Legislator Lorigo proposes Infrastructure Specialist Advisory Board to improve road and infrastructure maintenance throughout Erie County

Modified: September 26, 2019 9:21am

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Thursday, September 26, 2019

Erie County Legislator Joe Lorigo has introduced a Local Law creating an Infrastructure Specialist Advisory Board to improve the county’s maintenance of local roads, bridges, and overall infrastructure.

Once appointed, board members would be responsible for creating a Master Plan to direct road and infrastructure work throughout the county. Members would be expected to report to the Legislature on an annual basis outlining all road and infrastructure work to be done that year, expectations for operational funding, road scoring information, and all available capital project funding.

The board would be made up of 11 individual members, each with experience with construction of public infrastructure or a background in engineering. Three members would be recommended by the Erie County Town Highway Superintendents Association representing different parts of the county, two members would be recommended by the Associations of Erie County Government, one would be recommended by the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council, two recommended by the County Executive, and one each recommended by the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Legislature. Board members would serve three year terms at no more than two consecutive terms.

Legislator Lorigo said, “The goal of this law is to develop a plan of action for fixing our roads and increase both accountability and transparency for those maintaining our infrastructure. This will be accomplished by bringing a number of different stakeholders to the table, so that infrastructure needs can finally be met without the influence of politics or ‘horse trading.’  Historical practices have left many of our roads and bridges crumbling, even though we continue to allocate more funding each year. I hope to have the support of my colleagues so we can begin working toward solutions for the residents of Erie County.”

More information on Legislator Lorigo’s proposed law can be found here.