Act Now To Save Your Emergency Room!!!

The Hospital's ER faces closure by the State Health Dept. in June 2010. Each and every one of us must act now!  Our voice has to be many and strong.  Click on the picture to link to the Hospital's website to communicate with our elected representatives at the Federal, State and County Levels. Tell everybody to voice their concerns.  It takes a few minutes and could add years to a precious life.

 Mayor's Letter to Commissioner Daines

 Recent Editorial by the Observer

January 21, 2010

Information to Village Residents from Mayor David Carr

I have been remiss in keeping residents informed in regards to Village happenings for the past several weeks. First off I want to wish everyone a bountiful and prosperous New Year. Next I would like to thank all of the Village employees for their dedication to serving the residents of the Village. My office received many compliments for their quick response to the recent wind storm and associated damage and the snow storm that followed a few days later.

During the past year there have been some changes in Village operations.  I think many of these changes will benefit our community immensely. The first change was a reorganization of the Wastewater Plant.  Our plan is to eventually combine the Water Department and Waste Water Departments to promote efficiencies, create additional career opportunities for existing staff, and provide for cross training between and among departments.  One of the advantages to this model is that during an emergency situation or an unforeseen manpower shortage, we will be able to keep both facilities operational.  We have hired an independent contractor, Steve Sandle, to oversee operations at the Wastewater plant.  Steve has maintained his 4a license with the NYSDEC, which is the proper license for our plant.  Steve also comes with vast experience.  He began his career when our plant was first built in the late 70’s.  He went on to operate for the City of Dunkirk and then retired.  Starting his own business and serving as an investor and board member at CrossRoads.  Steve brings a balance of public experience with a knowledge of private efficiencies that is priceless.  In the meantime Dana Williams, currently a 3A operator who has recently taken his 4A exam is in the process of becoming qualified to operate the facility. Dana’s training should be completed sometime this year and I commend him for taking the initiative to move forward with his skills for the community.

Jim Hamilton, our Supervisor of the Electric Department, recently retired and I wish him well.  A search was completed and a new Superintendent was hired, he started on Jan 4th of this year.   Our new Electric Superintendent is William Boneberg.  Bill retired on December 31, 2009, from National Grid/Niagara Mohawk.  Bill comes to us with 39 years of service. His experience started as a lineman and he retired as Manager of Overhead electric distribution lines from Woodlawn to Buffalo and from Tonawanda to Niagara Falls. Bill was responsible for 95 employees and 8 management employees. Bill and his wife moved to Westfield over two years ago. He will be a great addition to our staff.

I would like to thank the Electric Department staff, especially Matt Schumaker, Line Foreman and Melissa North, Account Clerk for their assistance when we didn’t have a superintendent.  They did a great job, especially since the fall and spring are sometimes our trickiest times because of bad weather.  Ed LeBarron also assisted Matt with some payroll, purchasing and other administrative issues during this time frame and I truly appreciate his commitment to the Village.

I would also like to thank Mr. Harry Mentzell, Line Foreman(Retired), who helped us along the way and served on our interviewing committee for the Electric Superintendent.  After all of these years, Harry still “cares” about the Village and the electric system.  We appreciate his expertise, tremendous knowledge and generous understanding.

You should also know that we have researched the viability of electronic meter reading for both our electric and water utilities. The Board recently approved bidding out for this service, which we did, but we needed a breakdown from the two competing vendors so we will be rebidding this soon.  This technology will allow an employee to drive down the street and receive a signal from the meter which will then transmit the information to an electronic handheld device in the vehicle. At the end of the day the hand held device will download the data to our billing system, thereby removing many steps and improving accuracy. Our system will then print out the bills.  The DPW Advisory Board reviewed Cost Benefit analyses from both the meter company and our own Treasury Dept. staff and our return on investment will be captured in approximately 3-5 years.

We have obtained the services of Stearns and Wheler Engineers to organize the necessary documentation in preparation for submitting grants to the USDA-RD for improvements and upgrades to both our Water and Sewer facilities and sections of our water and sewer distribution systems. If we are successful with either one or both, we will be able obtain Grants and low interest loans for much needed repairs and to ready our systems for the next few decades.  This is a constant balancing act as you all know that I don’t want to raise taxes of fees unnecessarily.  However, everything and everyone else around us goes up so on occasion, we need to adjust as well so we can remain efficient for you. 

A recent example of the things we have to just “accept” was an arbitrary increase from the New York State Public Service Commission.  They have always taxed us for our utilities crossing certain state roads or state owned rights of way.  We have averaged about $6,000 a year for this particular tax.  This year, for whatever reason, they supposedly passed a “temporary” assessment increase, thereby upping our bill to just under $53,000.  That’s in one year folks!!! The unfortunate thing is there really wasn’t anything we could do about it.  Albany needs reform.  When my staff researched this they spoke to a NYCOM representative who used to work on “the hill” and they said, It was in fact passed by the state legislature as temporary “general fund” relief for the Public Service Commission.  They also said, I worked up there long enough to know that nothing like this the state imposes is “temporary.”  In my opinions, this is just another way the state can get by operating as usual without actually cutting. 

On a more positive note, the Westfield Farmers Market was once again a success with more vendors and more local economic activity than during the 2008 season. The vendors I talked with indicated that they were pleased with their sales. There were many positive comments from shoppers, many of whom were summer residents from Chautauqua as well as travelers from the area camp grounds. I also talked to several families who were traveling through in RV’s, who saw the signs and activity and stopped to shop. The steering committee will be meeting to plan the 2010 season soon on the 21st of January.  We are looking forward to another successful year for the market. 

On Labor Day weekend, the Village and the Town also partnered with the County and other municipalities with the Light the Lakes.  This was a very successful venture as it brought people from as far away as Silver Creek and the Frewsburg area.

NYCOM will be hosting a special forum In Orchard Park on Jan 20th regarding the consolidation of municipalities. Martha and I will be attending to learn more about the process. As I have said before, it is not a simple process. Nothing in Municipal Government is simple, to make matters worse the State and Federal Governments keep finding ways to make it more complicated and more costly.

We are also in the process of developing the 2010-2011 budget. Like most during this straining economy, our investments haven’t performed at the level they have in the past. This may or may not impact the budget process but it must be in all of our minds. My goal is to once again keep the budget at around a 2 .5 to 3.5 percent increase; however, whether or not that is obtainable is difficult to say right now. We already know that several costs will automatically be more, like retirement, insurance, fuel, salt, wages, etc. I can assure you that all of the Department heads are working very diligently to contain costs and still not cut necessary items. The Village is like your house, there is a certain amount that is required every year for routine repairs and upkeep or you end up paying more in the long run.  I encourage you to get involved in our budget process.  Pay attention to the papers to find out when we will discuss our budget(s).

In closing but certainly not in the least, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the residents who volunteer their time to make Westfield a better place to live. This includes the Fire Department, Ambulance Squad, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, the DPW Advisory Board, Chamber of Commerce, Farmers Market Steering Committee, Library Board of Directors, the Patterson Library Maintenance Repairmen, McClurg Board of Directors, Hospital Board, YWCA Board of Directors, the Victorian Christmas Planners. All of these people serve many hours with no financial compensation, in most cases, without even a simple “thank you.” I am very grateful for the many hours of volunteer service by these very dedicated residents; they have saved the taxpayers of the Village many thousands of dollars.

Again, our Village Board meetings are held on the first and third Mondays of each month, they are open to the public and I invite any one to come. I am also available at the office or by telephone at 326-2502 or email me at mayor05@villageofwestfield.org.