SPECIALIZING IN:Grants

Housing

Community De vel op ment

Economic De vel op ment

Research

Business Planning

Loan Packages

Home Inspections

Radon Testing

Bernard ThomaPresident

34 Tompkins StreetCortland, NY 13045607-753-1433607-753-6818 fax

email:tdc@thomadevelopment.com

Serving the

Community

for Over

20 Years

A newsletter of Thoma Development Consultants June 2002

IMPLEMENTING YOURCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

BLOCK GRANT

Our customers are usually quite happywhen they are successful in securing a CommunityDevelopment Block Grant. Often the perception isthat the CDBG Program can start “next week”.There are quite a number of “behind the scenes”activities, however, that must take place before thefirst CDBG project is undertaken.

After a municipality receives the CDBGaward letter, the community must complete anenvironmental review of the project. The NationalEnvironmental Protection Act requires that thecommunity review its proposed project to ensurethat it will not negatively impact the environment.Collection of required data can take more than 30days, especially if there are historic orarchaeological issues that may need to be mitigatedbefore the program can commence. Following thecompletion of the environmental review document,there are also required legal notices that must bepublished. At the same time that the environmentalreview is being conducted, the municipality has toestablish an account with a local bank and completeforms that designate which local officials will havethe ability to draw down on grant funds. Thecurrent process for release of funds, as determinedby the Governor’s Office for Small Cities (GOSC),stipulates that the environmental review, the bankaccount, and the draw down procedure must be inplace before the GOSC will execute the contractbetween the State and the municipality. Once thesetasks have been completed, including the execution

of the contract, the municipality is issued aRelease of Funds notification.

Once the contract has been signed,many communities hire a consulting firm toadminister their CDBG Program. A Requestfor Proposals must be completed before afirm can be selected. This process mustinclude enough time for interested parties toobtain and respond to the RFP.Municipalities must also have enough timeto review the proposals and then approve theselected consulting firm at the next regularlyscheduled Board meeting.

When TDC is hired to administer aCDBG Program, we typically attend amunicipal Board meeting and explain howthe program will operate. If there areoptions available to the municipalityregarding program administration, wediscuss the pros and cons of differentoptions. Once the program guidelines arefinalized, we have to market the program tothe intended households. This is particularlytrue for housing rehabilitation programs andpublic facilities improvement programs suchas water or sewer lateral replacement orinstallation.

At the same time that the program isbeing marketed to targeted households, anadvertisement is published in a localnewspaper soliciting contractors to be placedon a qualified contractors list. TDC checksreferences listed by contracting firms ontheir application and makes sure they carryadequate insurance.

TDC reviews the applications of thehouseholds that are interested inparticipating in the CDBG Program. Theintake process involves two steps. First,there is the collection of requireddocumentation to verify such things asincome eligibility, family status, proof ofproperty ownership, and verifying that taxeson the to-be-assisted property are current, toname a few. In the rehabilitation program,

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(Continued from Cover Story)

the second step requires that one of ourRehabilitation Managers visits the property todiscuss housing deficiencies that are known tothe property owner. At the same time, theRehabilitation Manager completes a CommunityDevelopment Inspection Report after a thoroughinspection of the property. The Manager sitsdown one-on-one with the property owner todiscuss their housing concerns and anydeficiencies we may have uncovered during theinspection process. This includes a review ofthe new regulations regarding the presence oflead based paint in the home. From this meetingand from a review of the Inspection Report, awork scope is developed.

Once the work scope is finalized, theRehabilitation Manager does an estimate ofcosts. This is used as a yardstick when

comparing bids. Contractors selected by theproperty owner are solicited by TDC to submit abid on individual properties. They are given twoweeks to complete and submit a bid. Mosttimes, there is more than one contractor involvedwith individual projects. Once the bids aresubmitted, we check for accuracy, answer anyquestions, and make sure the prices areconsistent with our estimates.

It is at this point that we present the pre-qualified applicant to the municipal Board fortheir approval. It is not unusual for five to sevenmonths to have elapsed after grant award beforethe first applicant is brought before the Board.Hopefully a grantee is aware of all the work andeffort that is taking place “behind the scenes”before actual construction begins.

TDC WELCOMES NEW CUSTOMERS

TDC would like to welcome a numberof new customers. These customers include theVillages of Union Springs, Dryden, and FairHaven, Family Counseling Services of CortlandCounty, Inc., and the Town of Virgil.

