Published: November 17, 2009 12:54 am      

VILLAGE OF LEWISTON: Geiben officially named mayor

Long-time trustee sworn in as mayor, Victor Eydt joins board

For the first time in more than 15 years, Richard Soluri was just a spectator at a Board of Trustees meeting.

Soluri watched quietly from the back of the room as trustee William H. Geiben was confirmed as mayor in a 2-0 vote.

Geiben served as the interim mayor before Monday’s meeting and he will serve the remainder of Soluri’s term which is up next year.

Geiben has lived in Lewiston for more than 40 years and said that he hopes to carry on the success created by Soluri over his lengthy term.

“I am grateful to be able to serve my community,” Geiben said. “I want to continue to promote the pride that was been established over the past 15 years and am eager to get to work.”

He said he hopes to make strides toward improving the village’s storm sewer system and make Lewiston more accommodating to tourists.

“We are constantly trying to upgrade our storm sewers, we hope that some funding becomes available because we would really like to put in some new sewers,” Geiben said.

He added that one of his pet projects would be creating a directory on Center Street containing all local business information. He said the directory would be accompanied by signs throughout the village to make it more “visitor friendly.”

Board Member Terry Collesano abstained from the vote and declined comment following the meeting.

Soluri resigned unexpectedly last month citing personal reasons and said he has no intentions of running for higher office in the future.

Soluri’s name was left on the meeting agenda to which Village Clerk Anne Welch called “an act of habit.”

Geiben’s promotion left a vacant village board seat that was filled by a unanimous vote Monday by Town Planning Board Chairman Victor Eydt.

Edyt, a lifelong Lewiston resident, has served on the planning board for 12 years and as chairman for eight.

“I think that being on the planning board for so long it has made me pretty aware of what is happening in Lewiston,” Edyt said “I thought about this for a long time and when the opportunity arose, I just couldn’t pass it up.”

Geiben announced that board member Michael Marra’s seat will be vacated in January when he becomes a member of the Lewiston Town Board.

Also on Monday, the board was updated on the process for the moving of what is known as the Piper Law Office from its current location to make room for a state-funded tourism office.

Village Engineer Mike Marino said the town received a $200,000 grant from the New York state Department of Transportation to establish a tourist welcome center in the village.

Geiben said traffic in the village will be forced to use detour routes as Center Street will be blocked off for the majority of Wednesday morning. The move is set to begin at 6 a.m.

Geiben said most of the traffic will be routed down north 5th Street.