I’ve been asked by friends and neighbors why I’m seeking a seat on Croton’s Board of Trustees. I’ve been a resident of Croton for over twenty years. From my earliest days in the village, Croton’s local politics has been particularly nasty, even by political standards. It seems that for as long as I can remember, people have asked why the local political scene couldn’t be more civil. After all, we’re all neighbors. Surely, we can get along over issues like zoning, paving roads, and maintaining parks, can’t we?
Yet, when it came to the various boards over the years, voting always seemed to follow political party affiliation. If the board was three Republicans and two Democrats, the vote seemed to always be three to two, with the Republicans voting together and the Democrats voting together. If the board was four Democrats and one Republican, the vote was four to one. It’s as though the success of the political party was more important than the success of the village.
Frankly, I find that disappointing. I love this village, and have a high regard for the people that live in it…regardless of their party affiliation. This isn’t major league baseball where you root for a team, it’s the village that our children grow up in together; where we live and learn together. From my perspective, a village government should be concerned with doing the most amount of good for the greatest number of people without doing harm to its members. Partisan politics should have nothing to do with seeking out experienced people to assist in managing our local government.
I’ve seen our village government virtually throw money away on the adoption of policies or zoning practices that have led to over a million dollars in wasted legal expenses. I’ve seen construction contracts that have gone seriously over budget, and a village government unwilling to hold consultants’ feet to the fire when they’ve provided misinformation. I’ve seen this first hand as a member of the village Planning Board for five years, and as a resident over the last twenty years.
I firmly believe that as a corporate attorney who oversees the hiring of law firms to provide advice and counsel to my employer; who oversees litigation; reviews and negotiates contracts; manages the zoning process in the building of new stores; I can be a significant asset to the Board of Trustees. Decades of my practical experience in retail, zoning, construction contracting, litigation, labor negotiations and human resource management have been found useful by numerous client corporations over the years that I have practiced as an attorney, and I’m fairly certain that the municipal corporation known as the Village of Croton on Hudson could benefit by it as well. I hope to have your support on November 8th.
Mark Aarons