Town Supervisor Elect and Current Town Councilman Rob Smith (right) pictured with his wife, Town Councilwoman Elect Elizabeth Smith (left).

KENNEDY – Rob Smith is making plans for when he officially assumes the position of Poland town supervisor in January.

Smith stated that he has been hard at work developing a six-point plan to help continue the great progress in growing efficiency that the town has seen over the last several years. The first part in this plan is to continue with the town’s efforts to hire a grant writer. The idea to hire a grant writer was initially proposed by Smith to the town at the town board meeting on Aug. 12. Smith presented a plan to recruit a grant writer to fund certain projects within the town. While Smith stated that a grant writer would be most useful in helping the town obtain a grant that could cover 75% of the repair costs to Quaint Road, he noted that this would open the door to many other potentially grant-funded projects as well. This grant writer would also be a crucial component to point two of the plan, which is to further develop the town’s community action plan and beautify the roads that lead into the town. This community action plan was developed by the town in 2010, according to Smith. Smith noted that the project drawings are currently on display at the town hall, and stated that he wishes to utilize grant funds that the town receives to attempt to revive this plan and move forward with it.

Smith wishes to look into the appointment of another official for the town as well, to correspond with point three of the six-point plan. This position would either be a social media manager or public information officer, said Smith. Smith argues that this position would allow the town to provide greater transparency to residents, better informing community members of what the board is doing to continue progress.

Smith also wishes to perform a complete scrub of the town’s zoning laws as a part of this plan. Smith stated that many of these laws are from the 1970s, and are extremely outdated. This would be a chance to see some much needed updates to the town’s regulations. Smith also noted that the town is currently in the process of updating the zoning maps to be more modernized, which is expected to be completed within the next month or two. The final point in the plan sees town officials updating the job descriptions for each position within the town. Smith argues that this will provide community members with more clear expectations for the government officials in the town.

While just having won the election, Smith is wasting no time getting to work and beginning to devise plans to better the town. Smith said that he is dedicated to continuing to pass savings off to community members, while giving the town the upgrades and care that it needs. For more information contact 716-267-2912.