The Village of Union Springs is locatedin Cayuga County, less than 10 miles southwestof the City of Auburn. It is situated on the banksof Cayuga Lake. Although TDC has workedwith the Village on a few grant applications,Union Springs is now one of our Grant Writingcustomers. Union Springs has expressed a highlevel of interest in submitting a CDBG. We willcontinue to work with the Village on identifyingneeded community development projects.

The Village of Dryden is located in theeastern portion of Tompkins County. TDCwrote their 2002 CDBG application formunicipal water improvements for a targetedarea in the Village. This application is stillpending. We have now been hired by the Villageto provide Grant Writing services.

The Village of Fair Haven is currentlyour northernmost-located customer, being

located in Cayuga County on Lake Ontario. TheVillage hired TDC to write its successful 2001Community Development Block Grant and hasnow hired us under our Grant Writing service.

Family Counseling Services of CortlandCounty, Inc. is a not-for-profit agency thatserves the counseling needs of individuals andfamilies in crisis. It is located in the City ofCortland on North Main Street. We have beenhired under our Grant Writing service and havealready met with funding success (see story,page 6).

Lastly, we can hardly call the Town ofVirgil in Cortland County a “new” customer aswe have been doing work in the community forover 15 years. The Town recently hired TDC,however, under our Grant Writing service. Welook forward to continued work with Virgil.

TDC welcomes the opportunity to workwith these new customers. We look forward toassisting them in identifying priority programsand projects and then pursuing the neededfunding to make these programs and projectsbecome a reality.

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CUSTOMER HIGHLIGHT: VILLAGE OF MARATHON

The Village of Marathon is one ofTDC’s newest customers. The Village is locatedin the Town of Marathon in the southeasterncorner of Cortland County. It is the home of the

Marathon Maple Festival, a popular CentralNew York event for over 30 years which istraditionally held in early spring.

The 2000 population of the Village is1,063 persons. Early settlers established theVillage in the late 1700’s along the banks of theTioughnioga River which bisects the Village. Aself-sufficient Main Street eventually developedwhich was surrounded by many large residencesand small manufacturing entities. One of thesesmall manufacturing concerns, the MarathonBoat Company, maker of the famed Grummancanoes, is still producing in the Village today.The Village established its own electriccompany in the early 1900’s which todayprovides electric power to Village residents andbusinesses at almost 1/3 the cost of other electricproviders. A railroad is located on the west sideof the river and is still operational, although on alimited basis. Passengers can ride the train toand from the Maple Festival. The CortlandCounty Business Development Corporationrecently secured State Multi-modalTransportation Act funds to refurbish the trainstation and establish a railroad museum in thenear future.

In 2001, with TDC’s assistance, theVillage secured its first Community

Development Block Grant through the Governor’sOffice for Small Cities. These funds are forhousing and sidewalk rehabilitation in a targetedarea of the west side of the Village referred to inthe grant as the “Mill Street Revitalization Area”.Rehabilitation efforts are presently underway.

The Village was also a participatingcommunity in Cortland County’s DowntownStrategic Plan which was completed by TDCearlier this year (see story, page 8). As part of theStrategic Plan process, TDC staff met with aconcerned group of Marathon citizens, businessand building owners, Village Trustees, andPlanning Board members to identify and prioritizethe most pressing issues in downtown Marathon.Some of the issues identified included the need formore parking in the downtown, the need toaddress flooding concerns, addressing the overallappearance downtown, more actively promotingthe Marathon community, and preparing thedowntown to capitalize on the development of theTioughnioga River Trail.

The River Trail is an exciting projectpresently underway in Cortland County (see storyon page 9). As a community located on thedeepest part of the Tioughnioga River, the Villageof Marathon is well-positioned to take advantageof river trail and river development plans. TheNYS Department of Transportation plans a totalreconstruction of Marathon’s Main Street (NYS221) in 2004. This reconstruction project, intandem with the river plans, can have a majorpositive effect on the Village’s downtown area.

TDC is happy to be working with VillageMayor Craig Braman, Clerk Dianne Walburn, andan enthusiastic group of Village Board members.The Village has many exciting communitydevelopment projects planned in its future. TDChopes that we can play a role in assisting theVillage with these projects.

