An open letter to the citizens of Windham

To the editor:

It is with great thought and support from my constituents that I announce today my decision to run for the office of Supervisor of the Town of Windham.

I have had the great honor of serving our town and the taxpayers of Windham as Councilman for the last 15 years. I would like the opportunity to continue this great work and help guide the planning for the future of Windham as the Town Supervisor.

Throughout my four terms as Councilman, I’ve attended over 400 hours of classes, webinars and seminars hosted by New York Association of Towns, New York State Comptrollers’ Office, New York Attorney General’s office, New York Planning Federation, and Government Finance Officers Association. I have acquired hands on working knowledge of ethics, governmental accounting, rural town planning, fiscal reasonability, town law, and open meetings laws. Most importantly, I’ve always made myself available to the community to answer any questions.

I presently sit on various Town of Windham committees such as Audit (reviewing and monitoring all town finance issues), Catskill Watershed Towns Executive Alternate (advocacy group to the Catskill Watershed Corp.), Buildings and Grounds (operation, repair, replace, and restoration of all Town Buildings including the new Windham Highway Garage), Ambulance Committee (interact with Ambulance Administrator on all fiscal issues), Communications Committee (web development, IT and computer support), Hazard Mitigation Committee to Greene County, and Governors Office of Storm Recovery (NY Rising finding, planning, administering and distributing grant funds for eligible projects).

Since assuming office on January 1, 2004, I have supported and helped to guide our community through many adversities. One of the most notable being the construction of a major town infrastructure project, the Sewage Treatment plant, in conjunction with The State of New York Dept. of Environmental Protection. Building the Treatment Plant required creating a sewer district with connections throughout the town and ultimately, the total revitalization of the infrastructure on Main Street. Additionally, I have supported our community and the work to diligently rebuild after the 100-year flood that damaged C.D. Lane park in 2006, 2008’s ice storm, the 60+ inch snowstorm in 2010, Hurricane Irene followed by Tropical storm Lloyd in 2011, as well as the loss of a prominent Town Leader.

These experiences, the lessons that have come with them, and the pride I have in our community is why I am the right person to serve as your Town Supervisor.

If elected, these are the issues or areas I would continue to focus on:

Since 2009, Windham has operated one of the only complete advanced life support agency in the county (the Village of Catskill also began operating a similar model two years ago). Currently, we are in the initial planning stages (first figure financing options and now the design phase) of building a new facility to house our ambulances and personnel. I will focus on ensuring our continued commitment to provide the best municipal Emergency Medical Service in Greene County.

Presently, the Town of Windham is involved in a $7.5 million dollar fresh water infrastructure project, which will expand the district and replace outdated main and service lines, while integrating a much needed, new water purification system in Hensonville.

Windham was once the model for economic and town infrastructure development in Greene county. The growing pains of new commercial and residential development projects in the recent years has forced a very reactive approach to solutions and it is my goal to shift the focus to a more proactive planning approach – ultimately, putting our community “ahead of the game” again rather than playing catch up. I will also continue to advocate the need to access land use or form based zoning.

Don Murray

Hensonville