Archive: Around Town

Lyle WadellLyle Wadell was recognized at Wednesday's Town board meeting for volunteering to maintain the Town of Lansing Web site for over a decade.  Wadell took over maintenance of the site in 2000 and continued until the end of last month.  Deputy Supervisor Connie Wilcox presented him with a certificate of appreciation, a gift certificate to Sears, and a gift certificate for dinner at Rogue's Harbor Inn.

"I figured out the number of weeks that he has volunteered for the town on the Web site... he made about thirty cents a week with what I am going to give him tonight," Wilcox joked.  "The thing about Lyle is that he's not the kind of person who likes to boast about the things that he does.  People don't even know some of the things that he does, because he does them very quietly, but he helps a lot of people and he has done a lot for the community."

In June Wadell told the Town he could no longer maintain the site, but not before he lined up an alternative.  The new site was designed by StarWebPage.com, and is built in such a way that selected Town employees can update it themselves.  About a half dozen employees will now upload agendas, minutes, and other official information and documents, something Wadell did for all the departments for ten and a half years.

A long-time Lansing resident, Wadell has volunteered for the Lansing Volunteer Fire Department as an EMT and Deputy Director of EMTs.  He volunteered extensively for the Lansing Community Library, especially in its formative years before it was chartered.

"Lyle would say 'it's nothing', but Susan Rosenkoetter said 'It's something.  Lyle did a lot.  Lyle can't say that he didn't because he did'," Wilcox said Wednesday.  Rosenkoetter was a leader in library programming in its early years.  Wadell worked with her on numerous initiatives, notably the Summer Reading Program.


The original Town Web site was at ithaca.ny.us/govt/lansingtown.  In 2000 former Councilpeople Bud Shattuck and Katrina Binkewicz asked Wadell to take over its maintenance and gave him two pages of things they wanted on the site.  In late 2000 he took a course in Web site building and began working on the site.  In 2003 he procured the domain name lansingtown.com.

"I thought we ought to be able to have a Lansing Town domain name and not have to be under that long string," Wadell says.  "I convinced (Former Town Supervisor Steve Farkas) and the board to get it."

When Kim Davis, who had been maintaining the Lansing Historical Association Web site, passed away Wadell convinced the board to host that site on the Town's site.  A few weeks ago that site got its own domain name, lansinghistory.com, but it continues to be hosted by the Town.  He also worked on a site for the Lansing Community Library that was hosted by the Town until the library was chartered and got its own site.


Wadell was characteristically modest in accepting the Town's appreciation, deflecting credit to the Town's employees.

"Everything I did all these years wouldn't work if it wasn't for the staff here in this building," Wadell said.  "A Web site is nothing unless the staff provides information in a timely manner.  I've had the pleasure of working with some great staff people here.  The board should know you have great staff people here that made it very enjoyable all those years."

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