The Town of Montgomery board, during its June 17 meeting, recognized two groups that exemplified the best of their community: Montgomery Elementary’s Odyssey of the Mind and the town’s Emergency Medical Services.

The board opened its meeting by introducing the Odyssey of the Mind team, a group of students who competed against local and international teams in problem-solving contests. The team began with regionals at Ulster-Orange Boces in March, won first place in New York State’s tournament in April, and finally placed 22nd in the program’s world finals at Iowa State University last month.

“We competed at regionals in Boces, Goshen in March; we did third place there but we were invited to states. We placed first in states, which was a big feather in our cap, and then we went to Iowa,” said Gail Nozell, the team’s advisor. “It’s a very big accomplishment; we competed against 57 other teams and we were 22nd. We thought they rocked, they did really well.”

Both the board and District 9 Legislator Ron Feller presented the team with certificates on behalf of the town and Orange County; they congratulated the students for a job well done and thanked Montgomery Elementary for cultivating the town’s children with excellent teachers and programs.

“I am privileged to say that I had four children graduate from MES and eight grandchildren graduate from MES. Four of them were in Odyssey of the Mind,” Feller said. “MES has a special place in my heart; the sports programs are great, their literature is awesome, their grad fest is great, they have the best stage productions, the best chorus. You guys keep up the good work.”

Next up, the board recognized the Town of Montgomery EMS for two major feats: first, the EMS responded to an emergency call from James Taylor, president and CEO of Taylor-Montgomery LLC. On April 15 at 3:30 p.m., EMS Chief of Operations Rich Willey arrived at Neelytown Road near the Speedway gas station and provided advance care to Taylor, who was experiencing symptoms of a cardiac event. The ambulance corps arrived shortly after and drove Taylor to St. Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh.

“On April 15, it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I went out for a walk, and all of a sudden, I’m having a heart attack. Nobody would look at Jim Taylor and believe that he would be having a problem or a bad heart, much less have a heart attack,” Taylor said. “I’m so fortunate to be here two months later, and it’s because of this bunch of people here, most particularly the one guy who’s got the white shirt (Willey).”

Second, the Orange County EMS Council nominated the town’s EMS as the county’s “EMS Agency of the Year 2024” on June 10. For both of these accomplishments, the board presented two plaques to Willey and the EMS respectively. Taylor also donated $2,500 to the EMS and offered its members a tour of his recycling facility last month.

“These individuals here are doing this every day, 24/7, answering 3,000 calls a year. The Town of Montgomery is growing bigger, and we hope to grow and prosper with them,” Willey said. “This has been many years coming as far as the development and ambulance corps behind me. It takes a vision, leadership, the ability to implement complicated processes and procedures, difficult conversations, planning, strategy, and all the things coming together to make something so amazing,” said Sylvie Rainaldi, a trustee of the EMS. “I dreamt of having somewhere when we call 911, there was always going to be an ambulance that came quickly and provided the highest level of service. It’s amazing to see it all come to fruition.”