Local politicians look back on 2012 and ahead to 2013

12/31/2012 (Updated 6:48:24 PM)

As 2012 draws to a close, several area leaders reflected on the year that was and the year ahead.

Johnson City Mayor Greg Deemie said that continuing to deal with the flood of 2011 was the main issue the village dealt with.  But the recent approval of buyouts is a step in the right direction.  Monday he told us his New Year's Resolution for 2013, a year that already shows promise.

"New Year's Resolution for the village?  Let's work together, we can do this," Deemie said. 

"I see some good things coming up in the year to come.  Like I said, our big grant program will be moving forward a little better.  Things will look good on Main Street, see what else we can do down there, we've had some investors come in and buy some buildings down there.  So things are starting to look on the up and up."

Along with flood recovery, JC's 2013 will see contract negotiations, a new fire chief, and several property assessments.

Vestal town Supervisor John Schaeffer reflects on his first year in office.
 
Schaeffer says he has been making an effort to cut the town budget, and he will be looking at consolidating departments.  He says he's trying to support the library system, parks, and highways. 

"I feel I accomplished quite a bit this first year.  It's been a struggle," said Schaeffer.  "I think we're going to do some changes for 2013 to keep cutting [the budget] down.  We'll have a look at other revenue sources and keep things in perspective for the next year."
 
Schaeffer also says he plans on meeting with the governor to try to get the town more state funding to help recover from the 2011 flood.

The Town of Union is also focused on flood recovery.
 
Town Supervisor Rose Sotak says that their town's New Year's Resolution was to bounce back completely from the 2011 September floods.

However, the main focus for 2013 is the economy.  She believes they can do that with a change in code enforcement.

"Working to bring businesses in they're going to be stepping up code enforcement, we're going to be going at a little bit of a different pace on code enforcement with the help of modern technology because I think if you want to bring businesses in and have businesses recruit employees you have to have a place they can call home," she said
 
Sotak also says that she wants to focus on keeping the tax dollars down for citizens.