By Martha B. Jacob –

Sardinia Mayor Greg Cassidy spoke briefly to members of Sardinia Council regarding accomplishments in the village in 2016 as well as plans he hopes to accomplish in 2017.
“I am very happy with all that our village accomplished last year,” Mayor Cassidy said. “We got a lot done including new heating and air conditioning and new insulation  for our administration building as well as a new phone system.
“We got dash cameras in our police cars, we’ve cleaned up some things in the village, bought the old abandoned gas station so now we can take care of it. We completed the Wilson annexation, negotiated a better electric rate and we’ve paid off our dump truck and administrators vehicle.”
Mayor Cassidy mentioned several successful special events including the Memorial Day Ceremony, the Car Show, Sardinia Remembers 911 and the Haunted Glow Run.
“We did have some disappointments last year,” he continued, “We had our street levy fail and we hate the time lag there has been on our annexations.
“Myself, our administrator Tim Mock, fiscal officer Karen Miller and police chief Jim Lewis sat down together and made a list of what we would like to see this village accomplish in 2017. I know it looks quite ambitious, but I believe we can make these things happen in 2017.”
On the list was the mayor’s recommendation to place the failed street levy back on the ballot in November deeming it very important.
Other issues on the 2017 list included:
• Completion of all annexations;
• Procure funding for the sewer extension;
• Bring all water/sewer customers into compliance;
• Demolish and re-purpose the old gas station;
• Develop a marketing plan for the village (suggestions included more signage on Rt. 32, a village website and a facebook account);
• Add additional fencing at the village cemetery;
• Arrange to do a smoke testing at the sewer plant;
• Update all village staff job descriptions;
• Initiate performance reviews;
• Ear mark funds for capital replacement (equipment, vehicles, etc.);
• Redo curbs and sidewalks on College Avenue, hopefully obtain grant funds;
• Identify and replace failing culverts in the village;
• Replace windows and old plumbing in the administrative building.
“We tried to name everything that comes to mind,” Mayor Cassidy said. “But if anyone here can think of anything I may have missed, please bring it to my attention.
“These are the basic things we want to accomplish in 2017 and I look forward to these challenges this year.”