Holley mayor sees many successes in village

Posted 5 June 2018 at 9:13 pm

Editor:

The Village of Holley election is fast approaching – Tuesday, June 19. I strongly feel residents have a clear choice in front of them. I am the current mayor and seeking the privilege of a second term. Here is a brief summary about me:

• My family has lived here since 1980

• Graduate of Holley High School

• My current profession is Vice President of Engineering for an Engineering/Construction company

• I have been in the consulting engineering business for over 25 years

• Village of Holley Planning Board Chairman for 8 years

• Chaired the Comprehensive Plan Committee

• Chaired the Holley Revitalization Plan (BOA Step 1)

• Village Trustee for 3 years

• Village Mayor for past 2 years

I am running along with two other current trustees; Connie Nenni and Kevin Lynch who are also seeking re-election. Connie Nenni has 7 years total experience as Village Trustee (non-consecutive) and also served previously as Clerk Treasurer for about 4.5 years. Kevin Lynch has been a Trustee for 4 years and has also served as Deputy Mayor for the last 2 years for me. Over my first two years as Mayor, your village government and staff have accomplished many things for the taxpayers:

• We have created a Local Development Corporation (LDC) to acquire the 8 residential homes affected by the Diaz Chemical Spill. These homes were given a clean bill of health by the EPA, conveyed to our LDC put up for sale, and are now sold to individuals and back on the tax rolls.

• We have obtained over $4.5 million in grants to fix approximately 1/3 of the village’s crumbling sidewalks and water system.

• Obtained planning grant of approximately $300k, for the Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Step 2 which will help plan for our future and encourage new business in the village.

• Currently applying for Bridges and Culvert grant, approximately $900k to replace the undersized bridge on Veterans Memorial Drive and minor road widening to allow trucks to turn into the Industrial Park. A nice side benefit is that the trucks won’t be hitting our bridge anymore as well!

• We have worked successfully with a developer over the last 3 years to make the Holley Gardens Project a reality. This is a $17 million dollar project, planned to renovate the old Holley High school into 41 senior apartments and a relocated, handicap accessible Village Office. Construction should begin in the Fall of 2018.

• Let’s also talk about taxes – over the last two years we have worked diligently on the budget to plan for the necessary spending for all departments and maintaining services to the village taxpayers. However, throughout the year, we exercise good judgement and work with the supervisors to make good spending decisions, and that has resulted in two straight years of a budget surplus which is now helping us plan for these infrastructure projects. This current year I am proud to say we were also able to keep the tax rate flat!

Please note, I state that these are things “YOUR” village government and staff have accomplished….this is not about me, these objectives are being achieved because we are all dedicated to working together towards a common, unbiased goal of simply creating projects and improvements to the village that make it a better place to live and do business…period! This is real progress!

We need to keep this progress going! Please vote on June 19, 2018 to re-elect the team that has brought this progress to the Village of Holley through hard work, cooperation and dedication.

Please vote to re-elect: Brian Sorochty for Mayor, Connie Nenni for Trustee, and Kevin Lynch for Trustee.

Thank You!

Brian Sorochty

Mayor Village of Holley