When Jesse Dwyer took over as Warwick Town Supervisor from Mike Sweeton at the beginning of 2024, he discovered that Sweeton’s reputation of being fair, transparent, diligent and thorough was a spot-on description and that the town was left in great shape, enabling Dwyer and his new team to navigate countless new challenges during unprecedented times while preparing for a number of upcoming initiatives.
“One year has passed and I am extremely proud of the work the Town Board and I, along with our amazing staff, have done for the Town of Warwick. The job has proven to be extremely challenging yet rewarding beyond words,” began Dwyer as he addressed assembled members of the community, the Town Board, and viewers of the live feed on the Town’s YouTube channel during the scheduled live presentation.
Dwyer had taken a measured approach to leadership within town hall with a plan to observe operations, identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within the government’s operational infrastructure, while vowing to continue the program of preserving the success of his predecessors, communicating transparently, building on a foundation for continued growth and development, engaging with his team, and being patient and adaptable.
Dwyer summarized some of his team’s initial accomplishments during 2024, which he termed “a good snapshot of our collaborative efforts by our board and staff to improve Warwick for the years ahead.” These include the following:
- An investment of more than $1 million dollars paving more than seven linear miles of town roads as well as paving projects at three of our town parks;
- A successful application and award of a full grant funding for the nearly $4 million dollar Jayne St Bridge replacement project located in the Village of Florida;
- An application for nearly $20 million in grant funding to fully rehab the Wickham Sewer district’s treatment plant;
- An award of more than $1 million in grant funding to upgrade infrastructure, handicap accessibility and facilities at our Airport Park and Mountain Lake Park;
- An award of grant funding to install automated external defibrillators at each of our town parks that were previously without state mandated AEDs;
- Completion of a town wide cardiac arrest management plan for our town parks and collaboration with our local sports programs on a uniform plan for the safety of our children and all park users;
- Establishment of a partnership with a local business to offer recreation opportunities on Wickham Lake, generating revenue for the town as well as getting more people out on our beautiful lake;
- Distribution of $150,000 to each of our Town’s villages to support local parks and ensure town residents, through the sale of excess property within the closed prison property, enabling unrestricted access to parks owned by our villages;
- Upgrading of the town hall’s phone systems and internet to fiber optic to ensure streamlined services for staff and more consistent communication for residents;
- Strengthening of our short term rental law to further protect the quality of life for our residents. In doing so, it generated more than $100,000 in short term rental fines and violation fees;
- Strengthening of our film permit laws and processes and in doing so, it generated more than $100,000 in film permit fees in 2024;
- Initiation of a new program for the town called the “Clean Streets Committee” focusing on using volunteers to help clean the streets throughout Warwick;
- Continuation of the tradition of hosting Orange County’s largest free senior BBQ with a record attendance of more than 700 senior citizens;
- Distribution of more than $400,000 in grants for our police department for technology enhancements and equipment upgrades and two junior police academies for the kids in our town;
- Institution of a new policy of police checks of every town park during every shift our officers are on patrol;
- Introduction of support for our police officers and department with the use of an unpaid police chaplain and police physician;
- Groundbreaking on the grant funded “Bike/Hike Trail” connecting two major park systems within the town;
- Compliance with addressing the state’s unfunded mandates to perform lead service line inventories or our water systems;
- Integration of a new well in our Pine Island Water district to eliminate longstanding violations for that district;
- Management of two natural disasters including a tornado and the state’s largest wildfire in nearly two decades;
- Addition of new farmland into the agricultural protection overlay district, adding 200 acres to the Town’s protected farmland program known as PDR.
“We had a very aggressive year of infrastructure improvements, youth and senior citizen support, park enhancements and land preservation in 2024, and 2025 is planned to be even more aggressive,” continued Dwyer. He then outlined plans for the upcoming year, which will take advantage of new technology to evaluate and score all town roads. This process will utilize qualitative and unbiased data to prioritize roadway paving and projects. The public will have online access to all data and will know exactly when their road will be paved and at what cost. Here is a list of upcoming infrastructure improvements:
- Allocate a budget of nearly $900,000 on paving for 2025;
- Increase funding in our budget for youth town wide;
- Schedule a capital projects for all long-range funding needs that will be made available to the public;
- A comprehensive parks master plan re-write;
- An investment of more than $2 million in upgrading our parks this year alone;
- Much needed enhancements in all water and sewer districts through an aggressive grant writing strategy;
- Beginning a live streaming all public meetings, including planning and zoning board meetings; in addition to the currently streamed town board meetings;
- Completion of major efficiency improvements in the building department which will include greater public access to information and building needs;
- Completion of nearly $5 million worth of FEMA funded bridge and culvert projects to reduce flooding and compromised roadways;
- Paving of Route 94 by NYS and integration of a roundabout at the intersection of Rt 94 and County Rt 1;
- Invitation to bid for the design and construction of the grant-funded Jayne St Bridge toward the end of 2025;
- Collaboration with Orange & Rockland on the Hudson Valley’s largest substation improvement project that will support our local energy grid;
- Reactivating the Warwick Conservation Board;
- The closing on two farms expanding the PDR program to more than 5,000 acres of protected open space within the town of Warwick.
Rather than a list of his accomplishments, Dwyer described these activities and plans the “result of collaboration and commitment by so many. Warwick is an incredibly special place,” he said. “Our challenges are vast but our potential is unmatched. Your town board and I will continue doing everything that we can to keep Warwick affordable, strong, clean and bucolic. It will not be easy but I assure you, it will be worth it.”
Situated about 50 miles northwest of New York City, in Orange County, New York, Warwick’s 104 square miles includes the three Villages of Florida, Greenwood Lake, and Warwick, and eight hamlets of Sterling Forest, Amity, Pine Island, Bellvale, New Milford, Edenville, and historic Greenwood Forest Farms. Warwick [TownofWarwick.org] continues to be known for its scenic beauty, small-town feel, and vibrant community nestled in the Hudson Valley, surrounded by rolling hills, lush forests, and picturesque farms.
