Council members look ahead

Ogdensburg — As Ogdensburg’s Borough Council took shape for the new year, members offered their thoughts on what they’d like to see happen for the borough. Eric Wood, who is the council’s police commissioner, said he’s looking forward to the council’s continued efforts in reducing expenditures and finding ways to increase revenues. To this end, he’d like to see the town look into using municipally-owned property as designated “redevelopment areas” or zones that might “attract businesses and ratables to the borough.” On that same subject, Councilman Michael Blahut said, “Currently, there is no tax revenue coming from this land and if developed properly and managed through an auction or bidding process, the borough could receive a substantial windfall from the sale of the property and the tax revenue in later years.” Safety concerns Two related areas of concern for the council members, and likely to be addressed this year, includes providing safe routes for school transportation and sidewalk improvement. “I hope that I can utilize the sidewalk study that was done in 2009 to apply for additional federal funding that can be used for construction costs of a sidewalk that would traverse from Ogdensburg Elementary School along Route 517,” said Blahut.