At the turn of the year, we often reflect on Janus, the ancient god with two faces who could look in both directions. We can gain wisdom from the past as we plot our course for the future.

At The Enterprise, we produce a “Year in Review” edition at the end of each year that causes us to page through 12 months of stories about the towns we cover. So in this, our first edition of the new year, we are making recommendations for 2026 based on what we observed in 2025.

On January 1 — the month, after all, is named for the Roman god — we joined a celebratory crowd for the Berne Town Board’s reorganizational meeting. These meetings, where newly elected officers are sworn in, always reassure us. They are rituals of democracy that show, based on the will of the people, power can be transferred in an orderly and meaningful way.

The newly elected representatives each swore oaths of allegiance to our state’s constitution and to our nation’s constitution — especially important in an era where many of the precepts of our nation’s constitution are being challenged.

The meeting in Berne was particularly uplifting because of the 12 months of news we had reviewed. In 2025, politics continued to be contentious in Berne as in January the town sued Governor Kathy Hochul over her inaction on an appointment to the town board.

The GOP-backed five-member board had been without a quorum since August 2024 when three of the board’s members abruptly and simultaneously resigned, claiming financial mismanagement and a toxic work environment caused by the then-supervisor.

Every post on the board was up for re-election and the newly elected bipartisan board looked to be off to a good start on Jan. 1. The new supervisor, Joseph Giebelhaus, had drafted new policies, reviewed by the new board members, he told us, to fill in where there hadn’t been policies before.

Our review of news in 2025 had shown a town worker was fired who had never been entered into the Civil Service system; the county has no record of his employment. It showed several instances of financial mismanagement and an accusation of fraud for agreeing to a payment that hadn’t been budgeted for.

The new policies are meant to prevent such shortcomings going forward. But best of all was the open way the meeting was conducted. The former administration had not allowed for public comment. On Jan. 1, after naming each resolution, Giebelhaus asked first if anyone on the board and then if anyone in the gallery had a comment.

He told us afterward, “There’s been a request for transparency. With transparency comes accountability.”

We urge the board to continue being accountable. We’ll be watching.

Again and again in our review of news of 2025, we were struck with the can-do spirit of our towns and villages as they worked on a local level to solve problems unfolding across the nation.

In New Scotland, the town board was prescient to see the nation-wide need, particularly in states like New York that are still committed to green energy, to have battery energy storage systems in place to release energy during peak times when it is needed.

The town board had passed legislation in 2024 that would protect the rural nature of the town while allowing for BESS. That blew up in October as elections loomed, with fear-mongering over dangers from BESS fires. Nevertheless, voters re-elected the councilmen who had voted for that legislation.

We urge the town to continue its forward march with thoughtful legislation.

Meanwhile, in New Scotland’s village of Voorheesville, trustees worried about safety with kids causing several near-miss accidents on their electric bikes. The board decided to launch a campaign to educate parents on the state’s requirement that ebike riders be at least 16.

We urge the board to go further, coming up with rules for Voorheesville, as allowed by law.

At the same time, in a David-versus-Goliath move, Voorheesville took on Norfolk Southern, which as a railroad, could circumvent village zoning to build a crew-change facility along its tracks. The village contended that stopped trains could block all three surface crossings, potentially severing emergency access to half the town.

Although, after a judge’s ruling, the village ultimately withdrew its suit, we commend the village for trying to protect its citizens. It’s that same kind of persistence and can-do attitude that has allowed Voorheesville, spurred by a group of committed citizens, to finally have Quiet Zones at two of its crossings — encouraging commerce and letting residents sleep without interruption from train horns.

In Guilderland, we commend the town for updating its comprehensive plan after several years of work. As suburban sprawl and a shortage of affordable housing have become problems nationwide, Guilderland’s plan includes ways to solve these scourges.

The challenge now, in the year ahead, is for the town board to have the courage to follow through with the legislation that will make those solutions a reality.

A plan, without the teeth of legislation, has no bite.

The mayor of Altamont, Kerry Dineen, stood up for villagers when she addressed the Guilderland Town Board about the 162-percent town tax hike borne by Altamont residents. The town board’s hands were tied because of requirements on sales-tax distribution laid down by the state comptroller.

But the village leaders and residents needn’t have learned about the massive hike from The Enterprise; communication needs to be improved. The debacle caused the local state senator, Patricia Fahy, and assemblywoman, Gabriella Romero, to get involved.

