Crowd turns out for Revitalize Keeseville's fourth meeting

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January 23, 2012

SHAUN KITTLE Press-Republican The Press Republican Mon Jan 23, 2012, 02:28 AM EST

KEESEVILLE — The room was abuzz with excitement for the fourth Revitalize Keeseville meeting.

Nearly all of the 60 seats in the AuSable Grange Hall inside were occupied as unofficial leader Steven Englehart welcomed the crowd.

"There are a lot of concentric rings of people who love this place," he said of the Village of Keeseville. "I think one of our biggest challenges is going to be to continue trying to tap that and bring those concentric rings into what we do."

Englehart went on to mention email he had been receiving from people who live in — and outside — Keeseville, who have heard about the group and like what it is doing.

His words seemed to energize the crowd.

'NEEDS TO RUN'

Before the meeting really got rolling, Dale Holderman, owner of the Village Liquor Shoppe, announced that he will be running for mayor, providing he can amass the 50 signatures required to get his name on the ballot.

If Holderman succeeds, he will run on the Community First Party line.

He was one of the community members instrumental in launching the Revitalize Keeseville movement and has attended every meeting. So he felt it was the perfect place to announce his possible campaign.

"I think we are trying to change the overall attitude of the entire village," he said. "But I don't think of Keeseville as a village; I think of it as a community, because the people that come here are from all over the place."

He said citizens need a government that will do more for them than provide services such as snow removal and roadwork.

"I think there are a lot of road blocks right now for new businesses to start up in Keeseville and that there are a lot of things we need to move forward with," Holderman said.

"I am running out of necessity. I feel that I need to run."

ROCK WILL RUN

If Hoderman does run, he will be facing competition. Mayor Meegan Rock, who attended the first revitalize meeting and took part in a subcommittee meeting to bring a farmers market to the village, said in a separate interview that she will seek re-election. If elected, it will be her second term as mayor.

"I have heard I will have someone running against me, but I don't want to comment until the documents are in and it's legitimate," Rock said.

She said she supports the Revitalize Keeseville movement and hopes it continues working to make the village a better community.

PRESSING FORWARD

Following Holderman's announcement, Revitalize Keeseville got down to business. Members agreed that they should become involved in Rock's initiative to study the effects of dissolving the village into neighboring towns of AuSable and Chesterfield.

They also agreed that if the village does dissolve, Revitalize Keeseville should still press forward.

And pressing forward is what the rest of the meeting was about.

Some of the participants of the Revitalize Keeseville movement have committed to working groups to investigate and determine the viability of various projects. Every meeting, each group reports its findings to the entire assemblage.

Feedback is then welcomed.

At the latest meeting, one working group reported that the village has agreed to allow a farmers market at Riverside Park; still to come is a vote from the Adirondack Farmers Market Cooperative to finalize the details.

The website group reported that it hopes to have a site up and running by early spring. The Buy Local Committee discussed ways to promote local products, noting that 85 percent of money spent at local businesses stays in the community, while only 15 percent spent at big box stores does so.

STUDENTS PARTICIPATE

Kevin Hulbert, principal of the Keeseville Elementary School, said he has started a "principal's challenge" so his students can get involved, too.

"I wanted to get them thinking about what they like about Keeseville and what they would like to see changed about Keeseville," Hulbert told the group. "It's great because one day, they will hopefully become active community members."

"I am excited to see people get together like this," said Chris Maron, executive director of Champlain Area Trails.

The Champlain Valley has fewer trails than anywhere else in the Adirondacks, he said, and he would one day like to see a system link all of the towns in the region together.

"When people hike or bike through an area, they spend an average of $355 in an area a day," Maron said. "We want these trails to attract people to local businesses and to help locals get outside, too."

Revitalize Keeseville, which has seen both new and familiar faces at every meeting, will reconvene at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, in the AuSable Grange Hall in Keeseville.