Romanik retires from Silver Creek board
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SILVER CREEK -- There is now an open seat on the village Board of Trustees.
Steve Romanik resigned from his role as trustee at the most recent Village Board meeting for the purpose of retirement. He abstained from voting on any business in the village before making the announcement of his retirement during the trustees' comments portion of the meeting.
"The only thing I'd like to report is tonight is my last board meeting, because I'm retiring," Romanik said. "I would like to thank everybody on the board. It was a pleasure working with everybody, and it was quite the learning experience."
Romanik, a Republican, was serving his third term as village trustee. He was up for reelection this upcoming fall.
"Steve and I have been together for the last five years. He has been a driving force on the board and worked very diligently. I'm hoping we can find somebody with a third of the gumption that he had here going forward," Silver Creek Mayor Jeff Hornburg said.
Romanik thanked Mayor Hornburg for the work he has done as Village Mayor over the past five years. "I personally would like to thank Jeff as our mayor for the last five years. Sitting in the background watching all the work he does behind the scenes, it's just amazing. It should be a full-time position for the size of our municipality," Romanik said. "A lot of stuff goes unappreciated, but I really appreciate the things you've done."
A graduate of Dunkirk High School, Romanik attended Jamestown Community College and earned a degree in Criminal Justice. He completed his Police Officer state certification at the Sheriff's Academy, then began his career in law enforcement in 1993 with the village of Silver Creek Police Department. He currently works as a deputy with the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office.
Through his affiliation with the sheriff's department as a dispatcher, Village Trustee Marv Cummings had a professional relationship with Romanik on multiple fronts. Cummings spoke fondly of Romanik shortly after his announcement.
"I never really wanted this time to come," Cummings said. "Steve is not going to be able to be replaced, let's put it that way. He has done so much work behind the scenes, we talked every day. He has been such a trustee for the village taxpayers, a great friend, and I'm really going to miss him sitting next to me."
Trustee Sandra Lindstrom followed Cummings to also give thanks to Romanik for his service to the village.
"Steve, I would like to say thank you for your dedication to this board, to the village and to the community," Lindstrom said. "I do believe you are going to be sorely missed. Enjoy your retirement."
The village will now seek a trustee to serve out the remainder of Romanik's term until the end of the year. The position will be listed on the ballot this upcoming fall for a full two-year term.