Mayoral seat up for election - Marty Markonic

Marty Markonic has served the village of Millerton as a trustee since 2006. In 2013, he’d like to become its mayor.A registered Libertarian running on the Republican and independent Liberty Party lines, Markonic said he made the decision after learning of Mayor John Scutieri’s plan to not seek re-election.“I was extremely disappointed that he wasn’t going to run again, and I think the board as it is now was really put together. We made a great team and everybody did their job just the way it should be,” he said. “But in life everything doesn’t work out, so John decided to hang it up and after some thought I decided [to run].”Markonic said he was concerned, initially, that his work in construction would keep him away from Millerton too frequently. But after speaking with Scutieri, he said he gained some perspective.“He said he sits in the office some days and nobody comes in, that if people have a grievance they come to the board meetings,” Markonic said, adding he would leave his day job if an emergency occurred. He also said he would make his cell phone number readily available and be in constant contact with Village Hall.As a village trustee, Markonic said his specialty is infrastructure, an area he’s especially familiar with due to his vocation. “Anything that pertains to sidewalks, roads, water, sewer, drains, anything like that, that’s me. That’s what I do, like it or not,” he said.In fact, some of Markonic’s favorite success stories while on the board include repairing the pool, for which he donned diving gear and spent two Sundays with a plumber to find a 15-year-old leak that turned out to be a broken main drain pipe. Other work he’s proud of includes the ongoing sidewalk repair and replacement project the village has pursued for the past few years. A man of action, Markonic has graded, curbed and laid out some of the sidewalks himself, saving thousands for the village.While infrastructure is his strength, the mayoral candidate said his experience has sometimes led others to dismiss him from making more cognitive contributions. But Markonic said he’s got a head for business. Before moving to Millerton with his family he had a successful deli and convenience store in Marlboro, Ulster County. And he has shown at the board table that he’s just as capable of analytical thinking as his colleagues.“I try to think things through before doing them, I would never have a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “But I’m capable of making a decision without thinking for too long if there’s an emergency.”One thing he has had time to consider is how he would approach the running of the village.“First and foremost I offer strong leadership, and I’m extremely fair,” Markonic said. “And I would definitely be very fiscally conservative. My number one thing is not raising taxes, and if at all possible, reducing taxes and reducing spending — if we can make services run more efficiently. I will do what has to be done.”Ten years from now Markonic said he would like to see Millerton discover its creative side.“I want to see more opportunity for the arts, not necessarily that the village will be providing it, but that the village won’t be denying it,” he said. “I want to see more community going on. Everybody has extremely busy lives and we’re totally ignoring each other, we don’t get together as much any more. I want to see more community days and get people interested and involved.”