Le Roy Politics

Our community has been in an state of chaos through all the speculation and theories of the ongoing problems of girls with medical issues, fear of our school having environmental issues that contribute, lack of testing, and the Superfund site that had not been properly taken care of playing a role.   People have become upset by the lack of communication at many levels.  

Tonight the is a joint Village/ Town meeting of the boards at the Village Hall (corners of Rt. 5 & 19).  Tomorrow night at the Town Hall there will be a joint meeting at 6pm. 

There is a open communication part that questions may be asked.  If you have any questions or concerns please attend.  Remember we are electing two Village board members and a mayor in March.

I would have to say that I was a little late joining the bandwagon of getting the pool back open.  But as they say better late than never.  I would first like to thank Mr. Spadaro and Mr. McGinnis for faithfully going to the meetings and being persistent  for getting them to listen to the offer.  They have acquired funding from private donors and been hard at work to keep this topic alive.  In this process the Village of LeRoy has officially rescinded the vote of the pool to close.  This leaves it not officially closed, but not open yet.  

They have worked very closely with both boards of Village and Town of LeRoy.  They started a Pool Committee.  They have had the Health Dept. out there to do a walk through inspection that was a bearer of great news.  The pool did not need many of those repairs to reopen.  In fact most things were cosmetic. Nothing a little time and elbow grease from volunteers could not fix.  Not saying other issues may not arise in the future.  

The funding that was acquired from private donors can be put in an account by the Town as a separate line item to be used as needed.  They also can add to that with any other donations that people collect or raise to be used for the upkeep and maintenance to help offset costs to the taxpayers.  

The Town Council is working on an agreement with the Village to lease the pool for a 5 year term. The Town will run the Summer Pool program just as it always has in the past.  Ideas for ways to work with other communities to bring kids in and different things were addressed in discussions.  They were going to weigh all options as to how to get pool up and running for next Summer.  They may have to start with just open pool hours and add the lessons back later on.  They want to get it back at the least cost to taxpayers.  

The Village had put an offer out to a non-existent group to purchase the pool for $1 and lease the land.  They voted on an option to a group that did not exist. They offered to still contribute the $11,000 they always had.  

As of last night at the Town meeting, the Town was going to work with Reed Whiting to tweak the details of an agreement that will make all happy.

Things are looking up for our Pool.  The kids in this Town and Village will have a safe place to swim and we will not have to worry about drownings or injuries from the creek.  

In a time when industry, jobs, and the future of LeRoy are all in question, there is vision.  Vision of what we have here, what can be, and the first steps to revitalizing Le Roy to the great community we are.  Here's to good things to come. 

Hopefully our Town and Village complete this agreement with out anymore detours in the road.  Next Village meeting is October 26th at 7pm.  Please come in support of the pool.  The kids of this community need it.

                In 2001 the Village of LeRoy adopted a Comprehensive Plan, the culmination of a community planning effort that began in 1991. The time frame for the plan was 2001-2013 to coincide with the children entering kindergarten in 2001 to the time they graduated.

                The plan called for an increase in the number of activities outside of school hours for the community’s youth and improved recreational facilities. Under the current Republican administration the Village Board has closed the community pool.

                The plan also called for maintaining the integrity of the Oatka Creek shoreline and expanding recreational opportunities like hand-powered boat launches and picnic areas. It also called for the village to “apply for stream restoration funding to stabilize the shoreline of Oatka Creek.” Former mayor Jim DeLooze did just that and received a $350,000 grant, but two years later the Village Board, under new  leadership, gave it back saying they didn’t want it.

                It is time for the people who are interested in the future of this community to hold meetings to get your input to update the Comprehensive Plan. When elected we will make sure everyone has a chance to participate and we will be the conscience of the Board in following the plan.

                We appreciate your vote on Tuesday, March 16 at the Village Hall.

(A copy of the Comprehensive Plan is available in the Town Hall.)

  We don’t think that everyone in the village of LeRoy is being represented fairly and equally. 

We are running for office for Village Trustee positions, because we believe in fair and equal representation.

We are concerned about a local law proposing that sidewalks be paid for by the adjacent landowner.  That’s unfair because: 1) not all people in LeRoy have sidewalks yet they have equal access to the existing sidewalks; 2) people who live on corner lots will be responsible for twice as much sidewalk as the average homeowner; 3) the law is discriminatory because the Village can come to homeowners demanding replacement of sidewalks without a reason why. 

Sidewalks are a community asset and should be paid for equally by the community.  On February 23, Senator Orrin Hatch, long-time member of the Senate Judicial Committee, said that it was unconstitutional to force someone to buy anything they don’t want to buy.  Furthermore, he said that if they get away with it, your rights are gone, and they can force you to do just about anything they want.

We agree with current Democratic Trustee Greg Rogers that we shouldn’t change the law and that we should fund the line item in the budget each year to repair and maintain the sidewalk system.

This is just one of our concerns about our community.  Please save these three dates:

·        Tuesday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Greens of LeRoy, 1 West Ave., for the Meet the Candidates Night, where you will be able to ask the

candidates questions;

·        Wednesday, March 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Village Hall to voice your opinion in the Public Hearing regarding the proposed sidewalk law;

·        Saturday, March 13 at 1:30 p.m. at Java’s on Main St. to meet us, your Democratic candidates.  Join us for coffee and cookies, and bring us your concerns about the Village of LeRoy, regardless of your party affiliation.

Jennifer Keys

Jim DeLooze

Thank you, Howard, for hosting our blog and for your patience and guidance in getting it posted properly.

After spending a couple of hours in the lovely, wet snow today delivering campaign literature I have a renewed respect for Postal Carriers. It's a seriously tough job slogging through the snow and up and down steps to deliver. I hope that you will take the time to read the campaign literature that is delivered to you and make an informed decision when you enter the polls on March 16 for the Village Trustee elections. The literature was hand delivered by someone going through the snow of their own accord without pay to get the information to you.

Wow, winter really does wreak havoc on political signs, doesn't it? I am glad I was able to be green and Reuse signs from the recent fall campaign. Needless to say, though, the recent spate of snow has slowed down the posting of signs so you will find that there are not as many this time around as there were in October/November.

As always please feel free to post you comments, questions, concerns, or contact me at keys4trustee@rochester.rr.com.

Thank you for your time and consideration.