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Wellsville Daily Reporter, 1-7-1977

Transcribed by Crist Middaugh

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Willing still after money for fire hall, town building

By Matt Leone

Standards - Failure to obtain federal money for a community building and fire hall was “the biggest disappointment of the year” for Town of Willing Supervisor Morgan Rosser.

The town’s application for money from the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was rejected early in the year.

“But we’ll keep trying to get some help on this,” Mr. Rosser said, “because I think we need the building here.”

On the plus side in 1976 were improvements to the Back River Road under the state-aided Donovan road program, and preliminary work on the South Branch of Fords Brook, which is scheduled for Donovan money improvements in 1977, Supervisor Rosser said.

Another positive development in 1976 was a strengthening of the town’s financial position. By year’s end, Mr. Rosser said, the town’s bonded indebtedness had been eliminated-“we’re going into 1977 with no debts.”

The major reduction came in the retiring of bonds used to finance the highway department’s road grader.

Another disappointment was the failure of the town to be included in a proposed federally-aided countywide radio system. Willing’s part-time patrols did not qualify as a formal police department, Mr. Rosser said, excluding the town from the county system.

“But we’d surely like to be a part of the system,” Mr. Rosser said.

“When our boys are out at night on patrols, they need to have some means of communication,” he said.

Mr. Rosser continues to lobby for a program to clean out streams and rivers in the township, action that has been hindered, he thinks, by environmental regulations.

“Flood insurance is fine,” he said, “but I think it could almost be eliminated if some of these streams were cleaned out.”

The new year has already brought some unhappy news for the highway department budget, Mr. Rosser said. Because of the unusually cold weather, freezing road surfaces have been a problem, he said, and the highway department has used as much sand and salt this winter as it used all last winter.

“All the towns are experiencing the same thing,” Mr. Rosser said, “but this sand and salt is not cheap.”