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Durkee Building

Community Services Building

With TDC’s assistance, the City of Cortland received a $900,000 comprehensive CommunityDevelopment Block Grant award for Fiscal Year 2000. The City’s CDBG Program involves a number ofinterrelated activities. One activity provides a landscaping buffer to a local commercial building in aneffort to further enhance the surrounding neighborhood that is also being targeted for housingrehabilitation. The photos above show before and after photos of the former Durkee Building located onClinton Avenue in the City. The second set of photos shows before and after photos of the CommunityServices Building located at 111 Port Watson Street in the City. Through the CDBG award, funds weremade available to make the building more handicapped accessible, including the installation of anelevator. The Community Services Building houses a number of not-for-profit agencies that service theneeds of lower income individuals and families.

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TDC STAFF ON THE GO!

Here at Thoma Development Consultantswe are continually attending conferences,seminars, and workshops in the hopes ofbroadening our areas of expertise. We believethat participating in these various functionsallows us to better serve you, our valuedcustomer. This past spring, TDC staff attended anumber of presentations that we felt were worthsharing.

Senior Consultant Bernie Thomaattended a conference entitled, “Tools forBuilding Sustainable Communities”, sponsoredby the Federal Reserve Bank. The conferencewas held in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.Sessions which Bernie attended included heritageand tourism development, Main Street anddowntown revitalization, and communitydevelopment financial institutions. Presentersfrom all over the Northeast provided valuableinsight on rural development issues which affectmany of our customers.

Ann Hotchkin, Program Manager,attended the NYS Conference of Mayors(NYCOM) in May which was held in the ThayerHotel at West Point. An interesting workshopwas offered by Hyatt and Palma, a firm whichspecializes in downtown revitalization and assistscommunities in planning for future growth. Thepresenters used a series of slides in theirworkshop to provide visual examples of bothgood and bad downtown development projects.Hyatt and Palma were very knowledgeable intheir subject matter and injected lightheartedhumor into their presentation.

In May, Lisa Foley, our newest employeeand Program Manager, attended a two-daytraining session at Pace University in MidtownManhattan which focused on GeographicInformation Systems (GIS). GIS is a powerfulmapping software package. TDC is hoping tomove forward with the purchase andimplementation of its own GIS in the near future,thus enhancing our company’s planning andmapping capabilities.

On May 22-23, Rich Cunningham,Program Manager, attended the CornellCommunity and Rural Development Institute’s(CaRDI’s) annual Social and Community Trendsand Outlook Conference at the Wyndam Hotel

and Conference Center in Syracuse. This year’sconference was entitled, “Everything Old is NewAgain: The New Approach to CommunityDevelopment”, which explored how communitiescan apply integrated and innovative approachesto community planning and development.Workshops focused on current research andoutreach innovation in local government,community economic development, anduniversity/community partnerships. Theinformation and concepts highlighted at theconference are likely to prove valuable to ourcustomers in the future.

During May 29–31, Phil Connery andTim Alger, Rehabilitation Managers, attendedand passed the exam for Phase I and II of theTransitional Training for the International Codeof New York State. The classes were held at theSUNY Cortland campus and were sponsored bythe Department of State, Codes Division. Thistraining prepares code enforcement officials forthe adoption of the new code and provides theskills for proper enforcement. Phil and Tim, insuccessfully passing the exam, continue ascertified code enforcement officers.

In early June, Linda Armstrong, ProgramManager, attended a HUD-sponsored workshopin Syracuse that focused on Davis-Bacon andlabor standards compliance on federally-assistedprojects. The Davis-Bacon Act is a decades oldfederal act that requires the payment of prevailingfederal wages, as determined by the U. S.Department of Labor, to all laborers andmechanics on federally assisted constructionprojects in excess of $2,000. Davis-Baconregulations are often confusing and cansignificantly increase the cost of constructionprojects funded through a number of federalprograms undertaken by TDC’s customersincluding the CDBG Program.

TDC is committed to keeping our staffcurrent on trends, techniques, fundingopportunities, and changes in regulations in orderto provide our customers with the best possibleservice, utilizing the most up to date information.TDC will continue to keep our customersinformed as we participate in these worthwhileconferences, training sessions, and seminars.

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VILLAGE OF MORAVIA SECURES POLICE GRANT

The Village of Moravia PoliceDepartment secured a grant from the federalLaw Enforcement Block Grant Programprovided through the New York State Divisionof Criminal Justice Services. The PoliceDepartment consists of one full time officer andfive part time officers. The Officer in Charge isWilliam Sovocool (pictured below) who hasbeen on the Village force for 17 years. As withany small rural community, maintaining andfunding a police force is an essential communityservice, however, it is one that comes at a cost.Programs such as the Law Enforcement BlockGrant Program provide financial assistance forneeded equipment purchases.

