From the supervisor: The start of spring
By Janet Aaron
Skaneateles Town Supervisor
The weather in March came in like a lion. Let’s hope now that we officially are in the spring season and that we continue to see warmer days with green grass.
The town board held its first Hamlet Meeting this year in Mottville. It was a snowy night but there were several residents who braved the weather. Our next hamlet meeting is April 4th at the Skaneateles Falls Legion. We would welcome all to attend.
I visited the Highway and Water Departments this week. These departments are located in the facility we share with the school, located on Transportation Drive behind the Hilltop Restaurant. It has been a while since I toured their facility.
This was a great cooperative venture between the school and the town when the old Pennysaver building was purchased. Shared services at its best. This building houses not only our highway and water departments and the school bus garage, but our Outreach Office and the Food Pantry.
The school owns the building and we lease it from them and the Town owns the property. We plow the area and they mow the grass. They have a fueling facility and purchase fuel at a much-reduced rate and we fuel all our vehicles there and pay the school for the fuel that we use. They have a wash bay that all agencies can also use.
The school lets our Outreach Office use their conference room at Christmas to prepare for the 40 plus families they provide Christmas for. The school does an excellent job of maintaining the building. Our highway guys run a clean and efficient shop.
I was so impressed with the operation, and it is clear that they take a great deal of pride in what they do and the maintenance of their equipment. We are lucky to have these skilled employees. Allan Wellington is our elected Highway Superintendent and he also oversees the Water Department and Transfer Station. Brian Buff is his Highway Department foreman along with Allan’s crew that includes Steve Bryant, David Bader, Dan Dobrovosky and Tim Dobrovosky. Joe Dwyer is the foreman of the Water Department.
This week I also attended a meeting in Syracuse with the Onondaga County Mayors and Supervisors. Also joining was Ben Walsh, the mayor of the City of Syracuse and many from his staff.
This is the first of what is planned to be quarterly meetings to share ideas and concerns. It is a great learning experience for all of us and a great way to network with other communities. I know I will gain valuable information from these meetings that I can bring back to our community.
There have been many meetings held in the community on Skaneateles Lake.
The town is preparing for a joint informational meeting with Skaneateles Lake Association and possibly other agencies in late May or early June. We will have more information on this in the coming weeks.
I want to end by giving Jeff VanBeveren, executive director of SAVES, our best wishes on his new position as Director of Emergency Medical Services for the Office of Emergency Management in Onondaga County.
Jeff has shown great leadership and caring for this community especially during his 14 years of leadership. We thank Ron Kenny as interim director, a paramedic with 20 years of experience in EMS, for stepping up to fill this position until a permanent replacement can be found.
