Great Things Are Happening In The Town of Bethel

 

Guest speaker at our February 9th meeting,Town of Bethel Supervisor Dan Sturm, began his talk for the evening by giving a little background about himself. He is a long-time resident of Sullivan County, a graduate of Monticello high school, "Class of 1981".  He attended Sullivan County Community College and then went on to graduate from SUNY New Paltz with a political science degree. Dan said that he's one of the few people who actually used their political science degree. He went from being a town board member for four years, on to becoming the town supervisor. Dan's been the (T) Bethel Supervisor since 2008. Being supervisor is not an easy task, but he's worked with some extraordinary board members over the years and “things are going very well right now in the town of Bethel", Dan said. He's been president of the Association of Supervisors of Sullivan County since 2009 and has had the privilege of working with some great supervisors over the years.

 

Dan outlined some of the exciting things that are happening in the Town of Bethel.

  • Mysteryland is coming back again this year, June 10th – 13th. It is slated to be bigger and better than last year - with an expected attendance of over 20,000 people. The event will be open from Friday to Sunday. For the first time, nineteen and twenty year olds will be allowed into the event. Dan emphasized that everything will be closely monitored.

  • There are a lot of new homes in Bethel and people are also fixing up what they already have.

  • A new Dunkin Donuts has opened.

  • A Dollar General store has opened during the past year.

  • There are plans for a new Pharmacy in Bethel.

 

Dan said that Sullivan County is now facing many changes due to the coming of the Casino. He is expecting a lot of great things and the (T) Bethel is preparing for the changes so that it can capitalize on it. The (T) Bethel is working with the Sullivan Rennaisance to improve the appearance of the area. “We're going to make the 17B/55 corridor as nice as it can possibly look, so that when people come here they like what they see”. Bethel is investing in it's landscaping, welcome areas, and parks.

 

A new initiative for this year is “Healthy Communities”. Programs are in the works to help the overall health of the county and it starts at the town level. (T) Bethel has a new walking program (4 times a month) that encourages seniors as well as kids and their families to come out and walk at the old Dugan School bldg. They're bringing back the Kauneonga Lake farmers market on Thursday nights at the pavilion. (It used to be a very busy market).

 

Dan talked about how hard it is to run a town and manage the money with all the budget constraints, but he repeated that he works with a great staff and they get the job done.