In the Town of Lloyd, longtime Highland resident and retired IBM exec David Plavchak is seeking a second term. He is running as a Republican/Conservative against local attorney Stuart Weiss, who has been endorsed by the Democratic party.

 

A key issue in town is the spate of residential development in recent years – and how best to handle them and the impact they have on local services. 

 

Two seats on the town board are being contested as well. Incumbents Joe Mazzetti and Mike Guerriero, both Democrats who also appear on the Conservative line, are being challenged by Republicans Mark Elia and Tiffany Rizzo.

 

The Southern Ulster Times submitted questions to each of the candidates. Their responses are included.

 

David Plavchak, 67, is seeking a second term as Town Supervisor for the Town of Lloyd. He is running with Republican and Conservative endorsements. Plavchak previously spent 41 years at IBM in various senior management roles, holds an AS degree from DeVry University and has done additional course work at SUNY New Paltz. He and his wife, Darlene, have four daughters and seven grandchildren.

 

I have been in office since January 2022 and have been able to make significant progress moving our town forward. Under my leadership we have been able to galvanize our departments into a strong working team to serve the community, getting projects started and completed and moving the Town of Lloyd in a positive direction. Our labor contracts are now all up to date, and we have built a strong sense of community involvement.  

 

I brought in $3.1 million in new grant money to the town in my first term and I have applied for an additional $19 million in grants. I have been able to build good working relationships with other public officials at various levels of government. I communicate with residents, and I am visible and approachable to everyone.

 

I have been involved in this community since I first moved here in 1977.  I volunteered and coached youth sports and served on various town committees for the town. In 2010, I joined the Planning Board and served as its chairman from 2015-2017. After retiring from IBM, I decided to take on this role where I knew I could apply my work experience and project managements skills to help the community.

 

We need to continue our focus on updating our aging infrastructure, applying for grants to offset costs. Another priority is to update the Town Comprehensive Plan, which was last updated in 2013. We also need to provide affordable housing that will enable current residents – including both seniors and younger residents - to continue to live here. Finally, attracting new businesses will enable the town to stay under the tax cap as costs and expenses continue to increase.

 

Our current town infrastructure (water/sewer/roads) is aging. I plan to continue updating it without adding additional tax burdens to our residents by applying for grants and by using reserve accounts. I also want to help provide a mix of housing that will enable our current residents and families to stay in town and remain a part of our community. 

 

I plan to finish revising and updating the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, which we began in late 2022 and for which we obtained grant funding. I’ll also work to provide additional recreational activities for our youth and senior citizens as well as to promote events that create community pride and help our business community.

 

Most important to me are keeping our community affordable and our tax rates low, updating aging infrastructure, maintaining and updating our parks and recreational facilities, and developing a transportation plan with the state Department of Transportation to alleviate traffic pinch points on our corridors. I also plan to focus on resident safety and promoting community policing policies and enhance communications between Lloyd residents and town departments.

 

Stuart Weiss is running as a Democrat for the town supervisor post for the Town of Lloyd. For the past 30 years he has been an attorney with a practice located in Highland. He holds a B.A. in economics from Pace University; he earned his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1993. His family consists of his wife, Christine; daughter, Lauren; and son, Alex.

 

I have not yet held public office. My experience includes being actively involved in our community over the years serving on the Highland Public Library board. I’ve also served on the I Love Lloyd Foundation board, Highland Music Boosters board and in the Highland Lions Club.

 

Education is always a priority for me. So is curbing ultra-high-density growth that is taking our open spaces and converting them into massive cluster housing projects.  Development is important but so is maintaining open spaces.  We need to encourage smart commercial development that will enhance our community by providing us with local goods and services that we both need and want.  Commercial development generally does not require the level of municipal services that residential development does. In this way, commercial development can help us to control the residential tax burden.

 

Maintaining our quality of life is very important to me.  People need to be able to afford to live, work, enjoy recreation and retire here.  With this in mind, our taxes need to be controlled and maintained at reasonable levels by all means possible.  We need to promote development that will accomplish and maintain affordability.

 

In addition to keeping the town operating and maintained, I would like to promote quality of life projects that do not cost a lot but impact everyone – such as tennis or bocce courts, or perhaps a dog park where people can bring their dogs and mingle with their neighbors.

 

The high-density development that has been encouraged needs to be limited in the future.  These types of projects create traffic and congestion, which negatively impact everyone.  They also increase demand for municipal services – and make more of them necessary – which in turn increases our taxes.  The repercussions of any future development in the community need to be more seriously studied and addressed before the taxpayer is burdened again without an adequate return. 

 

Development should not come at the cost of draining our taxpayer dollars by creating the need for more public services and infrastructure such as expensive wastewater treatment plants.

