Jason West said the culture of his 2011 mayoral campaign could be described by his ringtone: “The Eye of the Tiger.”
“It’s become our fight song,” he said. “We just had a lot of fun.”
Facing off against three other candidates, West triumphed Tuesday night and captured his second non-consecutive term as Village of New Paltz mayor.
Scoring a total of 381 votes, West beat out Deputy Mayor Jean Gallucci, former trustee Pete Healey and Jonathan Cohen. Joining him on the new village board will be former campus NYPIRG coordinator Ariana Basco and 41-year village resident Sally Rhoads, who each took a four-year trustee seat. Stewart Glenn also defeated current board member Shari Osborn for the two-year trustee position.
When he begins his term in June, West said he wants to pick up exactly where he left off four years ago.
“I know exactly what I’m doing and I’m going to hit the ground running,” he said. “There is a whole sweep of projects that were in the midst of being implemented when I lost in ‘07.”
One project involved a transportation and land use study, which West said detailed ways to potentially ease traffic in the village. But he said these plans and many others were put to the side when Mayor Terry Dungan took office.
West said the current village board has also been too secretive and withdrawn from residents, causing vacancies in volunteer services like the fire department.
“That I think is the most important thing to reverse,” West said. “If people want to help out and volunteer in the community, I’ll create a commission to do the task.”
With less than one month left as mayor, Dungan said he is nervous about what will come from West’s administration.
Dungan said the primary problem regarding West’s last term was that he paid no attention to detail.
“I don’t see him as having changed,” Dungan said. “I don’t see any indication that he’s really capable of managing business on a day-to-day basis any better than he did the last time around.”
However, Town Supervisor Toni Hokanson said West fostered the best relationship the town and village have had over the last decade.
She said West was able to complete water and fire contracts on time, which the town and village have joint jurisdiction over. Hokanson said he also showed the commitment to making decisions that benefited the community.
“When we disagreed, we agreed to disagree and went on to the next issue,” she said. “We got things done.”
West said he looks forward to working with the new village board. While he doesn’t agree with every idea they have, he said each trustee is capable of hearing out arguments and keeping an open mind.
Slash Root owner Justin Holmes said he was very optimistic about the future village board and the election results.
“I think they’re all impressive candidates and they all performed very well at the Slash Root debate,” Holmes said. “I thought they were clearly the winners of that debate and that was where they earned my vote.”
Basco said she is excited to begin working with Glenn and Rhoads, who both ran under the one community ticket in support of consolidating town and village governments.
While she is open to implementing shared services – which would involve combining some boards and commissions – Basco said she is not entirely ready to move into the direction of consolidation. Regardless, she knows she can find a compromise.
“If we disagree on something, we have to be able to talk it through,” she said. “Married
couples disagree on things, but they love each other anyway. And if we’re friends first and colleagues second, then we’ll have a different kind of respect.”
Rhoads and Glenn both said they believe consolidation will remain a major issue in the coming months because it is illogical to have two planning and zoning boards.
Rhoads said having two of everything has prevented positive change from occurring in the community.
“If we’re going to ever be able to attract incubators connected with the college, we’ve got to provide the infrastructure,” Rhoads said. “But the land that is most appropriate for business is in the town.”
Basco said she will continue to have an active role with SUNY New Paltz students as the co-chair of the Environmental Task Force. She also hopes to implement a large-scale internship program where students across all majors can work to improve the community while simultaneously receiving college credit.
According to West, 80 percent of the village’s population is under 40, and 75 percent are renters. Therefore, he said promoting unity between students and older residents is a major goal of his term.
However, West said he hates the word “students.”
“The law says you live here for 30 days, you’re an equal participant in our community,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re 18 or 80. Same voice, same vote – and that’s the way it is.”
West said he looks forward to getting back to his old seat very soon, but in the meantime, he has a lot of planning to do.
Aside from wanting to start development to extend Main Street, he would also like to find a better place to put Village Hall, among other things.
“This is what we want to do,” he said. “We’re just going to be honest. We’re not saints, we’re not geniuses, but we’ve got some ideas. So lets work together and see if this works.”
While she is open to implementing shared services – which would involve combining some boards and commissions – Basco said she is not entirely ready to move into the direction of consolidation. Regardless, she knows she can find a compromise.
“If we disagree on something, we have to be able to talk it through,” she said. “Married couples disagree on things, but they love each other anyway. And if we’re friends first and colleagues second, then we’ll have a different kind of respect.”
Rhoads and Glenn both said they believe consolidation will remain a major issue in the coming months because it is illogical to have two planning and zoning boards.
Rhoads said having two of everything has prevented positive change from occurring in the community.
“If we’re going to ever be able to attract incubators connected with the college, we’ve got to provide the infrastructure,” Rhoads said. “But the land that is most appropriate for business is in the town.”
Basco said she will continue to have an active role with SUNY New Paltz students as the co-chair of the Environmental Task Force. She also hopes to implement a large-scale internship program where students across all majors can work to improve the community while simultaneously receiving college credit.
According to West, 80 percent of the village’s population is under 40, and 75 percent are renters. Therefore, he said promoting unity between students and older residents is a major goal of his term.
However, West said he hates the word “students.”
“The law says, you live here for 30 days, you’re an equal participant in our community,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re 18 or 80. Same voice, same vote – and that’s the way it is.”
West said he looks forward to getting back to his old seat very soon; but in the meantime, he has a lot of planning to do.
Aside from wanting to start development to extend Main Street, he would also like to find a better place to put Village Hall, among other things.
“This is what we want to do,” he said. “We’re just going to be honest. We’re not saints, we’re not geniuses, but we’ve got some ideas. So let’s work together and see if this works.”