Town of Plattekill Supervisor Joseph Croce admits that he’s more comfortable dealing with town business than talking about himself.

But with less than three months left before he retires as Town Supervisor on December 31, Croce said in an interview with the Southern Ulster Times that he feels good about what he’s done since assuming office in 2013.

“I’ve enjoyed being here,” Croce said. “There’s been a lot of challenges, but I came here with the idea in mind that there would be challenges. To present the Town Board with an issue that needs to be dealt with and then to spend time studying and researching it has been very enjoyable.”

With Croce deciding not to run for another two-year term, Republican nominee Jennifer Salemo will oppose former Town of Plattekill Supervisor and Democratic nominee Judith Mayle on November 2.

Salemo, who is the general manager of the Turtle Creek Golf Course at the Garden Cathay in Wallkill, will be seeking office for the first time. Mayle served as Town Supervisor for 10 years from 1992-2002 and has also served on the Town Planning Board.

Croce was a member of the Town Board in 2013 when Supervisor Bruce Loertscher passed away following a long struggle with cancer. Croce, a Republican, was appointed supervisor following Loertscher’s death.

He subsequently defeated Robert Trainor in 2013, Jamie Pagan in 2015, current Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa in 2017 and Pagan again in 2019.

Croce, who also works in the wholesale provisions business, said there were a number of factors in his decision not to seek reelection.

“I’ve worked pretty much my entire life,” Croce said. “My business is a route business so you have to be at your customers once a week, every week. So it’s kind of hard to get away. I haven’t taken a lot of vacations and I have two grandchildren I’d like to spend more time with. I turned 70 in June and my cardiologist has been telling me for years I have to slow down and remove some stress from my life. All of that played into my decision.”

Though he has some commitments to his business, Croce said he felt that he needed to be in the town office every day to do the Supervisor’s job effectively.

“I don’t think you can do the job justice part time,” he said. “You don’t have to be here 40 hours a week, but I’m here every day of the week. Then you have meetings at night and other commitments. There’s enough that you can do that you could say it’s a full-time position.”

The Town Supervisor’s salary is $35,182 a year. Croce is also paid $5,600 a year as the town’s budget officer.

Though Town Board members are elected to serve four-year terms compared to the Town Supervisor’s two-year term, Croce said he understands the rationale behind having the town’s top official run every two years.

“I think the biggest reason to keep the Supervisor’s term two years is it allows the people of the town to change the majority of the board each election,” he said. “If you switch the Supervisor’s election to every four years, you don’t.”

On the other hand, Croce said if the public is happy with the performance of the Town Supervisor it would be “nice to have a little job security. You know for four years you’re still going to hold the position.”

Croce said he felt the biggest achievement of his time in office was never increasing the general fund.

“This is not a real affluent town and I think people watch their pennies very closely,” Croce said. “I never felt comfortable having a tax increase of any kind. There are some people that say we should’ve raised the taxes two percent because that’s what we can do. But I don’t think we really need to.”

Croce also was proud of the establishment of the Veteran’s Memorial at Thomas Felten Park.

Croce was named as the board’s liaison to the Veteran’s Committee when he first came on the board.

“This was something that was in the works for a long time,” he said. “I’m not taking credit for the Veteran’s Committee, but I know I played a significant role in moving that forward. We get many compliments and County Executive Pat Ryan himself was just here and was very impressed with the Veteran’s Memorial.”

Croce encourages economic development in the town if it’s done the right way.

“I don’t think people in the Town of Plattekill want to see Route 32 from the intersection here in Modena down to the county line turn into Route 9 over in Poughkeepsie or Albany Avenue up in Kingston,” he said. “I think they’re willing to pay more in their taxes to have a nice, somewhat quiet town. But if you have smart, reasonable development, I don’t think that will radically change the nature of our town. I would love to see something similar to the industrial park in Gardiner in the town.”

Although the town is waiting to get results of a survey from the public regarding a new proposed community center at Thomas Felten Park, Croce has advocated for also building a new Town Hall.

“In a perfect world, I’d like to see them both done,” he said. “Maybe in combination. If you propose it as a joint project, it might save you some money. The Town Hall was built in 1975 and I believe it had a 20- or 25-year life span. We’re beyond that. Every office is cramped. It is extremely energy inefficient.”

At the conclusion of his interview, Croce said of his time in office: “It’s been an interesting experience.”