Dear Residents -
At this week’s Town Board meeting, I presented the Supervisor’s State of the Town. For those who missed it, you can view it or read a condensed version here:
To think, it was just one year ago that I was sworn in as your Town Supervisor. With the arrival of COVID, our world changed forever, and what I expected from my first year changed almost overnight. During COVID, we all experienced loss - whether it was the heartbreaking loss of a loved one, of employment, of not being with our loved ones, or of revenue, like so many of our local businesses struggling to keep their doors open.
However, speaking for myself, I also learned a lot during this time – specifically, that even during the worst of times, Orangetown is a great place to live because of the people that live here.
We watched our residents and businesses step up to donate – both their time and money - to help neighbors in need. The Town had more volunteers than we knew what to do with; they delivered food, medicine, masks, or anything else that we asked of them. We watched local organizations, such as the Rockland GAA, AOH, American Legion, the Nyack Center and the Pride Center, just to name a few, step up to establish food pantries, and residents – some of whose own businesses were struggling – volunteer to be on the Kickstart Orangetown Committee.
During COVID, the five Town Supervisors and Orangetown Village Mayors worked closely together, with a common goal of keeping our employees and residents safe and informed. It meant a lot to me to know that I could reach out to any one of them and ask for advice. I will be forever grateful to all of them.
Most important for me, however, was how the Town Board come together to work as a team. I am proud of the work that we did to keep our employees and residents safe. I am not shy about saying that I think we did an awesome job, especially how we handled the budgetary crisis and kept the budget under 2%.
Unfortunately, 2020 was not just COVID. In May, we had the death of George Floyd, which sparked civil unrest, protests and rallies, and resulted in Governor Cuomo implementing an Executive Order that mandated all municipalities to perform a comprehensive review of its police policies and procedures.
Then, in early August, Tropical Storm Isaias swept through NY and unleashed tornadoes, high winds, and heavy rain that resulted in extended power outages. The Town Supervisors were besieged with phone calls from distressed residents and seniors. Afterward, we banded together and complained to Governor Cuomo about the less than satisfactory response from Orange & Rockland. We have made it a joint mission to ensure that Orange & Rockland does better by the residents of Rockland County in the future.
Finally, just as 2020 was nearing an end, the residents of the Village of South Nyack voted to dissolve the 142-year old village.
Now that 2020 is finally over, I am looking forward to 2021 with hope, optimism and plans to do all that I wanted to do in 2020. This includes starting the Comprehensive Plan; installing an all-inclusive playground at Veteran’s Park; completing the Request for Expression of Interest for the HNA property; and working with the South Nyack Village Board to transition the Village to the Town.
I want to close with thanking you for placing your trust in me to be your Town Supervisor. It is not something that I take lightly and, while it has been a challenging year to say the least, I am proud of how we, as a Town, persevered. It has been an honor to serve you and I look forward to a much better, productive and healthier 2021.
(Supervisor’s note: while I wrote this before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, I continue to hope and pray that 2021 is going to be a kinder year to all of us).
Respectfully,