Font ResizeBELLOWS FALLS -- A committee dedicated to improving the village and making it more desirable to people and businesses became official Tuesday following a vote by the Board of Trustees.
The board, after Village President Roger Riccio made the motion, voted in the affirmative to approve the Bellows Falls Property Committee. The group’s name, however, will likely change soon.
Heather Gleim, a hair stylist in the village, was the driving force behind forming the committee. She said her job puts her in contact with countless local people and she felt the need to recruit a group of people with a common vested interest in bettering Bellows Falls. She said she and two other members of the committee attended Tuesday’s board meeting to see how a meeting is conducted.
"Roger wanted us to be able to be heard and to be taken seriously," she said, adding that the village president is also one of the committee’s 50 members. "I think it’s great and I think it will grow a lot."
Gleim said she and her family volunteer in the community and her husband, Harry, coaches youth football. As a mother of three and lifelong resident of Bellows Falls, she decided to take the reins of the committee.
"Our town has a lot of great things about it," she said. "It’s a nice small community with nice homes."
She also said the committee members are anxious to utilize its strength in numbers and work with the local
Trustee Deborah Wright said committees look into things the village may need, put ideas onto paper and bring recommendations to the board.
"I’m an advocate of what the charter recommends to do, which is appoint committees to do leg work," she said.
Gleim said she recently met with Bellows Falls Lister Camilla Roberts and Rockingham Zoning-Planning Administrator and Health Officer Ellen Howard to discuss how the town is run and has a meeting with Municipal Manager Timothy Cullenen scheduled for Tuesday. She said it will be used to brainstorm ideas of how to gain community involvement.
Domenic Poli can be reached at dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 277.
