Weekly meetings with Freeport Mayor inspire sense of community

When he says he has an open door policy, Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, means open door policy, without appointment necessary. Every Tuesday, he blocks out his schedule from noon to 5 p.m. to meet with Freeporters interested sharing their concerns. After 5 p.m. the village trustees take over the meetings until 7 p.m.

Reflecting back to a time when he was just a citizen, Kennedy said, it was a former mayor who would not address his concerns on a pressing matter in the village that inspired him to run for village trustee and later mayor. Once in office, as a trustee in 2009, he helped to implement the Quality of Life meetings to ensure citizens didn’t experience what he did. These meetings continue weekly to date.

“I thought it was a good way to reach out and give the residents the opportunity to get direct responses to their questions,” Kennedy said.

While residents meet with Kennedy, he calls on village department heads to immediately address concerns. Part of the goal of the meeting is to create dialogue between the resident and the village department head. Once the issue is addressed, the department head starts working on creating a solution and works alongside the resident until all issues and concerns are resolved. Kennedy is also known to handle some the dilemmas himself.

Over the years, Freeporters have met with the mayor, village trustees and village department heads to discuss problems with noise ordinances, electric, pothole problems, water and sewer woes, criminal activity, and even lawn mowing and maintenances nuisances. The way Kennedy sees it, anyone who wants to talk about making Freeport better, he wants to be a part of the conversation. Improving communication with the residents helps address problems more efficiently and creates a sense of community—his philosophy.

“These meetings have been very successful and we can resolve the problems without delays by people coming to see me,” Kennedy said.

The Stearns Park Civic Association comprised of Freeporters residing in the northwest part of the village, meet with Kennedy every three months. Through the meetings, the groups mission has been to raise a united voice in the best interest of their neighbors and their properties, while improving the quality of life.

“I’ve been a resident of the village for about 40 years and I would say that this is one of the things that I found most attractive about Freeport. We really do have a really responsive government and we also have a very responsive police force,” said Sterns Park Civic Association member, Mary Ellen Kahan.