By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
Each year, the Messenger asks the elected officials of the village of Baldwinsville and the towns of Van Buren and Lysander to share their New Year’s resolutions for their municipalities.
Read on to see what your leaders are looking to accomplish in 2017:
Town of Van Buren
“With the start of my 10th year as supervisor, 2017 promises to be very busy,” Supervisor Claude Sykes said. “The town of Van Buren always strives to continue to deliver town services in an efficient, cost effective manner.”
Sykes said “work will begin in earnest soon” on the town’s new highway facility, which is expected to be finished and ready for occupation by September 2017.
“The re-purposing of this building will allow the highway department to deliver their services from a modern, state-of-the-art facility, all being completed without an increase in taxes,” Sykes said.
Van Buren is also looking at five projects dependent on state grant money:
- Paving at Van Buren Park to replace deteriorated driving and parking surfaces
- Construction of a new salt storage facility at the new highway garage
- Completion of the Downer Street sidewalk from River Mall to the Southgate entrance to Harbour Heights
- Completion of the Erie Canal Trail scenic overlook and watercraft launches
- Construction of an enclosed pavilion at the park.
The town will also replace an electric transformer at the park and will begin to make improvements to the air conditioning system at town hall.
In 2017, the town will also welcome two solar energy projects, one on town-owned property on Kingdom Road and another on private property on Pottery Road.
“When all is considered, along with the everyday issues, it will be a very busy year in Van Buren,” Sykes said. “I would like to take this opportunity to wish the residents of Van Buren and the greater Baldwinsville community a healthy and prosperous New Year.”
Village of Baldwinsville
“I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, because they are too easy to break,” said Mayor Dick Clarke.
Nevertheless, Clarke was a good sport and shared his list of goals for B’ville:
- Keep taxes reasonable
- Keep services at a level we are proud of
- Keep upgrading our infrastructure
- Keep striving to make the village as walkable as possible
- Keep a line of communications open with our residents
- Keep trying to make Baldwinsville a great place to live.
Lysander Supervisor Joe Saraceni declined to participate in this story.
