From the Supervisor ...

TOWN OF CLARENCE: STATE OF THE TOWN 2008
FOUNDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

We build our future, one person, one action at a time. We build foundations.

Our representative Town government, however imperfect, continues to rise to do good for the Town. Madeleine Albright recently wrote about America's optimism and resilience. Albright quotes Paul Tillich, who wrote: "There is something astonishing in American courage . . . . A person may have experienced a tragedy, a destructive fate, the breakdown of convictions, even guilt and momentary despair: he feels neither destroyed nor meaningless nor condemned nor without hope. . . . The typical American, after he has lost the foundations of his existence, works for new foundations. This is true of the individual and it is true of the nation."

This is also true of our Town Board. We continue to lay new foundations. We have strengthened an already strong Town Board. We believe in controlling sprawl. We believe in good government practices - such as performance based budgeting. We believe in acting in a non-partisan manner in the best interests of the Town.

As a result, the state of our Town is strong. Recent examples of Town government action were the windstorms of January 10, 2008, and January 30,2008. We were in constant communication internally and with NYSEG and the news media to ensure that our residents had the most recent information. I commend Highway Superintendent Ted Donner and his crews for immediately acting upon the storm damage. I also thank the Senior Center, its volunteers, and our Disaster Coordinator Dave Bissonette and his assistant Dave Baumler for activating Shelter 1 at the Senior Center during our last power outage.

To further demonstrate our foundational strength, I will now take you on a tour of Town to keep you apprised of our activities.

HIGHWAY: We have been reimbursed approximately $1.2 million for the October 2006 storm. Although road maintenance costs have increased by approximately 8 percent per year due to the rise in oil prices, our Highway Department anticipates road resurfacing Nottingham Terrace, Ledge Lane, and Arondale Drive; and road rebuilding of Green Acres Road.

PARKLAND & GREENSPACE: We will be working on the mini-master plans for parks. We have preserved approximately 338 acres of greenspace at a cost of $1.9 million of the $12.5 million authorized to preserve greenspace.

BUILDING & ENGINEERING: We are looking at solar panels for energy as we are mindful of making Town buildings environmentally friendly. We are working with FEMA on updating our flood plain maps. We continue our talks with the County, Amherst, and Williamsville regarding sewers to hopefully alleviate environmental concerns and reduce costs by approximately 20 percent.

YOUTH & RECREATION: We hope to take occupancy of the new Youth Bureau building shortly. There has been a marked increase in Youth and Recreational participants. For example, our Youth Volunteer program saw an increase from 24 participants in 2006 to123 in 2007.

PLANNING: We had another banner commercial year as the Town realized approximately $.5 million net revenue from new commercial development. Also, we continue to derive a positive impact from residential housing permits issued in accordance with our Master Plan.

TOWN BOARD: We continue to keep overall Town spending under the rate of growth and inflation. We are undertaking performance based budgeting and staffing plans to ensure we remain a visionary, proactive government. We are also looking at the feasibility of a community building to bring together youth, seniors, and others. We hope to involve nonprofits in the fundraising, design, and occupancy of such a building.

There is no doubt in my mind that our Town, our community will continue to remain strong as we continue to build upon the foundations we have carefully planned. We are laying the foundations for the next 200 years.