Standing not too far from where he hopes to start working soon, Ken Ronk Jr. officially announced his candidacy for Town of Shawangunk Supervisor in front of family, friends and supporters Saturday afternoon outside the Town Hall.

Ronk is currently the Minority Leader in the Ulster County Legislature where he was first elected in 2008. He is also chairman of the Ulster County Republican party.

Ronk hopes to replace longtime Supervisor John Valk who announced earlier this year that he has decided not to run again after serving 25 years in office.

Ronk is expected to face off in a GOP primary later this year against Deputy Supervisor Adrian “Binker” DeWitt who has said he is “definitely leaning towards running.”

While DeWitt has strongly aligned himself with Valk and declared that he’d like to see the town continue to build on what it has accomplished during his tenure, Ronk made it clear in his prepared remarks that he wanted to move the town in a different direction.

“We can be content with the status quo or we can choose to challenge that status quo,” Ronk said. “We can choose to do the same thing we have always done or we can choose to strive for the new idea. We can choose to do the easy thing and consistently make no the goal or we can choose to do the hard thing and struggle for yes. I’m here to challenge the status quo, to do the hard things and to strive for yes to our residents.”

Ronk said the town has let millions of dollars in grant money go to other towns because it doesn’t have a grant writer.

“Many grant writing organizations will write grants for free for the percentage of the grant that is built in for the administration,” Ronk said. “If I’m elected, we will no longer let this money slip away to other communities.”

Ronk, 37, said his experience in the Ulster County Legislature, where he once served as Chairman of the Legislature, will be of great benefit to the town if he is elected to the supervisor’s office.

“I have found ways to work with my colleagues to innovate,” he said. “I have worked to build bridges, to find agreement, and to get to yes.”

Ronk thanked the late Roger Rascoe, the former Ulster County GOP Chairman, for his advice over the years.

“A mentor, a friend, an ally, and from time to time, someone who would holler at me,” Ronk said of Rascoe. “Words he spoke to me time and time again in my early years on the Legislature. ‘Grow the base. Not the rate.’”

Ronk said it was a “misnomer” that the only way to increase revenue is to increase taxes.

“With responsible growth, we can grow the tax base of the Town of Shawangunk which will enable us to deliver vital services without raising taxes,” Ronk said. “I am not talking about allowing development to spiral out of control creating sprawl. I’m talking about all parts of town government coming to the table as a reasonable welcoming partner to those who want to build in our town, and making yes the goal.”

Ronk stressed that the town must adhere to a multi-year capital plan. He compared proper fiscal planning to maintaining an automobile.

“Prior proper planning prevents poor performance,” Ronk said. “It’s the reason that you change the oil in your car every 3,000 miles instead of replacing the engine every 100,000 miles. It’s more economical. If we follow a capital plan and budget properly in a capital reserve account, we can ensure that the Town of Shawangunk can operate on routine maintenance instead of catastrophic repair.”

Ronk thanked his fiancée Sam and her boys Jackson and Everett, and his parents Ken and Julie Ronk for being at the anouncement to support him.

“I’m running for Shawangunk Town Supervisor because I believe we can be a town where more young families will want to build a life and raise their families, too,” Ronk said. “We have so much to offer, from beautiful vistas overlooking the Shawangunk Ridge to the river that bears the namesake of one of our hamlets, but we have more work to do to achieve our true potential.”