The Village of Plandome established a beautification commission at a meeting on Monday, Oct. 20.
The board of trustees approved Jeff Sprotte, a longtime Plandome resident, as chairman to spearhead the commission. Board members said Sprotte has been beautifying the community on his own for years, including planting flowers, beginning when he was working on his property about 10 years ago.
The board also appointed Trustee Damien Quinn to serve as deputy mayor, replacing former Deputy Mayor Don Richardson. Village clerk/treasurer Barbara Peebles said Richardson recently moved out of Plandome.
Damien Quinn was appointed to serve as deputy mayor of the Village of Plandome.Photo provided by Damien Quinn“We have good leadership in Mayor Kurkjian, and so I kind of follow his lead and support the decisions of the village trustees, and what we tend to do is listen to the residents,” Quinn said. “The residents really direct this. It’s very traditional local government in that sense.”
Rich Dunphy, a longtime resident of the Village of Plandome, was appointed to fill the open seat left by Richardson’s departure. Quinn said the board sought out Dunphy because they saw qualities they believed would be good additions to the board and the Plandome community.
“We search out village residents who can make a great contribution, and Rich Dunphy qualifies on a great level,” Quinn said.
Quinn said he considers Dunphy to be a friend.
“He’s a class guy beginning to end. I’ve known him a very, very long time – 20 plus years,” Quinn said. “We spent a lot of time together socially prior to this, because we’re village residents, and it’s a pretty small part of the world.”
Sprotte said he was excited by his appointment to head the beautification commission.
“I really anticipate the next couple of years to make the village even more beautiful than it is,” he said.
Sprotte said he is surprised by how excited people are to volunteer.
“It’s so nice to have volunteers, as opposed to paying people to do all of this,” he said. “And people want to get involved, and that’s the best thing that I have for you, is the amount of people willing to volunteer and show up.”
He said he is figuring out how to organize and scale projects to make sense for the village, and credits the town board and community volunteers for making the commission possible.
“We’re not raising taxes to do any of this stuff. So it’s more about– ‘How can we do this?’” he said. “That’s also part of the volunteering, because we’re not paying gardeners and landscapers to do all this work, and that’s a big help. We are going to be the labor.”
Quinn echoed the importance of teamwork in bringing beautification projects to life.
“Many hands make light work,” he said. “Mayor Kurkjian’s leadership brought together a bunch of people who were willing to contribute their time and their point of view to making these traffic stops in different corners of the village, sometimes overlooked by the average resident. Once spring comes around and they see how beautiful the traffic stops look, and these former places that were kind of rundown start to spring up and look beautiful, I think they’ll appreciate it. I hope they do anyway.”
Because of the upcoming winter months, the commission won’t be planting for at least a few months. But come spring, the town board may announce initiatives. Sprotte said there will be additional information in the upcoming weeks. To get involved, contact the village hall.
