Silver Creek Mayor Nick Piccolo took the time earlier this month to state the board has no plans to dissolve the village and is doing its best to dig out of a hole created by previous administrations.

We’re glad to hear that village officials are “working hard,” but the reality is it’s not up to the board if the village dissolves or not.

It’s up to the residents.

In 2010, New York state passed the N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowering Act, which provides a new process for citizens to petition for a public vote on dissolving or consolidating local governments.

A village resident simply needs to download the petition, get a least 10 percent of the number of registered voters (20 percent if there’s less than 500 voters in the municipality) and file the petition with the village clerk. If there are no problems with the petition, the village board must schedule a referendum in the next 60 to 90 days and then it’s up to the village residents.

If the village board wanted to dissolve, the village officials could start the process, but that’s not what happened in Forestville. Residents decided they’d had enough and took the matter in their own hands.

Silver Creek residents could do the same. Just download the Citizens Guide to Petitions from the New York State government website by going to www.dos.ny.gov/LG/publications/CitizenGuidetoPetitions.pdf.