Property owner donating land for rescue squad building

In News, News - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer
November 23, 2022
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By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

The town is looking to construct a new building to house the Greenville Rescue Squad. The squad has outgrown its current facility, pictured. File photo

GREENVILLE — A local property owner has offered to essentially donate a five-acre parcel of property to the town for the construction of a new rescue squad building.

The town council voted unanimously at its Nov. 21 meeting to approve the contract.

“The person has property on Irving Road,” Town Supervisor Paul Macko said. “They want to donate five acres of property for the town of Greenville to build a rescue squad building. They are basically donating the five acres for $1, and we will cover all the closing expenses.”

The town declined to identify the donor at this time.

The Greenville Rescue Squad and the town penned a five-year contract on Nov. 9, which included plans to construct a new emergency services building to house the rescue squad. The town had been considering using a plot of town-owned land behind the Greenville Public Library, but Macko said the Irving Road site is better situated to house the new structure.

“It’s great news and it will now free up that property behind the library where we were thinking about putting the rescue squad building,” Macko said.

“It would have been a tough place to get in and out in times of emergencies, especially with parking at the library,” Macko continued. “I think the Irving Road property will afford us much safer and quicker conditions to get in and out.”

Following the contract signing Nov. 9, the town council also established a Building Committee consisting of Town Councilmen John Bensen and Will VonAtzingen representing the town and a couple of rescue squad members to work out the details of the project.

Construction of the building is expected to cost between $750,000 and $1 million, Macko said at that meeting.

The preliminary concept for the building are for the town to possibly build a modular structure with three bays in the garage to house the squad’s ambulances and for a flycar, but the project’s parameters are still in the very early stages.

The $1 deal for the five-acre site on Irving Road will “solve a lot of problems” for the town, Bensen said.

The size of the site is suitable for the building, Macko said.

“It’s a wonderful gesture and it is solely for a rescue squad building. We can’t do anything else with the property,” the town supervisor said. “It’s 310 feet of road frontage and goes back about 650 feet, according to our mapping with Greene County Real Property Tax Service. There should be plenty of space there for what we need to do.”

“I think it’s a nice gesture and it goes a long way to getting us started,” he added.

Town attorney Tal Rappleyea said he will start the process for acquiring the property.

“I will order the title search right away and as soon as it comes in, we can have the closing,” Rappleyea said.

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Body, Mind & Spirit Connections: In the blink of an eye…

In Health & Wellness, Health & Wellness - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer
February 2, 2023
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By Pat Larsen

For Capital Region Independent Media

Headshot of a female named Pat Larsen
Pat Larsen

Life. Changes. No warning. No clues. One minute to the next and the shift comes swiftly.

Subtly, it happens. The wind whispers to the clouds, the clouds drift from near to far sharing the news and the day is then done. Yet, the world continues to turn.

LIFE… ends. LIFE… continues. LIFE… is never quite the same from second to second, but we act as if it never will change or we wring our hands and lose the moments of presence that are the gifts. Then they’re gone, too.

This is how impactful the passing of Bob Beyfuss was to me. I read his last published column recently, grasping for meaning, looking for the hopeful metaphor, hoping it was not what I knew it was… the end. I wanted to hit rewind, go back button, delete and rewrite, but alas I couldn’t escape this reality.

The story about his passing, as shared with me, spoke of the glory of his last moments. My gut reaction was, “Good for you, Bob!”

What I was meaning was something more like, if I could pick how to make my exit from this world, THAT would be pretty high on my list… at the top of the game.

I’ll let that part of the story be for now. His family deserves that bit of privacy. After all, I’m just a stranger to them. A fellow columnist to Bob.

We’d see each other at the local grocer’s. He, always that popular guy who was stopped in every aisle by someone.

People were drawn to him. His quiet demeanor and soft smile always found my eye as I passed by. Always a nod of acknowledgement to each other. A gift really, that he gave to everyone he crossed paths with.

An angel on earth, he was. To be a magician with the soil and the offerings from Mother Earth, he never failed to give his knowledge with such kindness and generosity.

Like most anything that is impactful, the news of his passing was introduced by his image on a social media post. Oh… “Hi Bob” was my acknowledgement as I scrolled aimlessly through Facebook a few days ago… but then I backed up and stared in disbelief as I saw the banner of the tragic news attached to his handsome image.

Nooooooo! Not Bob. But alas, it was his final story. My heart sank, my focus shifted, my thoughts became consumed with the realities of LIFE… the fragility, the message that haunts us all, but we forget to acknowledge.

I will miss you, Bob. I will miss your columns, seeing you around, knowing you through stories. But… I have to also THANK YOU, BOB, for the reminder that LIFE… changes, without warning, with no clues.

The wind will continue to speak of you and share with the clouds, who will then drift off to say someone important and who had a significant role in this time on earth has moved on but taught us many things.

TODAY is the gift…that’s why it’s called the PRESENT. Always remember that. BOB did and left us that reminder.

Pat Larsen lives in Greene County, teaches fitness programs and helps, she hopes, making some kind of impact to those who get stuck in their troubles. Please feel free to contact Pat at pelarsen5@aol.com.

BOE to put $37.6M school budget to the voters

In News, News - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer
April 17, 2025
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By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Source: Greenville Central School District

GREENVILLE — Voters will head to the polls May 20 to vote on a $37,644,226 school budget for the 2025-26 academic year.

The board of education voted April 7 to approve the proposed budget and will next put it before the voters. All members of the board voted in favor of the proposed budget with the exception of board member David Finch, who voted against it.

The $37.6 million proposed spending plan is a $1,657,855 increase compared to the 2024-25 school year, or 4.61%.

The state mandated tax cap for the budget is 1.83%, meaning if the district were to go above that increase, it would need to be approved by a supermajority of voters.

“The overall budget that we are proposing in terms of the budget increase is 4.61%, and the tax levy to support that is going out at the tax cap, which is 1.83%,” Assistant Superintendent for Business Todd Hilgendorff told the board at the April meeting.

The 1.83% proposed tax levy increase is lower than the hike voters approved last year, which came in at 2.5%.

The proposed spending plan represents a tax levy increase of $341,160.

The tax levy accounts for 50.43% of the budget’s total revenues, with state aid providing 44.03% of the revenue. Greenville is projected to receive an increase of 9.45% in state aid this coming year compared to the current school year, though at press time the state budget was late and had not yet been approved.

The next step in the process will be the annual budget hearing, scheduled for May 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Greenville Middle/High School Library on Route 81, where local residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide input into the budget.

Then it will be up to the voters. The budget vote and board of education election will be on May 20, from 1-9 p.m., in the Scott M. Ellis Elementary School cafeteria on Route 32.

In addition to voting on the budget, voters will elect two members to the board of education. The terms of sitting board members David Finch and Jay Goodman will expire on June 30. Both seats are three-year terms that will expire in June 2028.

Anyone interested in running for the board should contact Daphane Pearson in the district office at pearsond@greenvillecsd.org or call 518-966-5070 ext. 501. All materials must be submitted to the district office by April 21, at 5 p.m.

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