Pictured, from left, are Maggie Richardson, David Lipsey, Ted Farnham, Bryan Dahlberg, Jeff Molnar and Michele Novotny. Dahlberg retired in September after 24 years as mayor of Bemus Point and 33 years overall on the Village Board.
P-J photo by Eric Tichy
BEMUS POINT — Bryan Dahlberg may have been born in Jamestown, but his heart has long been with the village and its residents.
Fore more than 30 years, Dahlberg served on the Bemus Point Village Board.
He was first appointed in 1989 by then-Mayor Richard Babbage to fill a trustee vacancy on the board. Nine years later he became mayor, a position he would go on to hold for the next 24 years until he announced his retirement this year.
Dahlberg officially retired in September.
“I love Bemus Point, I love the people here,” Dahlberg told The Post-Journal on Tuesday after he was recognized by the Village Board for his decades of public service. “I enjoyed it. I raised my kids here — my son lives here. My daughter teaches at the elementary school.”
Dahlberg said he had an opportunity to leave the area upon his return from serving in the Vietnam War. With a job possibly lined up elsewhere, he decided to stay.
“My wife (Ann) was a Bemus girl,” he said. “As we were in our younger years dating, prior to me going in the military, we hung around Bemus Point. I came up here and met her here. We just enjoyed it. I love this village.”
Asked of his greatest accomplishment serving as mayor for 24 years, Dahlberg joked, “Keeping my sanity is No. 1.”
He said he’s extremely proud of the work the village put in to establish a comprehensive plan. The high mark of the plan, which he noted received recognition from regional and state planning associations, was a Streetscape project to upgrade the pedestrian infrastructure throughout the village.
“We carried the ball with that project,” he said. “We replaced all of the sidewalks from the (Hotel) Lenhart all the way to the post office, and Main Street and Lakeside Drive. And we put in new benches and we put in flower boxes and cross walks and wayfinding signs.”
He estimated the project cost more than $850,000.
“It was a community change,” he added. “It just made things look nice. It got rid of those broken sidewalks.”
Ted Farnham, deputy mayor, said Dahlberg has “done a great job for the village” and wished him well in retirement. He pointed to the Streetscape project as among Dahlberg’s greatest contributions to Bemus Point.
Trustee Maggie Richardson was first appointed to the Village Board by Dahlberg. She has now served as a trustee for about 20 years.
“We owe a lot of thanks to Mr. Dahlberg,” Richardson said. “He was the one to head up all the Streetscape and that was huge to us. It updated our whole village.”
Dahlberg’s tenure as mayor was not without its challenges, however. He said he was deeply hurt by the revelation in 2020 that funds were being used by Jennifer Jaeger, then the village clerk and treasurer, for personal use. The theft, in the amount of $60,000, came to light when the state Comptroller’s Office noted financial “discrepancies” in annual reports filed with the state.
Jaeger later pleaded guilty in Ellery Town Court to a reduced charge of petit larceny and agreed to repay the village the money she stole.
“That was a very trying time,” Dahlberg said. “You put your trust in people. … I guess we were naive. We did things the way we always did it, and as long as you have honest people, things go smoothly. But when you don’t, you don’t. It broke my heart, it really did. I sat in that office and cried, but we got through it. It took two years to do it, and I wasn’t going to leave until the final report to the state was done.”
In October, Jeff Molnar was named interim mayor of Bemus Point. He will fill the remainder of Dahlberg’s term, which runs through Dec. 31, 2023.
During a ceremony prior to Tuesday’s Village Board meeting, Molnar expounded on his predecessor’s lengthy and impressive resume with the village. He noted that Dahlberg, the son of a career Jamestown firefighter, also volunteered with the Bemus Point Fire Department, serving as chief for three years.
It’s Dahlberg’s time as mayor, though, that Molnar said deserved plenty of recognition.
“Bryan shepherded us through the ups and downs, a whole lot more ups than downs,” he said. “Just look at our stellar park, our Casino and our Main Street Streetscape. He immersed himself completely while still putting his loving family first.”
He added, “During my short tenure here thus far, I have learned from many public officials across the county just how much Bryan is respected. He was the king of networking before it was a buzzword. He relied on many and they relied on him.”
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