Dear Editor,
It’s time to set the record straight. I am not against hiring police officers but would like to have total background information first. We also have a public safety committee working on solutions to the OPD situation. Let’s wait for their recommendations before we hire officers and pay them to “ride as second” while they attend the academy. Let’s do it once and do it right.
I have never been an advocate of shoddy politics but recently my opponents have resorted to this method of campaigning. In her recent letter, Phoebe Morris referred to votes taken to disband the Village Police Department (OPD) on Dec. 12, 2012 and Feb. 12, 2013. In searching the minutes for Dec. 12, there was no agenda item regarding OPD and therefore no vote; I also checked two meetings before and two meetings after this date and the same was true.
On Feb. 12, 2013 I was not on the Board of Trustees. The only mention of OPD in these minutes was a shortage of full time officers; obviously the problem existed at that time also.
Morris also previously mentioned that the Village Board fired the temporary full time officers when in reality their contract expired. The Board voted to hire them back for up to one year at $25.00 per hour (she stated $15 per hour for 3 months).
While I was Chair of the Facilities Committee, we worked long and hard to take advantage of a grant to fix up 90 Temple St. This was a matching grant and we could not find the needed funds in our budget to take advantage of this grant. We did accomplish the most necessary repairs. That fall we had the flood of 2011 and had to start over. The condition of the building is better, but still not adequate for our needs.
We have had two major upheavals in the Owego Fire Department. Through many hours of hard work these problems have been solved and our Fire Department is stronger than ever. Our EMS is also strong and running very well, and is vital to our Village.
We are fortunate to have our public safety departments. Working with DPW Superintendent Soules, we did some rearranging of his budget and schedule and repaired 10 Village streets last summer and plan to repair 10 more this summer. We worked together to come up with this list and it proved to be a successful project.
We are also working together with the Mayor to repair the Evergreen Cemetery bridges. We are actively seeking bids for this project as we have a time limit to take advantage of a grant.
Last year NYSEG hired a tree surgeon to trim branches that were creating a problem with our wires. These trees now look like “giant slingshots” and are an eye sore to our community. Our hope is that NYSEG will take these trees the rest of the way down and we will replant at that location. Sad to have to do this! These trees are located in the “Flats” area and many visitors to our Village travel these streets to attend events at the schools and Community Center.
We need to put our best foot forward on these streets as well as Main and Front Street. All the streets belong to and are part of the village. I am also interested in “sprucing up” the North Avenue gateway to the village. The stairs around the underpass are in sad disrepair and hopefully we can work with the state DOT to fix them when they undertake the planned repairs to the underpass. This possibility has been approached with DOT.
It has been a privilege to be Ward 3 Trustee for two terms and I thank the voters for this honor. If reelected I will continue to work just as hard for the next two years to keep our beautiful village on the right track for the years to come.
Sincerely,
Ann Lockwood
Candidate
Third Ward
