She has served the Village of Spencerport as mayor for five years, but Joyce Lobene recently made the difficult decision to resign her post following the onset of medical issues which necessitated her moving from her home in the village to a new home just outside the village line.
“I miss very much being there and working with the people of the Spencerport community,” Lobene says. “I really feel bad – I feel lost without being able to go there (the village hall).”
Lobene was honored Thursday, July 31, for her service to the village during a reception at the Spencerport Exempts Club.
Dave Spencer, chairman of the Spencerport Fire District Commissioners, tells the Suburban News that Joyce “always worked well with the fire district and the Firemen’s Association. She gave us support to achieve our goals.”
He noted that the fire district and village government “work very well together. You don’t always see that. We share our facilities and they help us out when we have problems.”
The Lobene family has played an active roll in the Spencerport Fire Department over the years. Spencer says Joyce’s two sons are members as is a grandson. “Joyce has always been an avid supporter of our organization, herself,” he says.
He also credits Lobene for her enthusiasm and ability to get things done for the village.
“She worked hard to support village businesses and in developing the canal-side. She had a vision of what she wanted to do and did what she could.”
Lobene says she is grateful for the support she has received from the community during her time as mayor.
“I appreciate how they have stood behind me,” she says.
The little, everyday accomplishments are things of which she says she is proud as well as her work with New York State Canal Corp. Under her tenure, the village took “a larger part in the canal, that was very important,” Lobene says.
Also during her administration, the CSX railroad bridge over Route 259 (Union Street) was removed and a new Tops Friendly Market opened in the Village Plaza. Both projects had been high on Lobene’s list of what she hoped to accomplish when she was first elected mayor.
Over the years, Lobene worked as co-chair of the village’s first economic development group under Mayor Clyde Carter and was also instrumental, along with former Mayor Bob Kincaid, in getting the Clyde Carter Memorial Gazebo constructed along the canal front. “That was a very good thing,” she says. Lobene says she is also proud of getting Spencerport designated as a stop on the annual “Cycling the Erie Canal” bike tour across New York State.
Brockport Mayor Margay Blackman asked Lobene to administer the oath of office when she was sworn-in as Brockport mayor in 2013.
“I asked her because she’s very collaborative and was interested in what our two villages might do in promoting the canal,” Blackman says.
“I got together with her when I was a trustee and talked with her about how she got Tops into Spencerport, as we were trying at the time to entice a supermarket into the vacant Ryan’s Big M,” Mayor Blackman continues.
“She encouraged me to get involved in NYCOM (New York Conference of Mayors) and attend their legislative session in January,” Blackman adds. “She has been a model for reaching out to other mayors and a very active and enthusiastic member of the Monroe County Association of Village Mayors.”
That “outreach” work is another facet of her job that Lobene says she regrets having to give up. “I will miss representing the village very much,” she says. “I will miss seeing people everyday.”
Trustee Glenn Granger has been appointed Spencerport Mayor to replace Lobene. A special election will be held in March of 2015 to elect a new mayor.
Photos by Walter Horylev