We urge state legislation that will solve the problem going forward, not just for Altamont but for municipalities across the state.

In Knox this past year, Gary Kleppel and the town’s agricultural committee continued their innovative work. As farmland is decreasing dramatically across the United States, Knox has a proposal to preserve its own.

Kleppel, a sheep farmer and professor emeritus, told the town board about the committee’s application to get a state grant to come up with a plan to protect the one-third of land in Knox that is used for farming.

Most farmland protection plans lock down farmland by removing development rights. Knox’s approach would be different. “The focus of our proposal,” Kleppel said, “will be to secure and improve the livelihoods of farmers, to make farm families and farm livelihoods more economically and environmentally secure."

We urge the board to continue to support this project and recommend that other towns, especially those with farmland left to preserve, pay attention.

As the United States faces a significant housing shortage — particularly of affordable housing — the town of Westerlo made strides this past year, streamlining the permitting process for accessory-dwelling units to make it easier for elderly residents who’d otherwise be looking for dedicated senior housing in the suburbs to stay close by.

Sometimes known as mother-in-law apartments, ADUs are secondary homes on a property that don’t require a subdivision due to their relatively small size.

Westerlo Supervisor Matthew Kryzak told The Enterprise that the endeavor is essentially a backup plan, having learned that it was very unlikely that a senior-housing developer would ever break ground in the rural community.

“I’ve looked into trying to entice senior living developers into Westerlo,” Kryzak said. “You need three things. Three-phase power, public water, and public sewer. Without those three items, it’s hard to support multiple dwelling units.” 

The head of the town’s combined zoning-and-planning board, Bill Hall, who drafted the legislation, told The Enterprise that senior housing is a “big issue” in the town, and that more ADUs is a “no-brainer.”

We urge other towns to follow suit, particularly in places, like Westerlo, where there are few options for elderly residents to stay in town. Our elders enrich our communities and they deserve affordable housing.

Municipal water problems are frequent in the United States with about 25 percent of public water systems reporting at least one violation, affecting millions of Americans annually. Small, rural systems are the most prone to problems, often because of aging infrastructure or agricultural runoff.

Rensselaerville has been working to transition its water district away from a surface-water system into a public well system under the guidance of its Water and Sewer Advisory Committee.

The committee has been overseeing a total renovation of the hamlet’s water district after flaws in the current system allowed for high levels of trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and HAA5 — a group of five haloacetic acids — which develop as a result of the disinfection process.

Because the water is pulled from Lake Myosotis, an exposed water source, more treatment is necessary than if the water comes from underground. 

The project is expected to cost the small town $2.5 million, but a hardship designation in 2024 made the district eligible for a New York State Department of Health Base Drinking Water State Revolving Fund grant that would cover 70 percent of the cost ($1.75 million), as well as an interest-free bond to cover the remaining 30 percent ($750,000) over a 30-year period.

In February, the town board approved an $80,000 bond resolution to pay for a report on the water district drafted by the engineering firm C.T. Male, along with various legal fees. 

This is money that will be paid back by residents of the water district to the town, which has been incurring the expenses on behalf of the Rensselaerville Water and Sewer Advisory Committee.

At its December meeting, the town board heard from Committee Chairman Ed Csukas that the subcommittee has come up with a “short list” of possible well sites. 

Rensselaerville has served as a model for how municipal governments can and should work in solving an essential problem — like safe water. The town board has backed the careful work of a committee of citizens.

We urge Rensselaerville to stay on course in the year ahead.

The larger lesson we’ve gleaned from this Janus-faced view is that even small towns can make a difference with the work of committed citizens as they tackle nationwide problems.

We’ll close with a final example of local work done this past year to tackle a nationwide problem: Hunger. And the work was done — and is still being done — entirely by volunteers.

In November, the Gathering Hope Food Pantry opened at the Thompson’s Lake Reformed Church, sponsored by the Helderberg Family and Community Organization.

Like the rest of the nation, the Hilltowns were buffeted by the federal government shutdown and the threat to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits.

After a year of renovations, the not-for-profit group felt ready to shift its status from pending to being an active member of the Regional Food Bank but due to the cuts in federal funding, the Regional Food Bank had frozen all new and pending applications indefinitely.

Nevertheless, with support from 100 Women Who Care, local businesses, and local fire departments among others, the Gathering Hope Food Pantry opened.

The organization’s president, Maryellen Gillis, quoted anthropologist Margaret Mead at the opening ceremony: “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”