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Cherry Creek official wants smooth dissolution process

The town of Cherry Creek is in the process of taking over the village.

CHERRY CREEK — William Young has lived in Cherry Creek for 64 of his 66 years, and he’s still enjoying life there.

His grandfather was the town supervisor for two decades and his uncle filled that role for many years, as well.

This is Young’s fifth year as the town’s leader, so it goes without saying Cherry Creek means the world to him and his family.

“I’m not an expert, but I love Cherry Creek,” he said. “I’ve been all the way around the world for work several times and … it’s my home, and I love the people, I love the area.”

Young and the rest of the town board must take on the monumental task of folding the village of Cherry Creek’s municipal affairs into its own. That’s because village residents made their collective voices heard when they overwhelmingly voted on Feb. 2 to dissolve their government.

The official tally was 81 in favor of dissolution and 32 against, according to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections; that’s nearly 72 percent wanting change.

With so much of his family history invested in the area, Young does not want to do anything negative to Cherry Creek. If anything, he wants to see it thrive — before and after the village’s dissolution.

“It might have to be factual because of something that hasn’t been done or because of something that needs to be done, but I’m not going to do something to hurt the area,” he noted. “It may take some hardships up front because the budget might have to change, but we have to look at that. We don’t have that yet.”

Although the dissolution process “post-vote” is still in its infancy, Young pointed out he has had several long conversations with CGR Project Manager Kent Gardner, who is the village’s consultant for its dissolution study.

No deadline for the village’s dissolution has been set in stone yet, Young mentioned. Once a plan is put in motion, an official transition date will take effect. However, that plan could take months to formulate.

According to Young, Gardner is aiming to have a plan completed by April 3, with a public hearing on that plan to be held May 14. That is all tentative, Young reiterated, as the village board must still vote to retain Gardner as its consultant after the Feb. 2 referendum.

Cherry Creek may not have a workable plan yet to incorporate the village into the town, but Young said he is “of course” willing to facilitate the absorption and get the ball rolling on the process “in a positive fashion.”

“We’re going to be working closely with our accounting firm, and when the village turns over their budget, we’ll work with that and see what we can do to get things going forward,” he added. “Three out of the four of my town board (colleagues) are longtime Cherry Creekians. One is a new, fresh face and he’s really great, and then my highway superintendent has lived here his whole life also. They’re all dedicated Cherry Creekians and we want to do what’s good for the community and the constituents.”

The OBSERVER reached out to Acting Village Mayor Bruce Hendricks to get an update on the process from the village side. In a voicemail, he explained the process is still in the studying phase. After the study is complete, it will be brought before the residents during the public hearing. Voters will then decide if they like the plan during another referendum.

Whatever the dissolution plan ends up being, Young pointed out Cherry Creek’s cherished history will not fade into the woodwork.

“The village isn’t going away,” he said. “The village will still be there, it’s just that level of government is gone.”

Email: gfox@observertoday.com. Twitter: @gfoxnews

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