Dwyer shares ‘State of the Town’

Warwick Town Supervisor Jesse Dwyer recently issued a State of the Town address through the town’s YouTube page, reflecting on the many challenges and accomplishments he and the town handled in 2024.

“One year has passed and I am extremely proud of the work the town board and I, along with our amazing staff, have done for the town of Warwick. The job has proven to be extremely challenging yet rewarding beyond words,” began Dwyer as he addressed assembled members of the community, the town board, and viewers of the live feed on the town’s YouTube channel during the scheduled live presentation.

Dwyer summarized some of his team’s initial accomplishments during 2024, which he termed “a good snapshot of our collaborative efforts by our board and staff to improve Warwick for the years ahead.” These include the following:

• Invested more than $1 million to pave more than seven linear miles of town roads as well as paving projects at three town parks;

• Won grant funding for the nearly $4 million Jayne St. Bridge replacement project in the Village of Florida;

• Finalized an application for nearly $20 million in grant funding to rehab the Wickham Sewer District’s treatment plant;

• Won a more than $1 million grant to upgrade infrastructure, handicap accessibility, and facilities at Airport Park and Mountain Lake Park;

• Won grant funding to install automated external defibrillators at each town park that were previously without state mandated AEDs;

• Completed a town-wide cardiac arrest management plan for town parks and collaborated with local sports programs on a uniform safety plan;

• Established a partnership with a local business to offer recreation opportunities on Wickham Lake;

• Distributed $150,000 to each of the town’s villages to support local parks;

• Upgraded Town Hall’s phone systems and internet to fiber optic;

• Strengthened the short-term rental law, generating more than $100,000 in fines and violation fees;

• Strengthened the film permit laws and processes, generating more than $100,000 in film permit fees in 2024;

• Launched the “Clean Streets Committee”;

• Continued the tradition of hosting Orange County’s largest free senior BBQ;

• Distributed more than $400,000 in grants for police department technology enhancements and equipment upgrades, and two junior police academies for area kids;

• Instituted a new policy of police checks of every town park during every patrol shift;

• Provided support for police officers and the department through an unpaid police chaplain and police physician;

• Broke ground on the grant-funded “Bike/Hike Trail” connecting two major park systems within the town;

• Addressed the state’s unfunded mandate to perform lead service line inventories of local water systems;

• Integrated a new well in the Pine Island Water District to eliminate longstanding violations for that district;

• Managed two natural disasters including a micro blast and the state’s largest wildfire in nearly two decades;

• Added farmland into the agricultural protection overlay district.

“We had a very aggressive year of infrastructure improvements, youth and senior citizen support, park enhancements and land preservation in 2024, and 2025 is planned to be even more aggressive,” continued Dwyer. He then outlined plans for the upcoming year, including the use of technology to evaluate and score all town roads that will eventually be available online.

Here is a list of goals for Warwick’s future shared by Dwyer:

• Additional paving projects for 2025 using $900,000 allocated from the budget;

• Increased funding for youth;

• A capital project for all long-range funding needs that will be made available to the public;

• A comprehensive parks master plan re-write;

• An investment of more than $2 million in upgrading our parks this year;

• Enhancements to all water and sewer districts through grant writing;

• Begin live streaming all public meetings, including planning and zoning board meetings; in addition to the currently streamed town board meetings;

• Complete major efficiency improvements in the building department which will include greater public access to information and building needs;

• Complete the nearly $5 million worth of FEMA-funded bridge and culvert projects to reduce flooding and compromised roadways;

• Paving of Route 94 by the state, and integration of a roundabout at the intersection of Route 94 and County Route 1;

• The eventual opening of bids for the design and construction of Jayne St. Bridge toward the end of 2025;

• Collaborate with Orange & Rockland on a substation improvement project;

• Reactivate the Warwick Conservation Board;

• Expand the PDR program to more than 5,000 acres of protected open space within the town of Warwick.

Dwyer described these activities and plans as the “result of collaboration and commitment by so many.”

“Warwick is an incredibly special place,” he said. “Our challenges are vast but our potential is unmatched. Your town board and I will continue doing everything that we can to keep Warwick affordable, strong, clean and bucolic. It will not be easy but I assure you, it will be worth it.”