By Jasmine Willis
WAYLAND — After over a decade of service to the community the former supervisor steps down from office.
George Ott served on the Wayland Town Board for 12 years before retiring on Jan. 1. Carol Mykel has taken on the role of town supervisor now and will continue the proud legacy.
Ott was many things to the community, town supervisor, school board president, and even a state trooper.
For a decade he served on the Wayland-Cohocton school board of education. He was instrumental in the Wayland and Cohocton merger and the field house being built.
Before Ott got into politics, he served his country right out of high school. Ott served four years in the US Air Force. Afterwards he began his career in law enforcement as a state trooper going from Batavia, Henrietta, Bath, to Painted Post and ending in Wayland. Ott spent 21 years in law enforcement.
There were several achievements from the town board in his tenure; purchasing the old law office and making it the town hall, remodeling the town court, having shared services with other townships (dog kennels and stone crushers), and developing the water and sewer off the I390 at no cost to taxpayers.
Ott spends his time now helping the Wayland Area Historical Society every Monday.
Town Councilman Gordon Sick mentioned all of the highlights Ott has done with the town board in community service. Not just with the town board but also with the school board; both made a huge impact on the townspeople for years to come.
Ott recalled being part of the meeting when the superintendent was talking about combining the schools. There was outrage from the parents at the time, since they didn’t want their kids in with older kids. Ott said, “it started by bringing in the first to fourth graders into this school. It was a huge process at the time to get 200 kids out of one school and bring them here. After a few months the parents were pleased to have them all in the same building.”
“George has worked very hard for this community, and his accomplishments are great. They are going to live on forever here,” Sick said. “I have appreciated and enjoyed working with George.”
Ott agreed with the commitment of the town board all of these years.
“We have worked very well together. WE have accomplished so much together. We have great neighbors with the American Legion and the Tri-County Family Care,” he said.
If you ask George Ott he will tell you with a smile that the Wayland Town Court remains the best in all of Steuben County.