FORESTVILLE – With two controversial politicians heading up the major parties, this November’s general election day will be tense, to say the least. But Forestville residents will have one more decision to make (again) that day – whether or not to dissolve.

At Tuesday’s village board meeting, officials made available a “NOTICE OF REFERENDUM ON THE QUESTION WHETHER THE ELECTOR INITIATED DISSOLUTION PLAN SHALL TAKE EFFECT,” which stated that “On November 8, 2016 between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. the following question shall be presented to voters in the Village of Forestville at the general election:

“The voters of the Village of Forestville having previously voted to dissolve, shall the elector initiated dissolution plan take effect? Yes____ No____”

As Mayor Kevin Johnson read, “The elector initiated plan shall not take effect unless a majority of the electors voting vote yes to the question presented.”

In other words, majority wins, and there are only to options.

The recorded timeline of the Forestville dissolution saga is as follows:

Nov. 3, 2015: Residents of Forestville voted to dissolve the village into the town of Hanover. A committee was formed to make a dissolution plan.

June 14, 2016: Paul Bishop of CGR Solutions presented the comprehensive plan to residents and board members.

July 12, 2016: The village board adopted that plan with no changes. It was supposed to take effect Dec. 31, 2016.

Aug. 24, 2016: Those who felt it necessary to do so collected enough signatures on a petition to force a second vote, and submitted those signatures to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections for verification purposes.

Aug. 25, 2016: The Board of Elections verified that the required 25 percent of registered Forestville voters did indeed sign the petition.

Aug. 30, 2016: The board called for a public referendum to take place Nov. 8, 2016.

What happens in November – and therefore January – is up to Forestville’s voters. Will 2017 dawn on a village or a hamlet? If anyone would like more information before making his or her decision, copies of the dissolution plan are available at the Forestville Municipal Building, Anderson-Lee Library in Silver Creek, the Hanover town hall, and online at www.cgr.org/forestville. Past OBSERVER articles can be found by subscribers at observertoday.com; search “Forestville” and “dissolution.”