Public commenters urge higher local wage, raise ADA and pest concerns at Tompkins County meeting

Several members of the public addressed legislators during the privilege-of-the-floor portion of the Sept. 15 meeting, focusing on wages, accessibility and public health concerns.

Pete Myers of the Tompkins County Worker Center recounted the group’s history of living-wage campaigning and argued a larger local minimum wage is needed to address housing and income pressures. "This actually kind of highlights why we need such an increase in living wage in the minimum wage," Myers told legislators. Other commenters echoed that view: Rissard Ussock described canvass findings of residents in financial distress, and Teresa Alt urged adopting a local minimum wage at the level of a living wage to avoid asking people to work full time and still not make ends meet.

Public commenters also raised local service and compliance issues: David Ayers presented photos and alleged the Ithaca Art House is not ADA-compliant, saying staff had removed door handles and disabled accessibility buttons; he asked the county to pursue remedies. Zach Wynne reported continuing rodent problems at the public library and urged coordinated city–county integrated pest-management policies; he also warned of rising diesel costs and criticized the minimum-wage study’s county authority and expense. Chair Shauna Black said she would circulate the photos to legislators and follow up with the building department.