Montour Falls creates a sustainable future

Montour Falls creates a sustainable future

MONTOUR FALLS--Lately, you hear the word "sustainability" in everything from casual conversation to advertising. But what does it mean?
"My interpretation is more than what you'd find in Webster's," says James Ryan, mayor of Montour Falls. To him, it means programs and initiatives to move a community forward while preventing further harm to the environment. It involves taking a holistic approach to help all parts of the community flourish. He sees Montour Falls increasingly becoming a visitors' destination for the increasing variety of good things the village has to offer.
Appointed in 2018 by former mayor John King to the newly formed Montour Falls Sustainability Committee, which he still serves as chair, Ryan is dedicated to seeing the village of 1,760 become greener, healthier, more walkable, climate-smart, and better-informed.
Translating these principles into action has already benefited the village as well as the budget's bottom line. Ryan, a retired investigator with the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, who also taught at the NYS Fire Academy in Montour Falls, became Montour Falls' Mayor in 2020, after serving as deputy Mayor under John King.
It's an ethic he takes home with him - he's currently having geothermal heating and hot water installed at his own home, a system that, once up and running, will provide indoor climate control for many years to come.
In the village, Ryan began by asking, "What is the biggest drain on our funds? What can we improve upon and benefit everyone?" Noting the annual electric bill for street lighting alone was close to $90,000, he applied for a grant--and got it--allowing the village to purchase energy-saving LED lights to swap for what they had been using. The village reaped dramatic savings as the cost plummeted to $12,000 annually, while offering an environmental benefit as well as an economic one. Month-to-month costs vary seasonally with day-length.
An obvious area of need in the village is easy access to fresh, nutritious food in the neighborhood. In a collaboration with governmental and non-governmental agencies, the village obtained more grant money for the purpose of helping the North NY Coffee Shop in Montour House purchase large coolers and shelving. These house food made available to customers from local producers. Purchasing food from this local source means many customers are making fewer trips by car to get groceries.
Of course, preparing fresh food means more food scraps, so to keep those out of the same waste stream as inorganic garbage, the village partners with a local company, Finger Lakes Compost, to collect food scraps weekly for composting. Purple collection bins in the village allow residents to dump their meat, vegetable and compostable paper scraps whenever they need to. Another grant allowed the village to purchase small individual "collection totes" for use by villagers who needed them, including residents of Catharine Court. "In less than a year, we've removed more than six tons from the waste stream," Ryan says.
Making these changes has also meant community outreach to residents via a variety of means including focus groups and Zoom meetings, so people know how more about what's happening as well as what good things lie ahead.
Ryan says he'd be interested in seeing a community garden program implemented, as well as the planting of more trees. "It's an evolving process," he says, one that involves everyone in the community who chooses to be involved. Better charging stations for electric vehicles are in the works, as well as a new electric truck for the village, paid for with grants from energy programs and savings created by local energy-saving--and money-saving--programs. "It's a lot of work but we will continue to work to promote these," Ryan says.
It means Montour Falls is the first Schuyler County community to be certified as a Climate Smart Community as well as a Clean Energy Community by The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Community support has helped move this process forward. "Many people have stopped me on the street and spoken to me," Ryan says. "There's a lot of support and pride in what we're doing," he continues, emphasizing the collaborative aspect of the village's progress. "I couldn't do this without the hard work of other people. I didn't do this by myself!"