Middleburgh Residents Asked to Help in Strategic Plan at Four Workshops

MIDDLEBURGH - Middleburgh residents will be questioned this summer on several important issues to help complete a strategic plan for the village.

Patty Paser, a member of the village grants committee, has spear-headed the effort.

Grants committee representatives will be at four events this summer to get information from residents. There is also information about the plan in the village's spring newsletter which was included with the May water and sewer bill.

Last year, the village failed to get funding for a new strategic plan because state funding ran out, but luckily Ms. Paser has stepped up to donate her time to draft one.

Ms. Paser, a Grove Street resident, noted that the village comprehensive plan was completed with the town in 2015. A comprehensive plan is more of a long-term vision while a strategic plan is a short-term guide and would identify items listed by the community by importance and need.

She plans to engage the community through surveys, interviews of certain local groups, booths at local events, phone interviews, community forums, and a survey, possibly in a village newsletter. The village sent a survey out two years ago asking residents to identify the major issues facing the village. Ms. Paser said she will use the results of that survey in her strategic plan.

A strategic plan is important in helping the village secure state and other grants.

She said she hopes to complete her research by the end of August and to have a final plan to the village board by November.

According to the spring village newsletter, the plan "will develop and prioritize our community's goals for the next five years as we begin more aggressively seeking state and federal grant funding for projects here in Middleburgh." Mayor Tim Knight encourages every village resident to participate in the project, "as your feedback is going to shape these goals and our strategy for working towards them."

Four interactive workshops have been scheduled. They are open to residents, business owners, students, and neighbors.

The workshops will be on:

* Thursday, June 4 from 10 to 11:30am at the Middleburgh fire house.

* Saturday, June 6, from 2 to 3:30pm at the fire house.

* Tuesday, June 16, from 6 to 7:30pm at the fire house.

* Saturday, July 11, from 10 to 11:30am, at the Middleburgh library.

You can visit villageofmiddleburgh.com/residents/strategic-plan/ for updates and workshop information.

The interactive workshops will ask attendees to select five areas of priority from a list that includes: Main Street, Middleburgh's economy, housing, quality of life, village infrastructure, flood resilience, environment, open space, recreation, community identity, transportation, and walkability.  

Ms. Paser, a MCS graduate and former teacher, is doing the plan at no cost to the village.