Ferguson vows to move village ‘forward’
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New Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson offered some insights into his governing philosophies at his first regular Board of Trustees meeting, opening it with a short speech.
It's clear Ferguson tries hard to recognize the efforts of others -- the first part of the speech consisted of him doing so.
"I want to take a little liberty to thank some people before we get into the business of the village," he began.
"I want to thank the people that are here tonight, and the people that are watching, for your interest and participation in your village government -- and thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you for the next four years.
"I want to thank former Mayor Doug Essek for his term as mayor, and before that his term as trustee. Mr. Jim Lynden (also a former trustee), who's with us tonight, has served this community for over 14 years, and we thank (him) for the time and all the commitment that he's put into the community, and we're glad he's still here as a resident. Mr. Dave Bird, who served two years (as trustee), and our... three returning trustees, but two that were there before, Trustee Nicole (Siracuse) and Trustee Michelle (Twichell), and thank you for your services to this community, we appreciate it.
"I also wanna thank the DPW, Embrace Fredonia, Denise Szalkowski, and so many other local businesses and residents, for the wonderful Christmas decorations this year. It was great to see the community lit up and we got a lot of compliments on it."
Switching focus, Ferguson then asked village residents to give their government and its employees the benefit of the doubt.
"During my time here in the community, there has been a lot of criticism of departments, of people, of trustees, of former mayors, of current mayors, and all
those things," he said. "I'd like you to keep in mind the fact that this is done out of love for the community. Everyone here, whether you agree with them or disagree with them, are here to make the community better than it was yesterday. And that's it. There's nothing nefarious going on, there's nothing that is behind the scenes. We don't have time for it."
He continued, "What my vision as I ran for this community -- was when we're in this room, party affiliation stays out there. You don't make decisions based on what party you're in. I'm not saying that's been done. But I want to assure you that the people sitting at this table are here to continue the good work of past mayors and just take it another step forward.
"As my father used to tell me, there's a reason why the windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror. You have to be able to move forward as a community. So I thank you for that opportunity."
Ferguson went on to again thank village employees and trustees for their service. "We are here at the will of you, we are here at the will of the people and we are here to serve you," he concluded of Fredonia's government. "I hope I can speak for all the trustees, which I'm sure I can, we will be proud to serve you for the time we are in service."