Former Town Supervisor To Be Honored

By DARLA M. YOUNGS
RICHFIELD SPRINGS

Each year, the New York Planning Federation offers six land-use awards recognizing excellence and achievement in New York State planning and zoning. These honors are bestowed on individuals who give their time and talent to their communities and to municipalities that exceed expectations. One such accolade—the Levine Community Service Award—is presented to an appointed member of a municipal board or committee who has done an outstanding job for their community or the NYPF.

Next month, former Town of Richfield Supervisor Daniel Sullivan will receive the Levine Community Service Award on Monday, April 8 during the NYPF’s 83rd annual conference, held in Saratoga Springs.

Sullivan was nominated by current Richfield Town Supervisor Larry Frigault.

In his nomination letter to the Selection Committee, Frigault wrote:

“I first met Dan Sullivan in 2014. By 2016, Dan had convinced me and a number of other residents of the importance of a community defining itself. After the [County of Otsego Industrial Development Agency] received a grant, they hired Elan Planning to help our town and village develop a joint Town/Village Comprehensive Plan, which Dan chaired. I was elected to the Town Board in 2018. My first act in office was to pass what became a Planning Federation award-winning “Joint Comprehensive Plan.” With that plan, a small group of people including again, Dan Sullivan, then reshaped our Town Land Use Ordinance into a modern land-use law which coincided with our plan, which was passed in 2022. This also won a Federation award.

“Old guard headwinds, while a minority, were loud and very vocal, publicizing misinformation, making this process much harder than it should have been. Progress rarely comes without considerable work and sacrifice. Dan and many others provide lots of both. These efforts have been paying outsized dividends; a large grant to a woman-owned private business involving glass recycling; the ability of the Otsego County IDA to build a small business park to site that business; and more. Grants for our village to build a modern fire and rescue facility and money for a youth sports facility, to name a few. In 2022, Dan believed we had an opportunity to get more help from the state to revitalize our aging upstate village. Dan, then [town] supervisor, asked the board to fund a grant writer using a small portion of the town’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to apply for a NY Forward grant. That effort, while good, failed. Dan looked at the results, believed he could improve the submission and—working with his resources at the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District, and on his own, and at no cost to the town—resubmitted in 2023. I became supervisor last month; Dan has returned to the Planning Board.

“Two weeks ago, I received a call directly from the Governor’s office. They ‘very strongly’ told me I should be in attendance at HCCC for an announcement concerning Richfield, to be made by Governor Hochul. They sent me an invitation and I showed up on February 12 with a small contingent including Mr. Sullivan and our village mayor. I was honored to accept a NY Forward grant [check] of $4.5 million on behalf of the community of Richfield. This money, like other money we have been graced with, will be transformative for our small community. There is much work to be done to utilize these funds successfully, and Dan Sullivan with be part of this work as well.

“Because of the countless hours Dan has spent in every aspect of community planning, I strongly feel the Levine Award should be bestowed on Dan Sullivan. Thank you for your consideration.”

As mentioned by Frigault, this is the third NYPF award Sullivan has been a part of since 2019.

“In that year, the town and village received the Comprehensive Plan Award. I was the committee chair, and delivered the acceptance speech. The following year, in a virtual ceremony, the Town of Richfield was awarded the Pomeroy Award for Zoning Excellence. I was part of the three-member committee that wrote the new law,” Sullivan recalled.

Sullivan’s community service has also extended to Otsego County and the Mohawk Valley.

“As a member of the SUNY Oneonta Regional Innovation Council, I am helping lead the Natural Resource Inventory project for the county. I also serve on the board of the MVEDD and I am the chair of the Community Advisory Board of the Greater Mohawk Valley Land Bank—my goal in both of these capacities is to bring more projects to Otsego County, of course.”

Sullivan, a former English teacher and track and cross-country coach, also serves as treasurer of Otsego 2000, the mission of which is to celebrate, protect, and enhance the environmental, agricultural, cultural, scenic, and historic significance of the greater Otsego Lake region. He is a member of SUNY Oneonta’s Rural Initiative Challenge, the Richfield Springs Chamber of Commerce and Richfield Youth Sports.

In his spare time, Sullivan is a contributing writer for Iron String Press, with byline articles appearing in “The Freeman’s Journal,” “Hometown Oneonta” and on AllOtsego.com. He is a business owner as well, having co-founded the Richfield Springs Community Food Cooperative with Amy Wyant, which was incorporated in June 2018.

“While I’ve taken over the running of the business, I am technically just a member-owner like any other of our more than 300 members. I just do the work, along with our only employee. We’re trying to hang on to be part of the revitalization,” Sullivan quipped.

Sullivan has lived in Richfield since 1999—part time until 2011 and full time since then, he said. He is married, with four grown sons.

“I moved to Richfield because I wanted to be part of what I feel is a necessary step in restoring the health of our society: the revitalization of rural life and vitality. My chance to get involved came soon after I moved here full time, when a wind developer tried to build wind towers at our end of town,” Sullivan recalled. “I realized the community was unprotected, and set out immediately to get a comprehensive plan and zoning amendment in place. The co-op is a next step in that process, providing an anchor for people to gather downtown. I taught myself grant writing to take advantage of the funding that we were missing out on. I just keep looking for opportunities to move forward,” he said.

The New York Planning Federation provides training, educational and informational services to a broad range of members, enabling them to better assist themselves and their municipalities with development and land use decisions. For more information, visit nypf.org.