08/19/2026
Speed sign update from tonight's Village Board meeting.
Thank you to everyone who came out. That was the most people that room has ever held, and everyone who spoke is in the record.
Where things stand:
The board voted tonight to appropriate up to $10,000 from fund balance for the installation of the village's radar speed sign. That covers the pole, base, anchor, hardware, forms, concrete and equipment rental, with the installation done by our own DPW in coordination with the Town of Butternuts. That figure is a ceiling, not a spend. When we have the final number, we will bring it back to the board in public session.
New York State DOT answered us last Wednesday and we are working through the permit with them now. Route 51 is a state road, so DOT decides where a sign like this may sit. They have identified two permittable locations on 51 in the village and are determining which one works best. Greg Delaney has been working with them directly and got us these answers.
One more thing about this sign worth knowing: it comes with a data package. It will record how many vehicles pass, at what speeds, at what times. That gives us real numbers to bring to the county, the state and law enforcement instead of just our word.
A few things from tonight deserve a plain answer. The village does not own or control most of the roads people are worried about. Route 51 is state. Commercial and Bloom are County Route 4, and so is Cliff. Vale is County Route 8. We can ask, we can push, and we can put data in front of them, but we cannot place a stop sign or a speed bump on a road that is not ours. Several residents asked for stop signs at Commercial and at Vale, and the board will pass those requests to the county and the state with the data to back them.
On the history: the sign itself was purchased back in 2021 through a 50/50 partnership between the village and the Village Improvement Society, and that partnership worked. What never got done was the installation, and the reasons were cost and state requirements about exactly where the sign is allowed to sit. I also want to own my part. From March to July I said nothing publicly about this project, and that silence let people believe nothing was happening. That was mine, and it ends here.
As I said at tonight's meeting, since the 50/50 partnership is how this sign came to be, once we have the real price in hand the village will send it to VIS as an open invitation to continue that partnership. Anything they contribute comes straight off what taxpayers pay. It is an invitation, not a condition, and no answer is needed.
The sign is going up. The money is appropriated, the permit is in motion, and the next update will come at the September 15 board meeting.
Your Mayor,
Aidan Woishnis