The grant provided to the Village ofMoravia totals almost $43,000. The Village’s

matching share for the program is $4,700. Withthe funds, the Village Police will purchase anumber of equipment items including a custombuilt computer system, laptop computers forpolice vehicles, cruise cams for patrol cars, a radartrailer, night vision binoculars, an Intelliplexvideo system for the police office, a covertsurveillance system, and bulletproof vests.

Other TDC customers who have securedthese funds include the Village of Homer and theVillage of McGraw. Both of these communitiesapplied for and received funds for sport utilityvehicles to add to their police fleets.

It was a pleasure working with Officer inCharge Bill Sovocool. If any of our customers areinterested in pursuing Law Enforcement BlockGrant funds, please contact us.

FAMILY COUNSELING SERVICES RECEIVES MENTORINGPROGRAM GRANT

TDC is pleased to announce the awardof a Juvenile Justice Delinquency Preventiongrant to Family Counseling Services ofCortland County, Inc. The New York StateDivision of Criminal Justice Services hasawarded $3,500 to the organization for thefinal quarter of 2002, to expand its YouthAssist Mentoring Program.

The Youth Assist Mentoring Programrecruits, trains, and coordinates volunteers toprovide mentoring services to at-risk youthbetween the ages of 7 and 15. These trainedvolunteers commit to meet with programparticipants at least once per week for aminimum of three hours. While enjoyingrecreational activities with the youth, thementor provides informal one-on-onecounseling, and serves as a positive rolemodel, confidante, and advocate. Referrals to

the program are made by area schools, theCortland County Department of SocialServices, the Cortland County ProbationDepartment, parents, and other human serviceagencies in the Cortland area.

Grant funding will enable FamilyCounseling Services to provide mentoringservices to a projected 10 to 12 at-risk youthannually. Based on past program outcomes, itis anticipated that a minimum of 80% of theyouth participating in the program willdemonstrate growth and improvement in atleast one of eleven life skills attainment goals.

Funding for the program wasapproved for a 3-month period, due to achange in the grant cycle. Programs funded inthis cycle will be given priority for full-yearfunding in the 2003 grant cycle.

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TDC HELPS MANUFACTURED HOME COOPERATIVE

Thoma Development Consultants is aqualified Technical Assistant Provider (TAPS)for the New York State Manufactured HomeCooperative Fund Program. This program isadministered by the New York State HousingFinance Agency and is specifically designed toprovide resources to encourage and facilitatecooperative ownership of manufactured homeparks. The program assists tenants in buying theunderlying land, making necessary infrastructureimprovements, and controlling park operations.The program provides long-term security to thoseresidents and reduces their risk of dislocation andloss of equity.

As a TAPS, TDC assists in two ways.First, a feasibility study is conducted of thespecific park, which includes evaluating thecondition of the park, the financial feasibility ofthe project, and the organization of the tenants.This study determines whether a park would be asuitable project for a cooperative conversion. Ifthe feasibility study shows that the park is a good

project for conversion, then the TechnicalAssistance Provider assists the tenantorganization and the Housing Finance Agency incompleting the conversion. The type ofassistance includes the arrangement of neededprofessional services such as an appraisal,engineering, and legal services. Assistance alsoincludes negotiation of the purchase agreement,assisting with the application for necessaryfinancing, and helping the tenant organization instrengthening their organizational skills to ensuresuccess after cooperative conversion.

The Manufactured Home CooperativeFund Program is an innovative way to reduce theshortage of affordable housing for low-to-moderate income families. TDC is presentlyworking on two such conversion projects andenjoys providing this needed service in the State.If your community has a park which wouldbenefit from cooperative ownership, pleasecontact Bernie Thoma and he will explain theprogram in more detail to you.

REHAB SPOTLIGHT

Bernice “Happy” Davis lives on QuakerBasin Road in the Town of DeRuyter in MadisonCounty. She participated in the Town’s CDBGTown-wide housing rehabilitation program thatwas awarded to DeRuyter for Fiscal Year 2000.

Work on the home included theinstallation of new windows and doors, repairingher porch roof, upgrading her electric, installingnew insulation, interior and exterior carpentry,painting, and installing new flooring. Due tobudget constraints, we encourage painting as

opposed to siding homes. Fortunately for Happy,she was able to provide funds and split thedifference between the cost of painting and thecost of siding. The results were wonderful asillustrated in the pictures below.

