Mayor Meg Grenier

I would like to say thank you to all who have expressed your appreciation of this column. It is an easy way to keep the residents informed of what I am doing and what is happening around Menands.

I had an opportunity to visit a couple more businesses. Paul Reuss and I were given a tour of the Capital District Child Care Coordinating Council at 91 Broadway. The transformation of the building was very impressive. The Council now occupies the entire facility and the work they do reaches far beyond the Menands borders. The Capital District Child Care Coordinating Council is a non-profit organization serving parents, employers and child care providers in Albany, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties in New York State. It is a resource and referral agency, providing resources to the community by improving the availability and quality of child care, and a referral service counseling parents seeking child care. Our tour guides could not say enough about the commitment of the owner in making great efforts to keep the council in Menands as they were preparing to move elsewhere. This building is another example of pride in ownership that is being repeated along Broadway and we hope the trend continues and every business puts forth the same efforts.

I also joined the Menands Fire Dept. in a walk thru drill at the Sewage Treatment Plant off of Simons Lane. This drill was attended by Menands, Schuyler Heights and West Albany Fire Depts. The drill was to share with the firemen the operations of the Plant in an effort to educate them in case of an emergency there. I was impressed by the comments and questions of the firemen and felt that this drill was beneficial to not only the fire depts. but also to the workers at the Plant. Some great ideas were passed around to help improve response to an emergency. It was very interesting to see how the facility operates and I thank the Menands Fire Dept. for letting me tag along.

Our Village Court has a new Acting Village Justice. After conducting interviews from interested parties, Village resident Bob Becher was appointed to the position. Bob, an attorney since 1977, worked for the Rensselaer Co. DA’s office and is now in private practice, as well as a Special Prosecutor in Rensselaer County. Bob will be an asset to our Court and we welcome him to our team.

The semi-annual Business Breakfast was held this month with many new faces attending. I gave an update on the things happening around the Village and introduced our Economic Partnership Director, Bill Giering to those in attendance. Bill gave a brief presentation on his role and what he hopes to accomplish in Menands. Bill stressed that a partnership between the Village and the businesses will benefit us all and looks forward to meeting with business owners. The next Business Breakfast will be held in the fall.

I was pleased to work with a fund raising committee, made up of members of various organizations in Menands, to host a breakfast in support of a 4 year old Menands resident who has cancer. The generosity of the organizations, local businesses and the residents was overwhelming and the breakfast was a great success. It is events like this that makes Menands the wonderful community that it is. Thank you to everyone for your consideration.

Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Please keep in mind those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country while you enjoy the holiday weekend with your families.

Until next time,

Mayor Meg