As we end the calendar year and move into 2008, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our residents and community members a very happy and safe New Year.  As Mayor of this village community I look forward to the New Year and the opportunities it brings.  We will continue to work towards positive economic development programs and I want to thank the local businesses for working together to make a positive difference in 2007.

 

              I also want to thank our town partners for their contributions over the past year and want to specifically thank Pat Freeman and Marvin Vahue for their many years of service to the HF-Mendon Community.  I want to thank Supervisor Moe Bickweat for his support and efforts over the last four years.  I appreciate his willingness to work with me and he has been instrumental in helping our communities work together. 

 

              With that being written I want to say that I am looking forward to working with the new Town Supervisor, Ian McNabb as well as the Town Council.  Ian and I have already met and plan to meet on a regular basis. We hope to conduct joint board workshops to evaluate where we stand as a community and how we can work together for the betterment of the community as a whole.

 

              Our Parks Committee has developed a survey that is expected to be sent to all households in the Town/Village towards the end of January.  This important survey will be a simple questionnaire about our community parks and what you, the residents, want to see in our future.  Your input is very important to establish a plan to move forward.  You’ll read more about this in upcoming Sentinel issues.

 

              Lastly, I’ve taken a few calls from residents about side walk snow-plowing concerns over the last couple weeks.  The large snow fall of a couple weeks ago gave us quite a bit to handle.  It is our goal to do our best to keep the roadways and sidewalks clear for safe pedestrian travel.  Although it is actually in Village Code that residents and businesses are responsible for clearing sidewalks, we have found that in many instances this isn’t done.  With that, as a service to the community, the village highway staff has handled that effort.  Usually we do not have many issues but due to the large snow fall we had, we also used the large snow blower to clear the snow that had fallen on to the walkways from the snow mounds.  Because of the fact that we hadn’t really had a “hard freeze” in the ground, many lawn areas near sidewalks were damaged.  This was obviously not intended and it will be our goal to do the best we can in re-seeding these areas when appropriate in the spring.  It will also be the plan to not use the snow blower again this season unless we feel it’s absolutely necessary.