Contractors John Best, Ballard Electric,Chris Feuerherm, and R. H. Osbourne’s Flooringprovided the work on the home. Happy was adelight to work with and her nickname does herjustice. We hope she will enjoy her new homeimprovements for many years to come.

Before After

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EMERGENCY!

The City of Cortland is the most recentThoma Development customer to adopt aprogram to assist low-to-moderate incomeowner-occupants with the cost of addressingemergency repairs on their homes.

TDC has been successful over the yearsassisting communities in securing CommunityDevelopment Block Grant (CDBG) funds toadminister housing rehabilitation programs.Typically, these programs are geared towardslarger, comprehensive rehabilitation efforts,oftentimes in targeted areas of a municipality.Many of our customers have expressed a need toassist lower income homeowners with smallerprojects that often arise unexpectedly. Inresponse to this need, we have assisted variouscommunities in developing emergency repairprograms, each funded with program income.Program income is generated from households orbusinesses that receive low or no interest rateloans from municipalities that have been awardedCommunity Development funds.

Under the City of Cortland’s EmergencyRepair Program, income-eligible owner

occupants can receive up to $4,000 to address anemergency repair such as the loss of a heatingsystem or a failed sewage system, for example.Assistance is in the form of a no interest loan thatbecomes a permanent lien on the property. Theloan is repaid upon the sale of the property, orwhen the property ceases to be the permanentresidence of the original program applicant.

TDC has also developed emergencyrepair programs for the Villages of Homer andMoravia, and code correction programs in theVillages of Homer and Groton. The codecorrection programs provide assistance to addresscode violations in income properties in contrastto the owner-occupied emergency repairprograms. In addition, TDC has developed town-wide housing rehabilitation programs in theTowns of Cincinnatus and Lincklaen. Each ofthe above noted programs have slightly differentrules and eligibility criteria, with the exceptionthat all programs provide assistance to eitherincome-eligible owner-occupants, or incomeproperties where at least 51% of the units aretenanted by income-eligible households.

TDC HELPS COMMUNITIES PLAN FOR DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION

This past year, TDC completed“Downtown Strategic Plans” for five downtownsin Cortland and Tioga Counties. Funding for theplans was provided by two Technical Assistancegrants from the Governor’s Office for SmallCities. TDC prepared both applications. Onegrant, awarded to the Cortland County PlanningDepartment, provided funding for the completionof Strategic Plans for Cortland County’s fourprimary downtown areas: the City of Cortlandand the Villages of Homer, Marathon, andMcGraw. The second grant, awarded to theVillage of Owego in Tioga County, funded aStrategic Plan for their downtown area.

A study committee consisting of localstakeholders was utilized in each community toguide the planning process and to establish theparameters for the plans. The overall goal of theStrategic Plans was to develop a vision for therevitalization of the respective downtowns and toidentify clear and attainable activities to help thedowntowns move towards that vision.

The planning process included thecompletion of a needs assessment that identifiedthe major issues facing each downtown.Significant opportunities for economic growthwere also identified. TDC worked with the localcommittees to prioritize the identified issues anddevelop appropriate projects or activities. Theentire process culminated in the development ofan “Action Agenda” for each downtown thatdetailed priority projects including theidentification of specific tasks to implement theactivity, a project leader, potential partners,funding and technical assistance resources.

The revitalization of a downtown areacan be complicated and never-ending. Thecompletion of a Downtown Strategic Plan is anexcellent way to create consensus on the future ofa downtown and jump-start revitalization efforts.Any community that is interested in completing aDowntown Strategic Plan should contact ouroffice.

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CORTLAND AWARDED FUNDS FOR WATERFRONT PLANNING

The City of Cortland, in tandem withother Tioughnioga Riverfront communities andthe Cortland County Business DevelopmentCorporation (BDC), was awarded $50,000 toprepare a comprehensive Local WaterfrontRevitalization Program (LWRP) for theTioughnioga River in Cortland County. TheRiver passes through eleven Countymunicipalities as it flows southward, includingthe Towns of Cuyler, Truxton, Preble, Homer,Cortlandville, Virgil, Lapeer, and Marathon; theVillages of Homer and Marathon; and the City ofCortland. Thoma Development Consultantsprepared the application, which will be matchedwith $50,000 in local funds and in-kind services.

