2006 in Voorheesville
New mayor, new pastor, new theater group



VOORHEESVILLE — Under the leadership of a new mayor this year, the village grappled with doling out water and considered building a skate park.

The church on the village green came under new leadership, too, and the park’s gazebo was home to community theater.

Facing further development, Voorheesville saw plans from the Amedore Homes development company to build luxury houses on land owned by the Colonie Country Club that will border the village, for which Amedore hopes to access to the village water supply. Residents of Locust Drive in Scotch Pine who own land that abuts the proposed development petitioned the village board to use the village’s water as a bargaining chip that could keep the new houses at least 50 feet away from houses on Locust.

A local developer, Troy Miller, proposed a senior-housing complex near Stonington Hill Road and Route 85A and Eric King’s plans for developing the area between Swift Road and Crowridge Road continue to form.

New mayor

Having served on the village board for four years, Robert Conway stepped up to the mayor’s post in March in an uncontested election. The former mayor, Jack Stevens, opted for a trustee’s position because he wanted to have more time to spend with family, he said at the time of the election.
"Watching Jack do the job helped me," Conway said on Wednesday. He’s had to organize his time better since taking on the job, he said, adding, "It’s certainly very interesting."

Renovating the firehouse was the biggest issue that he contended with in his first year as mayor, Conway said. Since the first bids came in high for the project, reworking the plans proved to be quite a project. Conway expects that this will continue to be a major issue in the village next year also; construction will start in January and continue for seven to nine months, he said.

Inter-municipal cooperation is another ongoing issue for the village, Conway said. The water interconnect between Voorheesville and Guilderland will be finished soon, he said, and he’d like to participate in other shared projects in the future.
Conway has enjoyed his first year in office, calling it challenging and fun, although he doesn’t have plans yet beyond this term. "I was elected for four years, so I should at least do that," he said with a laugh when asked about his plans.

New pastor

Brian Gould left a job in steel distribution to join the ministry at the age of 45.

In July, he returned to lead the First United Methodist Church in Voorheesville, where he had trained to be a pastor as he was working on his divinity degree.

During those years, he assisted with prayer and taught a Bible-study class at the church on weekends. He spent his work weeks in New Jersey, commuting to Drew University from his home in East Greenbush, while his wife, Belinda, supported the family with her salary as a sixth-grade teacher there.
"It’s been an interesting ride," Gould said of his journey into the ministry.

He and his wife are settled into the parsonage next door to the church on Maple Avenue in Voorheesville with their two grown sons nearby. Their elder son, Jonathan, works for the Citizens Environmental Coalition in Albany and their younger son, David, is a recent college graduate, pursuing acting.

Right now, Gould says he’s getting a feel for the church and the 140-member congregation before making plans for the future of the church. The previous pastor, Denise Stringer, led the church for five years, which is close to the average, he said.
"We’re hoping and expecting to be here for quite a while," said Gould.

Community theater

Across the street from the church, the gazebo on the village green hosted a group of local actors for Shakespeare in the park this summer.

The Theatre Guild of Voorheesville performed William Shakespeare’s As You Like It in Voorheesville’s Evergreen Park in August.
"There are not any theater groups in Voorheesville," said Director Deborah Conti. "We thought it would be the perfect place to start a theater group."

The community theatre group also performed The Brady Bunch on the elementary school stage and The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever at Old Songs in Voorheesville.

The guild hopes to have a new home in Voorheesville soon.
"We would love to eventually do a show at the performing arts center in Voorheesville’s high school," said Conti.

Landmark for sale"

Voorheesville’s American Legion Post hasn’t made any decisions yet, said Chaplain Charles Renker Jr., but the members are weighing their options. Selling the building but maintaining a lease on the cellar, where there is a bar and lounge, is one possibility and selling the building and buying land elsewhere to build on is another, he said.

Heating the 100-year-old, three-story building and maintaining the slate roof are expenses that John McClintock, adjutant for the post, mentioned as problematic for the post.
"The heat and electricity for that building is killing us," said Renker. "It’s just walloping us."

The early 20th-Century three-story building at 31 Voorheesville Ave, assessed at $381,200 this year, but no one has said who might buy it or how much it would sell for.
"It’s too big a building for our needs today," said McClintock, citing declining membership as the primary reason. The post had 340 to 360 members at one point; today it’s closer to 210, he said, "and declining all the time."
National membership in the legion is 2.7 million, said Joe March, a spokesperson at the national headquarters. "We’ve been right around that mark for the last decade," he said. "From the national perspective, things are stable."