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SUPER TO AIR HIS VIEWS (SCHENECTADY COUNTY, ROTTERDAM)

Posted on: 01/30/08
Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff
email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com

This weekend Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steven Tommasone will hit the airwaves to share his insights on how local governments cooperate both with town residents and with other municipalities.

Tommasone will be the featured guest on the “Siena Alumni Connection,” hosted by Mark Grimm on Siena College’s radio station WVCR, 88.3 FM “The Saint.” The show airs Saturday, Feb. 2, at 10 a.m. and again on Sunday, Feb. 3, at 6 p.m.

A 1986 graduate of Siena, Tommasone said he discussed a range of issues from the board’s recent decision to stall a resolution that would have given town board members a pay raise to the importance for local elected officials to be responsive and available to their constituents during the show’s taping.

Tommasone said that much of the interview focused on the way a town supervisor thinks in terms of budgeting and problem solving.

“When I see a set amount of money in the budget,” said Tommasone. “I think about what I could do with it. I think about it in terms of ‘I could pave a road with that money’ or ‘This could buy park equipment.’ I think about the money in terms of tangible results.”

Tommasone also discussed the importance of communication between municipalities and county government.

A commuter student during his four years on campus, Tommasone also reminisced about his experiences as a student. Tommasone said he spent a lot of time in the college’s campus center and library talking with friends and focusing on his studies in between working several off-campus jobs to help pay tuition bills.

He also said he’s proud to call himself a Siena alumnus.

“It seems like two out of every three people I meet either went to Siena or Union College,” said Tommasone. “There’s a huge alumni contingent in this area.”

Town board member Michael Della Villa is also a Siena graduate.

“Siena Alumni Connection” is a weekly radio show that keeps Siena College alumni up to date with Siena happenings and the accomplishments of graduates. It features interviews, college news and nostalgia.

“The show’s been going strong for several years now,” said Nate Maloney, Siena’s director of alumni relations. “Alumni from all over the world have tuned in to Mark Grimm’s broadcast since we’ve made the station available online.”

Listeners on their laptops and PCs can tune in on the Web at http://www.wvcr.com.
Grimm is a 1978 graduate of Siena College and is currently an adjunct professor of journalism at the college. A former television news broadcaster, Grimm is the founder of Mark Grimm Communications, a public speaking training, media relations and political consulting firm in Guilderland.
Grimm is also a member of the Guilderland Town Board.

Grimm said listeners could gain insight into the processes of local government by listening to his interview with Tommasone.

“A lot of people don’t understand how town government works,” said Grimm.

Past guests on the show include such local notables as broadcaster Paul Vandenburg, television news journalist Kelly Lynch and attorney Steve Coffey.