OBSERVER Photo by Natasha Matteliano Newly elected village of Cassadaga Mayor William “Bill” Dorman takes the reins.

CASSADAGA — Recently elected Cassadaga Mayor William “Bill” Dorman is ready to take on his duties finishing up the two-year term left behind by MaryJo Bauer.

EARLIER YEARS

For a few years, Dorman worked a couple different jobs, including his own business. He became interested in international quality standards in 1989, which influenced him to go to training and establish his own business with a partner in 1990. His business is a third-party auditing system, which includes a lot of travel.

Dorman served as Stockton Town Justice for years prior to becoming a part of Cassadaga’s village board. After those 17 years, he decided that it was time to back away from the court as he was traveling a lot with his other business. “I enjoyed it, I did it for 17 years,” he said.

GETTING INVOLVED

Dorman has resided in the village of Cassadaga for 56 years. He wanted to start giving back to the community that he has been a part of for so many years. When all of the Red House business and issues were happening in Cassadaga, he became interested in being part of the Zoning Board of Appeals. Unfortunately, against his hopes, he was only appointed as a ZBA alternate. So, he did not have much of a say in what went on.

However, Bauer’s resignation led to a Cassadaga village board opening. On June 7, Bill Astry was appointed by the other trustees to begin serving as acting mayor until the winner of November’s general election took office in December.

On June 26, the board was made whole again during a regular meeting, when Dorman was sworn in as a trustee, taking Mayor Astry’s vacant spot. To be sworn in, he had to resign from his position as alternate on the ZBA.

CLIMBING THE LADDER

Leading up to the November elections, Dorman had a personal conversation with Astry about running for mayor. Dorman asked Astry if he was interested in running for the mayor position and according to Dorman, he was not too interested.

“‘I’m doing less traveling now, all of my traveling is within driving distance for my clients. I might be interested in running for mayor,” said Dorman to Astry during their conversation.

Dorman says that he has freed himself up from his other work, leaving the courtroom and cutting down on clients at his other job, leaving plenty of time to worry about his duties.

PROJECTS STARTED

There are a lot of local laws in Cassadaga, dating all the way back to the 1920s. Dorman gave it some thought and decided to form a committee to repeal, amend or consolidate these laws, as some of them are irrelevant in our current day and age. “We had one from 1925 that was dealing with beverage control, which is now controlled by the Health Department,” said Dorman.

The new mayor is also excited to work with Citizens for a Better Cassadaga. “The CBC is a group that does a great job of thinking of programs that would interest residents,” said Dorman. “(The activities) include a lot of the citizens. I didn’t realize how much stuff they did until I became trustee.”

Being without a code enforcer for a decade, the village has a lot of catching up to do on code inspections. The village now has one, Wendy Spinuza. The inspections and reporting are expected to be completed in 2020. “Now that we’ve got the code enforcer, we need to make sure we get caught up,” said Dorman.

CASSADAGA PRIDE

“I think it’s a jewel,” said Dorman of Cassadaga. The mayor expressed much pride in the Cassadaga Beach and all of the gatherings and events that take place. Apparently this year a new couple moved into the village and have planned five triathalons to go around the lakes. Coming up soon will be a Winter Fest on Feb. 8-9 and a frozen lake dip in February.

The annual gun raffle held by the Cassadaga Fire Department is the biggest event Cassadaga holds every year. This past year, the whole village shuddered as a law was proposed that would ban gun raffles. “Most of their financing comes from the gun raffle. We’re hoping that (the proposed law in New York State is not passed),” said Dorman. “It is the single biggest fundraiser for the fire department.”

In general, Dorman expressed his love and gratitude for the village. “I’ve traveled around the world and have not found a place I would like to call home more than Cassadaga,” said Dorman. “It’s always been my home, we raised our kids here. There’s always been a great community in Cassadaga.”