registration opened for both parties (on February 21) and individuals (on February 26). Available positions will include representatives from all returning classes, the graduate student body, and alumni class offices, as well as the student-wide positions of President of the Union and Grand Marshal; the elections will occur during GM Week on March 29 with primaries occurring on March 26 as needed.
Candidate information sessions will be held throughout this week as well as after the spring break. Candidacy and affiliation forms are also available on the elections website as well as in the student government suite in the Union. For more information, see the 2007 GM Week Elections Handbook, available at http://elections.union.rpi.edu/.
9-1-1 service in danger
Rensselaer County may stop providing Troy with 9-1-1 emergency service dispatching if the city does not negotiate a new contract soon, according to County Executive Kathy Jimino. The county has been providing communication services for the city police and fire departments since 1995, but the contract expired on December 31, 2005, and Troy has not paid for the dispatching since then.
The City of Troy, which accounts for approximately 50 percent of annual calls dispatched by the county, used to pay $285,000 a year for the service. Rensselaer County budgeted $2,905,505 for 2007 to cover the dispatch center. Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian noted, however, that the city provides certain services to the county for free, such as prisoner transport and the fire department’s hazardous material response team. Rather than having the city do its own dispatching again, Tutunjian said that negotiations are resuming and he expects the city and county to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.
