A Message from the Lake Grove Mayor

WORKING TOGETHER FOR A BETTER LAKE GROVE

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

As we continue to create a high standard of living and aesthetically pleasing environment, a blight remains in our community.

The First Congregational Church on Middle Country Road, which is a symbol on our Village seal, has been boarded up for far too many years. Unfortunately, the church is not ours and not on Village property. The Town of Brookhaven owns the church and cemetery and designates them as parkland.

A few years ago, vandals desecrated the church and adjoining cemetery, causing considerable damage to both. At that time, the Town offered the building and land to the Village, with a monetary contribution, to restore the building.  Unfortunately, the dollar amount would not cover the repairs or allow us to maintain the cemetery. Cutting the grass and maintaining the property is a full-time job we simply don’t have the resources for.

I have been in many discussions with Town representatives for a couple of years now to remove the boards off the windows, repair the fence and paint the building. This is a historical landmark and should be treated as such. However, as with the Village, budgetary restrictions and the cost of doing the repairs properly put the project on the back burner.

More recently, after bringing the situation to the attention of Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Panico, we made progress. The Supervisor came out to look at the location, was appalled by the condition, and acted immediately. We made budgetary adjustments and started the bidding process to make preliminary repairs and clean up this blight in our village.

I want to give special thanks to Supervisor Panico, Councilman Manzella, and, as always, our previous councilperson and now Town Clerk, Kevin Lavalle. Kevin continues to work with the Village on all concerns, even if it is just acting as a liaison with our Councilman and Supervisor.

Many of you have been concerned about how this represents our village, and I felt it necessary to address it here. Thank you all for caring about our village and for your continued support. We will continue to work together to improve our village and provide the highest standard of living we can.

Robert J. Scottaline, Mayor