2018 was a busy year in Warwick town government. Winter as always presents challenges for the largest town in Orange County with over 220 lane miles of roads. Our Department of Public works responded as usual keeping the roads clear so that residents could get to work and have ready access to emergency services if needed. Once the weather broke our skilled workers renovated the bathhouse at the town Beach and built, with monetary contributions from the GWL Lions, a new bathroom facility in our Winstanley Park. Road resurfacing also took place but was hampered by unprecedented, but now common heavy rains. Infrastructure projects included the repairs of the Jayne Street bridge thanks to a grant from Senator Bonacic.
Our transportation department settled into their new building and continued to offer services for a fee to neighboring municipalities now dispatching the Town of Wallkill system as well as providing management for Monroe and Wallkill. Both shared services provide income for our town which offsets costs to our taxpayers.
Our Police department continues to keep us safe, maintain its community policing policies and increase the level of training as well as professionalism of its officers. With the terrible incident in Parkland Florida we worked closely with Warwick, Florida and Greenwood lake school districts to immediately provide officers at all schools in the Town and signed agreements to provide this security for the foreseeable future. Keeping our kids safe is a major priority for our community.
Our farmland preservation program continues its success with over 4000 acres protected all still productive and all still paying taxes. Our farmers continue to innovate and bring great value to our local economy. With continue to receive 50-75% of acquisition funds through Federal & State grants.
The community2gether visioning process launched several follow up efforts that were identified – clearing of the Waywayanda Creek and the planning for a 2019 “three lake festival” celebrating our three Villages. We also launched a coordinated calendar app called Burbio.com which allows residents to follow government, school and civic organization events of your choice.
Fiscal restraint is a top priority of this board and new efforts to generate revenue were also completed this year. Two new cell carriers signed on to the Rt 94 cell tower and the town agreed to locate a new tower on townland at the former MOCF- all will provide steady income. We also signed an agreement to purchase our streetlights, convert them to energy-efficient LED’s and save thousands in electricity costs in the years ahead. Joining with Orange County we submitted a shared services plan to the State that will also provide savings for our Town.
The Warwick Technology park had a burst of success in 2018 when Citiva medical purchased land and began construction of a 60,000 sq foot facility to produce medical cannabis. Kraftify, a successful craft brewer also began renovation on a building to bring their production facility to the site and the “Yard” was purchased by world-renowned soccer star Christian Fuchs soon to reopen this January. Work has begun with the OC IDA to create a business accelerator in a public-private partnership to launch new businesses into the corporate park. These exciting developments will be a game-changer in 2019.
I want to thank our Town employees for their hard work and dedication, our residents for their shared vision of what Warwick is all about, and this town Board for their diligence in the job they do for this great town. We look forward to much progress and improvements for our town in 2019.
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