Lake rescue is new board's first official act

First of many challenges, By Bill Lemanski MONROE - Barely within one hour of being officially sworn into office last Saturday, newly elected Village Mayor John Karl III and new Trustee Wayne Chan, along with Trustee Steven Maneri, responded to an emergency on Walton Lake. While canoeing on the lake, high winds flipped over Goshen resident Bonnie Gaither. When attempting to rescue Gaither with their boat, Harriman resident Michael Williams and a 15-year-old companion also capsized. According to State Police Sgt. Bruce Furbeck, they went in the water about 800 feet from shore and were in the water about 10 to 15 minutes. Gaither was in the early stages of hypothermia. Both she and the youngster were later treated at the Arden Hill campus of Orange Regional Medical Center in Goshen. Williams refused medical treatment. Karl dashed to the scene from village hall, driving the Monroe Fire Department’s dive truck while Chan drove an ambulance. Karl is a former Monroe fire chief and president of the Orange County Fireman’s Association and Chan is a member and former president of the Monroe Ambulance Corps. The Lakeside Fire Company and State Police also responded. Water-borne rescue was the first of many challenges facing the newly installed village board. The rising cost of fire-fighting services resulting from the replacement and duplication of fire equipment, coupled with diminishing volunteers, has encouraged local officials to investigate consolidating the region’s historically independent fire companies. Karl has been an avid supporter of a joint fire district. Creation of a fire district is an ongoing challenge the board will be contending with - the village being one of three key players. Last year, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services analyzed the Village Police Department and concluded that the department needs five more officers to meet the village’s growing demand of service calls which increased 47 percent from 5,869 in 1994 to more than 12,480 last year. Adding five additional officers would add about $250,000 to a budget that now totals slightly more than $2.6 million. Karl said during the campaign that he will pursue a reevaluation of the police department administration and staffing in an effort to place more officers on the street. Newly elected Village Trustee Charles Lesser proposed during the political campaign that the hiring of parking meter readers and the establishment of a village court could offset the costs of adding additional police officers. The village currently relies on the Monroe Town court. Lesser said the village currently receives only one to two percent of court revenue from the town. According to the latest statistics compiled on the Orange County Web site, the village population has grown 16.61 percent during the 10-year period from 6,672 residents in 1990 to 7,780 in 2000 and is still being built-out. Despite the population boom, loss of village center business activity to the outlying mega-stores has been an ongoing problem in recent years. Long-time village establishments such as the Smith and Strebel hardware business and Ross Lumber have closed. The Monroe Theater was razed and replaced by a rusting, partially completed eyesore with a questionable future. To mitigate the declining business environment, the newly elected board members have pledged to support and work more cooperatively with village merchants to revitalize the downtown area. Lesser, owner of Monroe Jewelers, also is a member of the village merchants association and will be representing both organizations for business improvement and town center revitalization. In other business, the new village board appointed Peter J. Scrobe to fill the vacant trustee position. Scrobe was previously a Village Trustee from 1972 to 1998 and will retain that position until a March 2007 election. The village board also appointed Maneri as deputy mayor and contracted Monroe attorney Stuart Greenberg to advise the Zoning Board of Appeals. He replaces former ZBA attorney J. Bennett Farrell.