Page 5 Tupper Lake Free Press Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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On the invitation of Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau, village and town officials here have joined a regional tourist promotion aimed at drawing Quebec residents here.

The following is the resolution adopted in recent weeks by both elected boards here:

“Whereas, there are over four million francophones (those with the mother tongue of French) living within a two-hour drive from our region, representing a tremendous tourism development and profit potential, and

“Whereas, the Adirondacks and North Country region were advised by the North Country Chamber of Commerce, the Regional Office of Sustained Tourism (ROOST) and the Franklin County Tourism Bureau that becoming more hospitable and welcoming to francophone visitors will increase our tourism, and

“Whereas one of the easiest ways to become more hospitable and welcoming to francophones is to make our street signs and print advertising bilingual, in English and French, then therefore be it…

“Resolved that Tupper Lake does hereby establish a budget-friendly francophone tourism development policy whereby it will:

1. Replace its damaged and obsolete community signage at normal replacement times with bilingual English and

Town, village boards join francophone tourism push

The Well Dressed Food Company and French students at the Tupper Lake Middle/High School are working together to be more hospitable to francophones visiting our town.

Under the direction of French teacher Nicole Gonyea, students are translating the restaurant’s menu into French.

Unfortunately, however, French classes are being phased out at the local school.

District Superintendent Seth McGowan explained that in the last school budget cycle, it was decided that French would not be offered to incoming seventh grade students. Students who were already enrolled in French, however, could continue their more advanced classes.

Due to cuts in staffing, the district now has only two foreign language teachers instead of three. Those two teachers were offering both French and Spanish courses, but felt they couldn’t do justice to both languages, according to Mr. McGowan. He added that the district even tried to offer the advanced language classes through distance learning, but that didn’t work out.

Most students, he said, opt for Spanish over French.“French is being phased out for the time being,”

Mr. McGowan said, “but we hope to reinstate it at some point. There are so many reasons it doesn’t seem right, considering the area we live in.”

Business and school working together

French signage or with international symbols where practical, as long as the replacement cost is comparable with unilingual English-only signage.

2. Endeavor to add French translation to its news, brochures and advertising where practical and cost-effective.

3. Join local business owners to adopt the same sensibilities and practices.

4. Join with other local governments in advocating francophone-friendly practices in a coalition which may be known as Bonjour Adirondack Coalition (BAC).

5. Encourage the New York State Department of Transportation to also use bilingual signage where practical, just as it does on Interstate 87.”

In his letter to the village and town leaders, Mayor Rabideau said this region has much to offer French-speaking residents of Canada. “We’ve only scratched the surface of their tourism potential…and now is the time for us to unite as a region and make us a comfortable and familiar ‘go-to’ destination for them.”

“It need not cost your town or village a dime more than normal…all we have to do is resolve to replace our municipal signage with those that are both French and English, and go from there,” said the outspoken Saranac Lake village mayor.

He said organizers are proposing to meet as a group in early May, when they will hear from

a member of the Canadian Parliament hailing from St. Jean, Quebec about the importance of making French-speaking Canadians feel welcomed in our region.

At the town board meeting this month the three board members present immediately liked the idea of doing whatever the town can to bring more French-speaking Canadians here.

Councilman Mike Dechene called it a “no-brainer,” offering a motion

for the town to join the initiative. “Mais, oui!” replied Kathleen Lefebvre with her second to his motion.

At the village board’s March 16 meeting, Mayor Paul Maroun said, “I know that the town has taken it up and they’re moving ahead.” Trustee Rick Donah agreed, saying, “It makes a lot of sense. It’s a good thing. I think we’re going to benefit from aligning with our other regional centers.”

The board passed the resolution.

At its March meeting the Tupper Lake Town Board appointed Samantha Davies to a permanent appointment as town accountant.

Over a year ago, shortly after Supervisor Patricia Littlefield and Councilmen John Quinn and Mike Dechene took up positions on the new town board, Mrs. Davies was appointed by the town board as bookkeeper to the supervisor, a position she has held since then.

In that role she has helped the new town supervisor with town financial matters, including the preparation of the 2015 town budget this past fall.

The supervisor reported this month that after Mrs. Davies successfully completed Franklin County Civil Service testing, the county

Town appoints Samantha Davies as accountant

agency agreed to change her position to town accountant.

As such, she said, Samantha’s job is permanent and she won’t have to be appointed by the board each year during its organizational meeting. There will be no change in her current salary, the supervisor noted.

Town board member Mike Dechene suggested the board make the move, remembering there have been many permanent town accountants employed by the town over the years, going as far back as Tom Proulx and Larry Willett.

During the tenure of the last town board under former Supervisor Roger Amell, the town accountant position was made “bookkeeper to the supervisor.”

Town Supervisor Patricia Littlefield appeared at the village board’s March 16 meeting to discuss the proposed town and village shared building at the municipal park.

The town submitted a picture of the proposed building to the village some time ago, but has yet to receive approval.

Mrs. Littlefield asked if the holdup was due to a question of incorporating the building into the park plan, saying the town would like an answer so that the building can be ordered.

If the plan is to use an existing structure, she added, it needs to have a room that can be split and secured. She asked that the board get back to her soon.

Village board doesn’t like looks of proposed shared building

Trustee Rick Donah said that the building that had been proposed by the town board doesn’t fit in with the plans for the park, that it looks like a temporary structure.

Mrs. Littlefield replied that the town board needs to know what the village wants in order to move forward with the project.

In other action, the board approved the appointment of Mark Picerno as a part-time cleaner for the village offices at a rate of $10 per hour.

The board further scheduled a special meeting for Monday, March 30 at 9 am for the presentation of the fiscal year 2015-2016 tentative budget.