To the Editor:

Before deciding whether or not to run for re-election to the village board last year, my husband and I talked a lot about what we should do after he retired.

We decided that we were not going to plan to move and that there was still good work I could do for the Village of Potsdam through trying to remain of the board. I am grateful to the village voters for agreeing strongly and giving me the opportunity to do that.

Since actually retiring the end of May, however, Phil was offered an adjunct professorship in Rochester. He has been collaborating with a group there for quite a while, and they enthusiastically encouraged him to formally affiliate in retirement, which he has done. They are enthusiastic for us to move there, too. It's an opportunity he needs to take.

While we have no immediate plans to leave Potsdam, we do plan to move to Rochester sometime within the next year. We are hoping to move in the late spring, but that is not entirely clear. I will obviously resign from the board when we move.

Even though this is not imminent, there are two reasons why I feel it is important to let people know now, both of which involve transparency. We are in the process of hiring a new village administrator, and this person should come into this position aware of this coming change in the board.

In addition, we all know the power of rumor in the village, so better to inform you all right away than feel later that information was withheld from you.

This is not yet a farewell. While I still have the energy and a commitment to work hard for all of us in the Village of Potsdam, I will continue to do my best for all of us who live and work here.

Eleanor Hopke

Potsdam