Election day March 20

Spencerport Mayor Theodore Walker, Trustee Theodore Rauber and Trustee Tim Peer will each be unopposed in their bids for another four-year term in village elections Tuesday, March 20.

All village residents registered to vote with Monroe County are eligible to participate. Voting will take place from noon to 9 p.m. at the Village Hall, 27 West Avenue.

Mayor Theodore Walker was appointed to the position in January of 1999. He was a village trustee for more than five years, after serving four years on the planning and zoning boards.

A Spencerport resident since 1971, Walker and his wife, Shery, live at 129 Maplewood Avenue, and have three grown daughters. He has worked at Eastman Kodak Company for 33 years as a project engineer in the central engineering group at Kodak Park.

Walker said the past two years have been critical to the organization of the village. "We’ve made some needed changes to our staff," he said.

Part of that process included creating a village administrator position in March 2000. Walker said one regret he has in his two years in office is losing former village administrator Gina Tojek, who resigned in August of last year. Tojek had served the village for over 18 years. Her final year was marred by public controversy over the creation of the position, her appointment to that position and her salary.

"The village was in her heart the whole time," said Walker. He said village trustees benefited from her experience and caring. "She had a much better feel for what the village needed and was always setting standards higher for the village employees … helping the board of trustees to look higher."

During his tenure as mayor, Walker said the village board has made great strides in shoring up the village’s infrastructure, including: new sidewalks, maintaining and repairing the sewer collection system, upgrades to the electric system and the completion of the first phase of the water project which included a new water main on Lyell Avenue

"We’ve looking at the financial health of all of our utilities," Walker said. This year, the village enacted a 10 percent electric-rate increase for current operating costs and upgrades.

Walker said he is proud of the way the village worked with the United States Postal Service for the new post office, and on new canal development. He said social events in the village, like the gazebo concerts and the Lester C. Merz Park dedication, were very successful. "We had a strong turnout and we’re very pleased to see that," he said.

Important ongoing projects include an inter-municipal agreement with the towns of Parma and Ogden, concerning Northrup Creek, he said. "We’re working on better storm water management … to decrease the potential for flooding," Walker said.

Walker said the village will also continue to work with the Rotary Club on their skateboard park project, and with the new IGA grocery store going into the village. "We want to show them there’s some support here," he said.

"I want to be more involved with the business community," Walker said, "making sure we keep stores full and businesses are prospering."

Possible ways to do this could include re-examining zoning laws and fees levied by the village, working with the Spencerport Area Chamber of Commerce and its new economic development committee, and working with the Fingerlakes Regional Planning Council, Walker said.

Over the next four years, Walker said he and the village board will, "Continue to work on the infrastructure … to maintain its health both physically and financially." New projects include the replacement of Main Street lamps, and the next phase of the water project. He said he hopes to see more long-term planning.

"The board of trustees has been working on setting our own priorities," Walker said. He said the reorganization of the government was partly meant to free trustees from daily business matters. This will give them more time to work on broader planning issues, interact with other local, county and state legislators, and secure funding.

"We want to get a dialog going to find out what residents want," he said. He said he hopes to find a method to get, and use, residents’ input in planning.

"I want to maintain everyone’s positive attitude about Spencerport," Walker said. "Spencerport is a great place to live and a great place to do business."

Trustee Theodore Rauber has been a village board member for the past four years. A process technician at Eastman Kodak, he lives at 46 Ballard Avenue, with his wife, Linda, who owns Spencerport Insurance. He has one daughter, Rhonda, who lives in New Jersey, and son, Kevin, who lives in the village.

Rauber spent two years on the village planning board, is a two-time past president of the Spencerport Kiwanis Club, and has been a co-chair for the "Cartons for Christmas" program, supporting the Ogden/Spencerport food cupboard for the last 13 years. He is a graduate of the Ogden Citizens Police Academy.

"I like working with people," Rauber said, and he serves on the Village Board "for the gratification of seeing a community grow."

He said he considers canal development one of the most important achievements during his tenure on the board, along with improved roads, and bringing the village office into the computer age.

Rauber said he also feels the studies on, and improvements to, the village’s infrastructure are critical accomplishments which need to continue. He said the new architectural review board process is another step in the right direction. "It maintains the character of the business corridor," he said, preserving the "canal-town" feel.

He said he feels the village is doing a better job of improving shared services with the Town of Ogden by meeting regularly and sharing information.

In his next four years in office, Rauber said he would like to see even more improvement along the canal. "I would like to see the fireman’s heritage museum become reality," he said. He said he would like to see an electric franchise with a sustained hydro-electric price, and the sewer treatment plant readied to handle growth.

"Spencerport residents have come to expect a quality of life and that is important to me now," Rauber said.

Rauber targets the East Avenue Corridor as an area in need of improvement. He proposes the village study the feasibility of opening up the village plaza to the east. At this time traffic enters and exits the plaza from Route 259 only, which he calls a "bottleneck."

"I think it would be good for plaza, businesses and community to open up a pedestrian, or possibly vehicular passage on the east side," Rauber said. Possibilities could include anything from a roadway, to a walkway or bike path to Hickory Hollow, he said.

Trustee Tim Peer was appointed to the board in February 2000, and was re-elected to finish the last two years of a four-year term the next month. Peer, 64 Lyell Avenue, works in the fire and emergency services department at Eastman Kodak Company. He has served on the village zoning board, and is a member, and past-president of the Spencerport Volunteer Fire Department.

"I’ve really enjoyed my first year on the village board," Peer said. "I consider it both an honor and a privilege to serve in that capacity."

Along with the work on the village's infrastructure, which he agrees is crucial to the village’s future, Peer said, "One of the things I feel particularly good about it is the village employees. Whether they are answering phones in the office, out plowing the roads or working on the electric and water systems, they are doing a tremendous job. They are the most valuable asset we have."