 

Joe Mazzetti, 56, is seeking reelection to the Lloyd Town Board. He is endorsed by the Democratic and Conservative parties. He holds a BA in political science from SUNY New Paltz, an MA in psychology from Marist College and a certificate of advanced study in administration from SUNY New Paltz. He is an assistant principal for the Poughkeepsie City School District and lives in Highland with his wife, Tina, and two daughters, Jenna and Ava.

 

I’ve held two terms for a total of eight years. I have fought to maintain a high-quality, affordable community that is both safe and uncongested. I have voted to reduce and stabilize taxes in the town and my ability to understand finance has been a driving force in keeping the town budget under the 2 percent cap for the last eight years. I voted “no” on the Villages, which will add 197 senior living cottages across from Hannaford and will create the most dangerous intersection in the Town of Lloyd. I held another developer responsible for flooding the rail trail and had him correct the drainage issue. I stopped a concrete repurposing plant from operating on Pancake Hollow Road. Concrete contains asbestos and other contaminants that had the potential to contaminate the water wells close to the property – including the well at Highland High School and a trout stream.

 

To keep our town safe, I worked to create two new police positions and worked to have our Police Department become part of the Ulster County Drug Task Force. I’ve worked with our state assemblyman to secure large financial grants for the Town of Lloyd. One of the grants, totaling $125,000, will be used to defer the cost of building a pavilion in the village. I am currently working to secure another $150,000 grant for our town. I have worked to ensure Recreation and other Town fees are at a minimal cost for our residents. I will continue to fight for laws that limit landlords from raising their rents more than 5 percent a year. 

 

Three of the most important challenges our town faces are the impacts of high-density housing, congestion, and taxes. The current focus of the Republican majority on our Town Board is to increase our population by any means possible. They are currently working on changing our Comprehensive Plan to allow five story buildings. This “more rooftop” philosophy will have a detrimental effect on our community forever. For example the 197 senior living cottages at the Villages will be about seven feet apart. Another development, Falcon Ridge, will squeeze 166 houses so close together that there is not enough room for each home to have its own septic system. 

 

This type of high-density housing is not the answer to making our community better. It just leads to congestion and the increased services needed by a bigger population. As a Town Board member, I always take into consideration the financial impacts that these new projects will have upon our community. Besides the increased tax revenue, I need to understand the impact of any given project on our infrastructure. We need to address our codes in the town’s Comprehensive Plan to ensure they do not adversely affect the health, safety, or welfare of the citizens.

 

I plan to uphold our affordable housing law to prevent families and the people who want to live here from being shut out. The way the law is supposed to work is that developers who build 10 or more units must set aside 10 percent of the homes/dwellings at an affordable rate for residents whose income is $60,000 a year or less.

 

I will also always follow procedures and the bid process to protect our tax dollars. The bidding process is an important part of the procurement process and it helps to ensure that the best possible product or service is obtained. It can also help to reduce the chances of corruption and collusion.

 

Mike Guerriero, 78, is seeking reelection as a Town of Lloyd councilman with Democratic and Conservative party endorsements. Now retired, for 42 years he owned and operated the Three Guys Pizzeria in Highland village. He holds an associate degree from the Culinary Institute of America and has been married for more than 50 years to Jolyn Abbate-Guerriero, his childhood sweetheart. They are the parents of a son, Michael and a daughter, Michelle Guerriero-Mylie.

 

I’ve been a councilman for 12 years. For me, it’s very simple—I am running because I love this great town. I have lived in Highland for more than 50 years, ran a business in the village for more than 40 years, and I raised my two children here.

 

This town has been good to me and with every day I spend in office I try to return the favor. It’s also important to note that I spend taxpayers’ money the way I spend my own, conservatively. During my tenure I’ve endeavored to be a steadfast voice of reason, championing collaboration and bipartisanship as the means to achieve our shared goals, and always getting things done in our residents’ best interest. 

 

Among the key issues I’ve focused on, I’ve voted during my tenure to ensure we never exceed the tax cap. I also make sure developers’ projects are not funded with taxpayer dollars, and I’ve worked to keep recreation fees minimal or free to town residents. I’ve also worked with Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson to secure a $125,000 grant to build a Pavilion, which has recently broken ground. 

 

Our town is confronted with a host of critical challenges, from the impact of high-density housing to congestion and tax concerns. Regrettably, the Republican board majority is advocating for expanding our housing footprint without adequately addressing the associated challenges, such as the increased demand for services and traffic congestion. My foremost commitment lies in the thorough evaluation of the financial and infrastructure impacts of proposed projects. While enhancing tax revenue is a priority, I firmly believe that our town codes and Comprehensive Plan must unwaveringly prioritize the financial burden on and quality of life of our citizens. In short, I believe in commonsense development, not what our current board has been doing. 

