RVC creates conservancy

At what was otherwise a rather uneventful meeting of the Rockville Centre Board of Trustees on Monday night, Mayor Mary Bossart announced the formation of the Rockville Centre Conservancy.

Functioning similarly to the New York City Parks Conservancy, the RVC Conservancy is tasked with finding beautification and improvement projects around the village that can be undertaken by residents.

“There were many wonderful ideas that came from the Environmental and Beautification Committee,” Bossart said. “However, you have to have funding to cover that.” Because of its financial constraints, the village couldn’t afford to follow through with many of the ideas it received. However, the Conservancy will cost the village nothing, and will benefit it greatly in the long run.

“It enables community members to have a more active role and to financially support projects that they’re interested in seeing go forward,” said Bossart.

The Conservancy will work by advising the village board on projects that should be undertaken. If the board approves a project, the Conservancy would raise the funds and then gift that money to the village to be used for the project. The Conservancy will be run by four people: President Mike Shenker, Vice President Fran Murray, Secretary Maureen McFazden and Treasurer Kathleen Murray. There are other residents who are also part of the conservancy, helping to decide what projects should go forward.

“It’s also a matter of educating the public, too—about parks and open spaces in a community and how to preserve them, what the value of them is for the community,” said Bossart. “It’s a way of helping us preserve and improve the public face of the community.”

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