Message from Tuxedo Town Supervisor

As we face this difficult time I wanted to reach out and let you know what the Town Board and very dedicated Tuxedo employees are doing to respond to this crisis. Right now, we are in emergency mode, learning how to work remotely, how to continue to serve our residents, and protect all we cherish. Under the guidance of our President, Health Officials, and a collective Town Board decision, we are putting into effect the strategy of social distancing, and encourage everyone to heed the call to isolate themselves with those we love. For most, the only testing right now is to self quarantine, and I expect if we work together we will ease the burden on our dedicated healthcare workers who must stand in harm's way.

Our Police are diligently on duty responding to calls. Our volunteer firefighters continue to answer the call. Our EMS will be there to help get us through this. Protective gear is hard to obtain. We need to ensure that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed. We MUST work together and obey the directive to stay home.

The Presidential Executive order asks for everyone’s cooperation. We will be able to respond to looming problems when the virus transmission has been curtailed and those of us who may be infected can be treated.

Town Hall is CLOSED until further notice. That may be a week, two weeks, I really can’t say. Our Justice Court staff has done everything possible to maintain our ability to process the hundreds of issues they face each week. Donna Mathews and Marissa Dollbaum, our Town Clerk and Deputy, have been diligently working keeping our Town business going and supporting our Board. Our financial staff, Brian Sullivan and Assessor Jim Davies have continued to work to keep us financially stable and responsive. Shari Brooks has set up our phones and website so that we can operate from anywhere. Deborah Villanueva, Dave Maikisch, and Michelle Reed in the Building Department are working hard to keep projects moving forward. Rob Dollbaum and the Highway Department team continue to work to keep essential operations functioning that go well beyond our streets and parks.

I’m proud of the work our Councilpersons are doing. We’ve been communicating everyday, continuing with webinar meetings and identifying alternative ways to function. Dave McMillen is scouring contacts to find critical resources. Deputy Supervisor, Michele Lindsay and I are in almost constant contact. Councilpersons Maria May and Jay Reichgott are working to keep us all together, finding new ways to communicate, while we all figure out next steps in an ever changing environment. I’m sorry this message can’t recognize all the individual efforts that are happening to get us through this. It takes a “Town” to keep us together. I know that no words could possibly capture all that’s being done.

A reopening of Town Hall will require that sanitary safety procedures are in place and that we have the ability to maintain a safe working environment. We have contacted professional cleaning companies. The estimates to “sanitize” are expensive. Without a sustaining strategy for maintaining a healthy workplace that effort would be ineffective. So, for at least the next 14 days, stay isolated as best as you can. Be patient with each other. The new “I love you” is demonstrated by washing your hands, sharing your resources, and by trying to stay calm.

I love Tuxedo and I can’t wait to have our ‘Family Fun Day” celebration together when this is behind us.

Our Tuxedo team hopes to continue to update you via our website, through phone conversations, webinars, and whatever else we can identify to keep us together. I sincerely hope that every one of us gets through this and that we all can look back with pride on how Tuxedo responded to the call.

I am committed to trying my best.

Ken English