 

I would like to see the completion of the pavilion in Highland village. I have worked closely with Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson to secure the initial $125,000 grant and am currently working on obtaining another $150,000 grant. I have also received assurance from our recreation director that no sports activities will be impacted. I know the pavilion will become a place to gather and celebrate, offering shelter from the elements when needed. It’s a significant win for our community.

 

Mark Elia, 65, is seeking a seat on the Lloyd Town Board and is endorsed by the Republican Party. He’s a lifelong resident who previously served on the board from 2004 to 2008. Since 2022 he has been owner of GPA’s Bike Shop on Vineyard Avenue; he’s also owned and operated a catering firm for 17 years. He previously taught at the Culinary Institute of America and started Elia’s Meat Market in 2002. It later became the Hudson Valley Sausage Company, which Elia closed in 2021. He lives in Highland with his wife, Toni, and the couple has three adult children: Adrienne, Kaylee, and James.

 

I started my bike business as an at-home hobby and opened my store a year and a half ago. “GPA” is pronounced “gee-pa” and is what my grandchildren call me. I’ve been self-employed for 22 years: Even when I was teaching I ran a business. My butcher shop was in the location my bike shop now occupies. We became the only Federally licensed plant in Highland, ever. I had a vision of helping local farmers to process and sell their meat at local farmers’ markets. It takes a lot to become a USDA plant – including $300,000 in funds. My business was the only one locally that ever achieved this status. I retired and closed the business two years ago, but I’ll bring my wealth of business experience to my role on the Town Board.

 

We need to generate tax dollars by bringing the proper mix of businesses to town and minimizing the impact on the school district. We also need to improve our infrastructure: It was in trouble 20 years ago when I was on the Town Board. We did good things then, but we also didn’t have the resources that we now have. Our Town Supervisor Dave Plavchak has brought more grant money than ever to our town. That’s a great thing because anytime you can get grant dollars for infrastructure projects, why wouldn’t you go for it? Affordable housing is another stellar idea, and it is needed – but we must make sure we do it the right way. And one of my biggest priorities is to improve safety on the Hudson Valley Rail Trail.

 

In addition to owning a bike shop I’m an avid cyclist myself. I probably spend more time on the rail trail than most town residents. We’ve put the rail trail police patrol back in action: Pete Polizzi, president of the rail trail association, paid for all the parts to refurbish bicycles for our police officers, and I did all the labor. 

 

The next step is to improve the laws that regulate the trail. I ride the Cape Cod Rail Trail every year, and I ride in the cancer bikeathon on the Empire State Rail Trail, which goes from New York City to Niagara Falls, three times. I’ve seen trails that have speed signs and lane lines on them. Partly because of that, I’ve seen a lot more courtesy and cooperation than I see on our own trail. The Hudson Valley Rail Trail is one of the most beautiful things we have in our town. Yet, I’ve had friends tell me that they’re afraid to go on it. That shouldn’t be, and I want to fix it.

 

I want to do more to grow our town’s business community. The Town of Lloyd has a revolving loan fund – the Lloyd Community Development Fund – that offers businesses low-interest loans. I’ve been a recipient of loans from the Fund twice: when I started my business in 2002 and later when we wanted to expand and become a Federally certified plant. I paid both of my loans off early. 

 

The important thing is, I would not have been able to grow my business without these loans. Ultimately, I employed five local families in my own business. The Community Development Fund is a great resource that’s available to new businesses. Based on my own experience, I want to be a major player in helping businesses start out here – and to grow. 

 

Tiffany Rizzo, 39, is running for the Lloyd Town Board with Republican endorsement. She is a teacher’s assistant at Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and holds associate’s degrees in early education as well as business administration from Dutchess Community College. She has been married to Kevin Rizzo for 11 years; together, they are parents of two children: Emma, 9 and Colden, 5.

 

I am new to the political field. I believe I would add a conservative perspective as well as new ideas that the Town Board hasn’t seen in a while.

 

My children’s future is what piqued my interest in running. It is important to me that they have an affordable, safe, and respected community in which to grow up and to thrive.

 

The priorities to focus on are being fiscally responsible with our taxpayers’ money and making it affordable for all to live here. It’s also important to fix and repair outdated infrastructure, to push smart development, and to help small businesses to thrive here in our town.

 

I think it’s important to create a highly connected community. I’d also work to ensure the safety of and support for our first responders. Our parks and recreation programs need to be enhanced for all to enjoy. I also want to work to bring in more small businesses and help them thrive.

 

I want to focus on the town’s affordability, cost of living and keeping taxes down. I also want to foster community involvement by helping to create a board that our community members can trust and count on to make the right decisions for the betterment of our town. And I want to again mention that enhancing our parks and recreation programs and resident safety are both very important to me.

 

I’m honest and respectful. I have a strong moral compass and want to see our community continue to prosper and be the best it can be. I’m hardworking and dependable and will genuinely have the residents’ best interests in mind on the Town Board. My most important investments are in my family, my friends and my community.