Hamlin supervisor recounts first months in office

Other than having his car "vined," Town of Hamlin Supervisor Denny Roach said his first few months have been an interesting learning experience.

Overall, Roach said, the first months have been better than he expected.

"As the new guy, I came to the job with some trepidation. I didn't know what to expect but I've been impressed with the attitude of the people I work with and with their levels of expertise," he said. "Both the community and the office staff have been very accommodating to me."

He said every day is still a challenge but it's more fun than he thought it would be.

Roach said he is still learning. "Every day is a learning experience," he said. "I'm fortunate that I am retired and can devote full time to this job."

He said if he worked part time, as the position is intended, getting up to speed would be an even bigger challenge. "I'm sure I will be learning as I go until the day I leave office."

Prior to his being elected, the town board was looking into the possibility of disbanding its water district with the Town of Kendall and making a change to Monroe County Water Authority as the governing body for water services. Following his election, Roach was dropped into the middle of an ongoing project. "The water issue was certainly something I would have invited but it was a great opportunity for me to get involved," he said. "What I really wanted to do was make sure the people knew the facts, what was going on and why we were doing this."

Roach said the water issue gave him an opportunity to demonstrate his philosophy to the people by keeping issues out in the open and being responsive to their questions and concerns.

Other than the water issue, Roach said the biggest challenge so far, has been trying to keep the residents happy. "It's sometimes hard to listen to people's concerns and not be able to immediately address them," he said. "I make every effort to resolve concerns but I don't always have the authority to make it happen as quickly as I'd like."

The best part of his first months, he said, has been the people. "I work with a great group of people who are willing to work hard for the residents. They do a great job every day for the people," he said. "Everyone is devoted to the town and that is one of the most satisfying parts of being supervisor."

Now that the getting adjusted period is behind him, one might wonder if he thinks the job will get easier. "I think it's going to stay a challenging position," he said. "I think parts of the job might become more routine, but I think serving the community will always be a challenge."

Roach said there are a lot of big ticket items that he would like to see come to fruition. "They might not all happen, but I'd like to see if we can make progress on satisfying some of the projects I have in mind," he said.

Among those he'd like to focus on is putting more work into the comprehensive master plan. "We're going to also look into the zoning review process and try to make some of the procedures a little less onerous. We'd like to see it be more customer/user friendly," he said.

He'd also like to see enhancements to the community center, the construction of a sewer district on the lake front and would like to see enhancements to some of the buildings within the town which have become eyesores.

Town officials have also voted to combine two part time positions for fire and code enforcement into one full time position. "We will be advertising for a full time employee to fill the combined position," he said.

Roach thanked the community for coming to him with their questions and concerns and helping him through his transition period. "I've tried to be very open and accessible to the residents since I took office," he said.

As for the "vining" of his car, Roach said during a meeting with the conservation board the issue of wild grape vines that were choking out some of the trees was raised and was going to be looked into. "A day or so later someone came to the office and asked if I was trying to camouflage my car and I looked out and someone had taken a grape vine, stuck it in the tail pipe of the car and draped it over it," he said. "We all had a good laugh at that one."

Roach also thanked neighboring supervisors from the Towns of Clarkson and Sweden for their help in the learning process.

April 30, 2006