The Tioughnioga River, which NativeAmericans called “river with banks of flowers”,consists of an East and West branch that flowsouthward from the northern boundaries of theCounty. These two branches join in the City ofCortland to form the main branch that continuessouthward, ultimately flowing into theSusquehanna River via the Otselic and ChenangoRivers. The river attracted the first white settlersto what is now Cortland County in 1791. Localgoods from Cortland flowed southward to citiesin Pennsylvania and onward to Baltimore. Whilethe river’s use as a corridor of commerce andtrade has diminished over the years, recreationaluses have grown, particularly for fishing andcanoeing. Cortland County is also home to twointernational leaders in water-based recreation:Cortland Line, a premier manufacturer of flyfishing line and other fishing equipment, andMarathon Boat Group, manufacturer of the famedGrumman canoes. These companies provide animportant economic tie-in to the riverdevelopment.

The Tioughnioga has been the focus ofrenewed attention in recent years. ATioughnioga River Waterfront DevelopmentCommission, whose honorary chair is U. S.Congressman James Walsh, was formed in 2000and consists of upwards of 50 communitystakeholders, government officials, andconcerned citizens. Clough, Harbour, andAssociates completed a conceptual planningstudy on a proposed riverfront trail, and TDCsubmitted a Transportation EnhancementProgram application for the construction of aportion of the trail between the Village of Homerand the City of Cortland. This application is still

pending. It is the objective of the LWRP to buildupon these existing efforts through the creationof a single comprehensive program that brings allof the various municipalities into agreementregarding the future of the river.

The river, and its 130-mile waterfront,provide enormous opportunities, particularly inthe area of water based recreational opportunitiesand related economic spin-offs. It is the goal ofthe community to develop the river as a first classfishery and provide adequate waterfront accessfor kayaking, canoeing, and land based activitiesincluding hiking and biking. With a focus onwaterfront related economic development andincreased recreational use of the river, the need toaddress environmental problems affecting theriver is heightened. Therefore, the LWRP willalso investigate the environmental issuesimpacting the river and will develop strategies tomitigate adverse environmental impactsincluding non-point source agricultural runoff,erosion, industrial pollution, and municipaldischarge. Specifically, the LWRP will addressissues including public access, open space,farmland protection, natural resources, habitatmanagement, flooding and erosion management,tourism promotion, and urban redevelopment.The development of the plan will includesignificant opportunities for communityparticipation in order to increase publicunderstanding of waterfront issues, developconsensus, and identify other important issues.The program will clearly identify and clarify allthe issues impacting the waterfront and set forthclear goals and projects to address these issues.The preparation and subsequent adoption of aLocal Waterfront Revitalization Program willformalize ongoing public and private efforts.

TDC is excited to be a part of thesewaterfront development initiatives and hopes tocontinue to work with the Cortland communityon this effort.

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PERSONNEL HIGHLIGHT

Tina Casterline joined our TDC staff inNovember as an Administrative Assistant. Tinais a Moravia Central School graduate andreceived an AS degree in Office Technologyfrom Tompkins-Cortland Community College.

In her new position, Tina works closelywith the rehabilitation team in providing servicesto homeowners and contractors. Tina performs awide range of tasks including loan monitoring,final agreement preparation, and insurance

certificate monitoring. With her positive attitudeand willingness to get the job done, Tina hasalready proven to be a great addition to ourcompany.

Tina resides in the Village of Homer withher 2-year-old son, Dylan. In her spare time,Tina enjoys walking and spending time with herfamily and friends.

We wish Tina much success and hopeshe enjoys being a part of our team!

CONGRATULATIONS, PAM!

Pam LeFever, TDC’s Bookkeeper, iscelebrating her 15th year with us. Pam joinedour staff in 1987 and today continues to keepour accounting functions running smoothly

Pam works closely with our variouscustomers to ensure the proper handling offunds. She is responsible for abstract

preparation, maintaining customer checkingaccounts, and loan monitoring.

Pam and her husband, Paul, reside inthe Town of Virgil and have two children,Ryan, 11, and Rayann, 6. In her spare time,Pam is an avid “cat lover” and enjoys cakedecorating, gardening, and camping.

MISSION STATEMENT

It is the Mission of Thoma Development Consultants to provide services to our customers and theirclients that meet or exceed expectations. The cornerstone for our relationship with our customers and fellowemployees is respect and trust. As an organization and as individual employees, we shall continually seek toimprove our abilities to benefit our customers. This mission is the shared responsibility of all employees.