Four candidates seek seats in June 15 Village Election

MILLERTON — With the 2021 Village Election just around the corner, registered voters will have their choice of four eligible candidates to step into the role of mayor and fill the two open seats on the Village Board.

This year’s election will be held at the Village Offices located 5933 North Elm Ave. (Route 22) in Millerton, on Tuesday, June 15, from noon to 9 p.m. If elected, candidates for either mayor or the Village Board will serve a two-year term in office, starting Thursday, July 1, through June 30, 2023.

For this year’s election, current Deputy Mayor Jennifer Najdek is running unchallenged for mayor while DeLora Brooks, David Sherman and Laurie Kerr are vying for the two open seats on the Village Board.

Jennifer Najdek

Running on both the Democratic and Republican party lines, Jennifer Najdek (NOP) was involved in the community at an early age. Her late mother, Mariley Najdek, also served as mayor and did much for the village. 

Among her roles, Najdek has been a trustee for four years and as deputy mayor for three years. Despite her involvement in politics, she said she doesn’t feel it plays “a role necessarily in smaller communities.

“I think it’s really a matter of people working together that have the best intention for the village as a whole in mind,” Najdek said, “not necessarily focusing on those residents who are voters, but it’s also people that come to visit or new homeowners and figuring out a way that Millerton can move forward.”

Considering how Millerton has evolved as a community over the past 20 years — let alone the past two years — Najdek emphasized the importance of making sure the community embraces the old while welcoming the new to make the village a place that’s comfortable for everyone.

Seeing as Millerton is currently in the middle of several large projects, Najdek said she’s looking forward to finishing up the replacement of the sidewalks on Main Street and seeing both the revitalization of Eddie Collins Memorial Park and the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant for improvements to the village water tower and its completion. Additionally, she said Millerton needs to look into installing a wastewater treatment facility.

DeLora Brooks

From watching her father, the late Eugene Brooks, work to bring about change in their community to her regular attendance at local board meetings, DeLora Brooks, a Democrat, has done her utmost to stay well-informed and involved in the village community over the years. She is currently campaigning for the Village Board on the Democratic party line.

Inspired in part by her teachers to participate in local government and make informed decisions, Brooks said she’s always believed in civic duty and civic responsibility and identifies as a centrist. Along with listening in on Town and Village Board meetings, Brooks previously served on the North East Zoning Board of Appeals. Drawing from her previous experience as a trauma nurse, she said she learned decision-making should be done quickly and accurately and believes “government, in many ways, tries to duplicate that profession.”

Having watched her father try to bring Stewart’s into Millerton over 50 years ago, Brooks believes bringing a grocery store into Millerton has to be a priority as it will determine how the village develops and what businesses it attracts. 

Along with keeping a diverse socioeconomic community, she said she’d like to see a business that can employ people and provide them with a living wage. She also believes in the value of preserving what is loved about the village while adapting it to be more inclusive and moving it forward “in a current way.”

David Sherman

A lifelong resident of Millerton, Republican David Sherman has been involved in the community’s development in various capacities over the years, including more than a decade’s worth of service on the North East Planning Board as member and chairman and more than two decade’s worth of service on the North East Town Board as councilman and supervisor. 

Today, he currently serves on the North East Zoning Review Committee. He also served as village trustee from 2014 to 2018.

“Millerton has been my home and its welfare is important to me — I take it wholeheartedly,” Sherman said.

Sherman is running on the Republican and Independent party lines. Regarding his motivation for running for office, he said Millerton is on the threshold of a couple major projects, such as the revitalization of Eddie Collins Memorial Field and the development of a sewer system — both of which he’d like to see through to completion. 

While there are other projects to be completed, Sherman prioritized bringing a grocery market into Millerton at the top of his list and believes the community can use available resources to connect with people in the grocery business to find out how to draw them to Millerton.

Other projects he’d like to address include improving pedestrian crosswalks, replacing sidewalks and working to promote more opportunities for local development and housing.

Laurie Kerr

Though she’s only been in Millerton for a short time, Democrat Laurie Kerr has fallen for the community and believes it’s at a point to move onto its next stage of growth. 

Running on both the Democratic and Republican tickets, Kerr has come to understand the three essential issues that need to be addressed in the village are the absence of a grocery store, the installation of a wastewater treatment system and affordable housing.

Drawing from her experiences in public policy and as an architect, Kerr said she knows how to think creatively to solve problems that make financial sense, environmental sense and help people at the same time. 

On the local level, Kerr has been involved with the Climate Smart Task Force and has consulted for the Eddie Collins Memorial Park revitalization project and the shared highway garage being built by the town of North East and the village. She is also working on the LED streetlight project to replace all 133 streetlights in Millerton.

Kerr believes Millerton should take a page from the Eddie Collins project by creating committees and empowering them to move forward so “the board doesn’t become a bottleneck for these processes. We have a lot of people with talent in the village and town that want to pitch in.”

Regarding affordable housing, Kerr said she’d like to see better groundwork so the village can approach the problem with more knowledge of what needs to be done and of possible strategies to solve the problem.