Owego Family, I wanted to take some time to write to you as summer is winding down. We at the village have been busy the past few months. The village board was able to pass our new budget and stay under the 2% tax cap; we came in at a 1.8% increase, even with the challenging inflation and rising costs. We have held our sewer rates steady for four years now, with no increase. Around the village, things have been busy.
If you are looking for the village offices, you may notice we have moved. Our new location is 22 Elm St. We recently finished our new municipal building, which now houses the Clerk’s office and Mayor’s office, both previously at 178 Main St., as well as our DPW office staff and Code Enforcement. The new building also includes a bigger meeting room for board meetings or any other village meetings, handicap accessibility, and parking. This building was 100% funded from a grant received after the 2011 flood and no village tax money was used to construct the building. The Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, or GOSAR, completely funded the design and construction. We hope you stop in and check out the building soon.
All of our board meetings continue to be held in a hybrid fashion, the new room is set up for this and we feel that it improves transparency as well as offers easier public participation. They are available live on go to meeting video conferencing software, available on most any device. The links are on our webpage and on each agenda. After the meeting we also post the recording of the meeting to YouTube for viewing, so be sure to subscribe to our channel.
The Owego Police Department organized and ran a very successful National Night Out at Marvin Park. Chief Kennedy worked very hard to pull together a great event for the community. Events like these really showcase our efforts in community policing. There were many highlights to National Night Out, which included all emergency services, not just police, but fire, EMS, the Tioga County Sheriff’s Department, and the New York State Police, A touch a truck event, helicopter landing from Guthrie, and many activities for children. The Chief is planning another Village Appreciation night like we did last year in October with a bonfire so look for more information coming soon on that.
We had a great summer for swimming; the Marvin Park Pool has been getting quite a bit of use. The last day of swimming was Aug. 26. This year all of our usual summer festivals returned, hopefully everyone got out to enjoy some fun times.
With fall around the corner as a reminder, leaves do not have to be bagged, simply raked to the berm area between the sidewalk and the road; DPW has a truck that can vacuum them up. If you prefer to bag them they ask that you please use the brown paper bags instead of plastic. We will also be re-paving a number of roads this fall.
All of our village-owned DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) projects are well into the design phase and some are approaching having construction bids out very soon. These include a repair of the clock tower on the historic central fire station, improvements to the riverwalk, draper park, and the walking trails along the Owego Creek, a new “art park” in the vacant “pit” on North Avenue, re-connecting the street lights on the Southside of the river to work once again, re-paving and re-configuring the public parking lots downtown, and improvements at Marvin Park. All of these projects will be funded through New York State at 100%, and have no match from the village tax dollars.
Stay safe and well everyone.
My name is Richard Bearse and I live in Newark Valley. On Monday, Sept 2, 2024 @ 2PM I was picking up an order at PriceChopper in Owego, New York. While there my wife overheard about a half a dozen people at the Customer Service Counter all trying to communicate with the employee behind the counter. NONE of them spoke a lick of English and were using translation apps on their phones to talk. Being that I spent twenty (20) years in the military with permanent and temporary assignments around the world, it was OBVIOUS to me that these people were from South America an MOST LIKELY Illegals!
At 2:12PM I used my cell phone (utilizing hands free with my ear buds) I called 911 to report their presence. I gave my name & reported what I saw. I also stated that both Tioga and Broome Counties declared (a long time ago) that these counties are NOT SANCTUARY COUNTIES, Illegals WILL NOT BE TOLERATED HERE and that the police needed to challenge the individuals at PriceChopper. I then hung up. (As I said… I had already identified myself by giving my name).
After returning home at 2:36PM, I called the Police Non-Emergency number and identified myself (again) as being the caller on the 911 call @ 2:12PM. I asked if the police had acted upon my 911 call, but it was apparent that they had not. I asked why this was so and this is the snide remark I received: “Sir… How do you know they were Illegals?” I answered “Give me a break! They did NOT speak a lick of English and were using translator apps in their phones to speak to the store employee.” I did not think to mention the fact that I am a military retiree with over 20 years of service experience, but that should not matter at all.
To become a citizen and LEGAL, an individual (male or female) is required to understand and speak English or be BORN HERE! Just because the Federal Government gives them transportation here (one way or another), the state of New York hands out drivers licenses and PRE-PAID CREDIT CARDS to these Illegals DOES NOT make them LEGAL!
But I digress… Their purpose in being here is irrelevant. Just being here AT ALL is the PROBLEM. The main points and questions concerning this are:
1. Who let them come here (this is NOT a sanctuary county)?
2. Why are they being tolerated IN THIS COUNTY?
3. Why do the police seem “unconcerned” about this?
4. Has the polcies made by both Broome and Tioga Counties changed (and no one has been made aware that they have been changed)?
5. Should all of us in Tioga County expect to see MANY MANY MORE in the future?
6. Are these Illegals going to be allowed to walk around with guns and machetes (like they do in New York City & other Democratic Party run areas) while actual AMERICAN CITIZENS are being threatened with the confiscation of their LEGAL weapons?
I wish to ask the Tioga County Administrator, the Tioga County Sherriff, the Mayor of Owego, and the Owego Chief of Police to answer these questions for ALL OF US who reside in Tioga County.
A VERY CONCERNED Citizen,
Richard Bearse
389 Wilson Creek Rd.
Newark Valley, NY 13811