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Guest
Column: Mayor Keith T. Pierce
“A busy first month”
ODESSA, May 15 -- Greetings from your new Mayor! The editor
of this fine publication has granted me an opportunity to reach out to
my fellow citizens of this wonderful community. I hope to keep you all
updated monthly on current events and things we as a Village Board are
working on. My hope is that through The Odessa File, the people
of Odessa can contact me with any concerns or comments they may have.
My ultimate goal as Mayor of Odessa is to garner as much community involvement
as possible. We, as a community, can do so much for our "Little Village
on the Hill" if we just do it together!
It's been a busy
first month in office. We said goodbye to one of our DPW workers, Loren
Walp, who had been with the Village since 2002. Loren was a wonderful
asset to our community and will be greatly missed. Loren's replacement
has been on the job for a couple of weeks. His name is Eric Wheaton. Eric
lives in Alpine and is a graduate of Odessa-Montour School and is a Volunteer
Fireman with our own Ridge Runners. If you see Eric out and about working,
give him a nice welcome to the community.
In the Village Board's constant effort to reduce expenses, the DPW laborer
position was reduced to a part-time, 20-hour-a-week position. If at some
point it appears that the level of service to our community members is
falling, we will revisit the issue, but as for now we feel this is the
best course for our village.
We had a visit from Kelsey Jones of SCOPED at our last meeting to discuss
what the village receives for its $1,000-a-year membership dues. At present,
the village has invested 10 years of dues ($10,000) and has received little
if nothing from this program. It was a very informative meeting for all.
Some responsibility lies with us as a village. We need to better pursue
these opportunities and ask for help more often. To that end, we asked
Mr. Jones to check for any grants available for sidewalks, DPW buildings,
and Municipal buildings. To date, I have had several correspondences with
SCOPED and am meeting with them next week to go over what they have found
for us.
There are a few things that are concerning the Board that I would like
to share with you all so that everyone knows what will be coming over
the horizon in the next few years.
The first would be our Municipal/Fire Department building. We presently
have issues with some structural deficiencies with regards to the roof
slabs pulling away from the front of the building. We have been in contact
with engineering firms in hopes of coming up with a comprehensive plan
to address this.
The second thing on our radar is the DPW building. If you haven't seen
the inside of this structure, I encourage you to stop in sometime and
take a tour! DPW Chief Tim Jaynes would love to do that for you.
Another situation we are looking at is the pedestrian bridge. This has
been an ongoing problem for many years and there seems to be no inexpensive
or easy solution to this problem. At the present time we are working with
SCOPED to try to find funding for this project.
The last thing I want you to know about is something that Trustee Tomassi
is working on. Peggy is facilitating a group of people coming up with
a comprehensive 3-year plan for Odessa. There is involvement from citizens,
business owners and local officials. They have met several times and seem
to be headed in the right direction. I'm sure Peggy would love any input
you would like to pass along.
That's life in a nutshell right now. You are all up to date. With any
luck this will be a monthly occurrence. I look forward to any input from
you all at any time. It is your Village! Come get involved!
Keith T Pierce
Mayor
E-mail: villageofodessa@stny.rr.com
Photo in text: Mayor
Keith T. Pierce
Village Board members
Pictured below, from left: Mayor Keith Pierce and Village Board
Trustees Peggy Tomassi, Rita Decker, Robin Thoman and Shawn Crane..
Mayor: Keith
Pierce
Trustees: Rita Decker, Peggy Tomassi, Robin Thoman, Shawn Crane
Village Clerk: Kristi Pierce, 300 E. Main St., Odessa,
594-2100
Deputy Clerk: Kay Collins,
300 E. Main St., Odessa, 594-2100
Department of Public Works: Tim Jaynes
Municipal Building: 300 E. Main St., Odessa, 594-3792
Dutton S. Peterson Memorial Library:
106 First St., Odessa, 5942791
Schuyler County Officials
Legislature Members:
Top row (from left): Thomas Gifford, Delmar Bleiler,
Doris Karius, Glenn Larison
Bottom row: Michael A. Yuhasz, Dennis Fagan, Paul Marcellus,
Stewart Field
Legislature Chairman
Thomas M. Gifford, 535-9517
Legislature Members:
Michael A. Yuhasz, 535-4967
Doris L. Karius, 546-5544
Delmar F. Bleiler Jr., 594-3437
Glenn R. Larison, 594-3385
Dennis Fagan, Tyrone
Paul Marcellus, Watkins Glen
Stewart Field, Reading Center
County Clerk: Linda Compton, 535-8133
Sheriff: William Yessman, 535-8222
Undersheriff: Breck Spaulding, 535-8222
County Treasurer: Margaret Starbuck, 535-8181
District Attorney: Joseph Fazzary, 535-8383
State, Federal Officials for Schuyler County
Sen. Charles E.
Schumer
United States Senate
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3201
DC Phone: 202-224-6542
DC Fax: 202-228-3027
Email Address: http://schumer.senate.gov/webform.html
Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand
United States Senate
478 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
DC Phone: 202-224-4451
Website: http://gillibrand.senate.gov/
U.S. Rep. Eric Massa
United States House of Representatives
1208 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
DC Phone: 202-225-3161
DC Fax: 202-226-6599
Website: http://massa.house.gov/
State Senator George H. Winner, Jr.
-- Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Yates, western Tompkins, Enfield, Ithaca
(Town and City), Newfield, Ulysses(Trumansburg)
Room 415, Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
Phone: (518) 455-2091
Fax: (518) 426-6976
www.senate.nyssenate53.com
Assemblyman Tom O’Mara
-- Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga
Room 720, Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-4538
Website: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=137
Assemblyman James G. Bacalles
-- Steuben, Yates
439 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Phone: (518) 455-5791
Website: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=136
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