Supervisor among four uncontested races
Incumbent Republican town Supervisor James Quigley is uncontested for a fifth two-year term and has been cross-endorsed on the Conservative and Independence lines.
Quigley, 60, of 7 Tall Oaks Drive, previously lost the 2008 election for Ulster County comptroller.
A former partner in Rothschild Realty Management LLC in New York City, he has lived in the town for 24 years and, with wife Joan, has three children. He graduated from John A. Coleman Catholic High School in 1974, earned a bachelor’s degree in science and accounting in 1985 and a master’s degree in accounting from SUNY Albany in 1987. He is a volunteer with Montropose Cemetery in Kingston.
“We just lost the tax (assessment) battle with the Hudson Valley Mall and there are a number of others out there that probably, when they add up, they add up to what we lost in the Hudson Valley Mall,” he said.
“My focus continues to be on the financial well-being of the community and attempt to make the community financially sustainable,” he said. “We’ve had three successive years where we’ve had decreases in the assessment roll. Given what we’ve had coming through the development process, along with the other problems we’re looking at in the assessment area, we may very well be looking at a fourth consecutive year with a decrease in the assessment roll. So I think it’s incumbent on the town leadership to find some new development to stop this trend.”
There will also be a ballot proposition that determines whether the supervisor’s term will continue to be for two years or be extended to four years. There will be three candidates listed on the ballot for four-year Town Board seats, but Renato DiBella, whose name will appear on the Independence line, has dropped out of the race. Incumbent Republican Councilman John Morrow, 65, of 501 Foxmor Lane, Lake Katrine, also has the Conservative Party endorsement for his third term. He is a farmer and raises alpacas, honey bees, and chickens. A retired state police investigator, he formerly owned Safeco Alarm Systems. Morrow is a 30-year town resident and, with wife Bernice, has three children. He is a 1969 graduate of Kingston High School, earned an associate’s degree in police science from Ulster County Community College in 1973, and a bachelor of science degree in policing from SUNY Excelsior in 2008. He is chairman of the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency and a member of the O&W Rail Trail Committee.
“We ... have to rebuild Town Hall and get the Police Department into better lodgings,” he said.
“We’re constantly concerned with bringing better-paying jobs into the town and trying to keep our youth in Ulster County and having affordable jobs for them and places to live for them,” he said. “We have to encourage new businesses to come into town and open their doors and bring in employees and staff and so forth and encouraging people to shop locally in the town instead of jumping on Amazon and buying online.”
Democratic candidate incumbent Councilman Rocco Secreto, 62, of 149 Ulster Landing Road, will also appear on the Working Families Party line in seeking a third nonconsecutive term. He was on the board from 200609, lost a re-election bid, and won in 2013.
Secreto is an independent distributor for Thomas Muffins and Arnold Bread. He has lived in the town for 30 years and, with wife Mary, who is a clerk for the town assessor, has two children. He is a 1973 graduate of Kingston High School. He is a board member with the Riccio Memorial Fund.
“We need to get the Police Department into a building and out of the trailers,” he said. “It’s got to be almost eight years we’ve been paying rent on them trailers. We’ve got to get them into one building and stop paying the rent.”
Secreto said he would also like to have water service extended to Ulster Landing Road.
“We need to get a lot of people off wells and get them on public water and sewer,” he said. “There’s got to be three or four people that just dug new wells out here. We’re looking into tying to an East Kingston (Water District) extension out here.”
Republican incumbent Justice Susan Kesick, 59, of 610 Otis St., will also be on the Conservative and Independence lines in seeking a fourth four-year term. She was a court clerk for 16 years before winning her current justice seat in 2005. She is a 1976 graduate of Kingston High School and has two children, with one employed as a town police officer.
Kesick is a founding member of the Ulster County
Court Clerks Association and Ulster County Interagency Council on Domestic Violence.
“We have a major drug problem going on,”she said. “That needs to be addressed. We have quite a few agencies trying to address it, but it’s rampant. We see a lot of drug users in the court room. Obviously, that’s a very big issue, not just for the town of Ulster, but for everyone here in Ulster County.”
Kesick said the rise in drug use has not changed her basic philosophy in hearing cases.
“We look at each case separately so I don’t want to group everyone into one group,” she said. “Every single case is completely different. Of course, anything going on in that person’s life or the reasons behind why they’re in front always impacts the outcome of a case. We try to not just penalize, we try to help.”