Commencing 2015...

I want to start off this height of Winter newsletter by focusing on the great celebration we are getting off the ground this Spring and Summer: Our town’s 250th celebration of its founding. Here are a few of the events we have planned:

-Founders Day Parade by the Willsboro Central School on June 8

-Founders Day Golf Tournament June 20

-Founders Day Fourth of July Fireworks at the Cornell Research Farm (Farrell Road) July 3

-Founders Day Fourth of July Parade conducted by the Willsboro Fire Department

-2nd Annual Battle of the Boquet River Trail and Kayak Race July 11

-Founders Day Ball & Dance at Noblewood Pavilion July 11

We are looking for volunteers who would like to help with these and other events. We are also looking for groups and floats to participate in the 4th of July Parade. Additionally we would like to have Willsboro families march in the parade to honor and highlight the famlial history that has made and built our community during its history. Each family would march in the parade and carry a sign with the family name and the year the family came to Willsboro. We would like to line the marchers up from the earliest to the most recent. Please contact Justin Drinkwine at Town Hall to volunteer or sign up to participate.

Willsboro, Essex, and the Willsboro Development Corporation are working to take advantage of the Governor’s latest initiative to finance broadband access in the State. We are hoping to very soon secure grant financing to provide fiber-optic broadband to all residents of Willsboro and Essex towns. Enclosed with this newsletter is a survey that can be either mailed back or dropped off or be done online. This survey will help us immensely to show that we need broadband in our town. Please help and respond so we can make our case for financing with the State.

I hope you have noticed recently that we are having a number of town sponsored events in and around our parks. We have held a haunted trail event, moonlight snowshoeing, and a Winterfest sports event at Foley Park to name a few. We are now planning a pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt on Saturday April 4th at Noblewood pavilion. The breakfast is donated and the Easter egg hunt will feature some “Golden Eggs” with starter savings accounts donated by Champlain Bank. Keep watch on the town website and the facebook page for further details.

Summer is approaching, believe it or not, and we are looking for applicants for our Summer Camp counselor positions and Town Park Rangers. Please come in and fill out an application. This Summer’s program is going to be a great one. We are also accepting applications for the attendance at the Summer Camp. Applications can be picked up at Town Hall.

It has certainly been an interesting winter. It is the second winter in a row that Lake Champlain has completely frozen over, an occurrence that has become a rarity in recent times; ground frost seems to be going deeper than usual this year and damaging several water mains; and we have seen a lot of use of Foley Park ice rink for recreational skating and some informal hockey league play.

I hope that everyone will take a chance to thank our highway and water crews. Though we have had not had many deep snows, we have had many long and persistent storms that kept our highway crew on the road around the clock for days at a time.  We have had a number of water main breaks around town in this persistent cold. Once a break is detected the water system operators are on a tight clock to get it repaired and back in service in order to avoid a boil water order. These breaks always seem to come on a sub-zero night. The crew has to work in the dark, in the cold, and in wet and muddy conditions.  I think they are all doing a heroic job.

As always I welcome your thoughts and opinions. Please feel free to call, write, or come and see me. Better government exists with more public feedback. Look forward to hearing from each of you.

At your service, Shaun Gillilland