Two Citizens Groups to Meet in City on January 26

If you want to have a say in shaping the City of Newburgh’s future, mark your calendar for Thursday, January 26, when you will have two major opportunities to have a role.

Districting Commission

At 7 pm, the Citizen Advisory Committee will met at the city’s Activity Center at 401 Washington Street where Corporation Counsel Michelle Kelson will give an overview of how the city’s districting commission will work. The Citizens Advisory Committee will have a role in developing a pool of candidates for the five spots on the commission. City council will appoint five members, who will then appoint the final two people to serve.

The districting commission will work to draw lines for four wards in the city where residents will elect one representative to serve them on city council. This is a new system of government approved by voters last November.

Citizen Action Teams

Also at 7 pm on Thursday, Mayor Judy Kennedy is launching an initiative to form Citizen Action Teams that will tackle various problems and seize opportunities for new programs. Mayor Kennedy called the Citizen Action Teams meeting unaware that the Citizen Advisory Committee planned to meet at the same time. A note from her office suggests that people who attend the citizen advisory meeting could listen to the presentation by the Corporation Counsel, then come to the Newburgh Armory Unity Center at 321 S. William Street with enough time to get involved in the new action teams.

Mayor Kennedy is calling the teams “The Army of People” to worked together to make a difference in the community. The proposed teams include:

• Broadway Transformation

• Clean & Beautify Newburgh

• Creating a Safe City

• Transportation

• Friends of Seniors

• Landlords and Tenants

• Youth

• Newburgh Heritage and Art Festival

• Building Business/Newburgh Business Association

• Marketing the City

• Job Creation

• Adopt-a-Block

• Bring the Remains Home (Remains at SUNY New Paltz from the Colored Burial Ground at the Courthouse)

• Emergency Planning (for extreme weather conditions)

For questions please contact the Mayor at Jkennedy@cityofnewburgh-ny.gov.