Eric Hammerle, Camillus’ new first ward councilor, is still learning the ins and outs of his job, but already has a lot on his plate.
Hammerle replaced Dave Philippone, who decided not to run in last year’s election. A husband and father of two boys ages 14 and 11, Hammerle also has a background in physical education. He’s a graduate of SUNY Brockport with a bachelor’s in physical education and became a certified New York state teacher through SUNY Cortland. He spent a few years trying to nail down a public teaching job, and when he was unable to find what he wanted, he changed his career path. Aside from local politics, Hammerle is an outside sales representative for an insurance company, and also spends a lot of time coaching children’s sports teams.
He also has a lot of history in Camillus, as he moved there when he was just a year old and has stayed since.
“My wife and I even bought our first house here,” he said in a phone interview.
And he wasn’t able to ease into his new job. After taking a three-day class offered by the state to newly elected politicians, Hammerle jumped right into some issues at hand. He’s the parks and recreation committee chair and one of the pressing issues he’s dealing with is what to do with Camillus Park. The swimming pool has been closed for almost two years, and Hammerle said it’s time to take care of that.
“The park is surrounded by neighborhoods, and I think people don’t want to see a giant concrete hole there forever,” he said.
He did, however, make it clear that it’s not something that can be fixed overnight. The money isn’t readily available, Hammerle said, and fix-ups to the rest of the park may be enough to attract grant money from the state once it becomes available.
“One big hurdle is figuring out a way to raise money for the pool,” he said. “We can do that through our budget or through fundraising, but we’re not sure yet. I am confident that in the next two years, we will move forward in the process.”
He said the town is looking into expanding what the local parks are used for, especially activities for seniors and children.
“The population has shifted to being a bit older, so we’re seeing if we can expand our activities in a way to reach out to those people,” he said. “We also want to continue to give the youth of our community places to play and have fun, because everyone deserves an equal amount. But to improve the infrastructure takes a lot of money.”
Last week, fellow councilor Mike LaFlair spoke about how the board has cut two members from both the planning and zoning boards. Hammerle indicated those cuts have saved about $13,000 in taxpayer money.
“The budget is always a work in progress,” he said. “We want to make sure we have all the available resources for whatever we need, but more importantly we need to make sure we’re utilizing those resources.”
He said he’s using his website, camillusfirstward.com, to get as much info to the public as he can and urges the public to contact him with questions and concerns. He can be reached by phone at 672-5155 or by email at [email protected].
Neil Benjamin Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
