Lembo running for Plattekill Supervisor

By RICK REMSNYDER
Posted 5/2/23

While many current Town of Plattekill officials and town residents were shocked and dismayed at the prospect of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA) considering a county landfill in the …

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Lembo running for Plattekill Supervisor

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While many current Town of Plattekill officials and town residents were shocked and dismayed at the prospect of the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA) considering a county landfill in the town, Michael Lembo wasn’t that surprised.

The Democratic candidate for Plattekill Supervisor lived that nightmare on his farmland 35 years ago.

The 65-year-old Modena resident, who was born and raised in the Town of Plattekill, announced his candidacy last week and told the Southern Ulster Times that he is adamantly opposed to the proposed county landfill at two Plattekill sites.

“I’ve dealt with it because the Resource Recovery Agency 35 years ago wanted to locate one on my property and I had to fight it,” Lembo said. “When I heard they wanted to have one located here again, I started a petition opposing it.”

He said the Town Board must continue to fight the landfill the way he did many years ago. He said local officials must make a lot of noise against the landfill and put up a united front against it.

“Every month I would go up to the County Legislature meetings and there was a lot of arguing back and forth,” Lembo said of his approach when UCRRA was considering his property for a landfill. “All they kept saying was, ‘You have to follow the process. And let the process continue.’ I was like a tick. I didn’t stop fighting it. In the end, the soil on my farm was too gravelly as I said all along, and it went away.”

Lembo said he feels landfills have outlived their usefulness anyway.

“We should be concentrating more on recycling,” he said. “We should get rid of these landfills. They’re just polluting the ground. I feel Ulster County is going in the wrong direction looking to put a landfill someplace. There isn’t any community that wants a dump in their backyard. They need to get away from that old way of thinking.”

Lembo wanted to make the announcement of his candidacy at the Plattekill Public Library, a building that formerly was an elementary school that he attended. He graduated from Wallkill High School in 1975.

Lembo served on the Town of Plattekill Planning Board for 10 years and was the chairman of the board. He said he wasn’t reappointed when Republican Supervisor Joe Croce was elected.

“In those 10 years, I only missed two meetings, when my late wife was in the hospital,” said Lembo, who is semiretired from his excavating business. “I’m dedicated and I’m conscientious. Let’s put it that way.”

Prior to that, he was the Deputy Supervisor under Herbert Jenkins, who was the Plattekill Supervisor for two terms.

Lembo described himself as an old-school Democrat with conservative values.

“But I also like to see progress too,” he said. “I’d like to encourage more businesses to come into the town. It’ll broaden our tax base. Since I graduated from high school in 1975, what new businesses have we had? Dunkin’ Donuts, two Dollar Generals, Stewart’s, Hannaford, a body shop and a lawn mower repair shop. It’s almost 50 years and a lot hasn’t happened.”

Lembo suggested that the Town of Plattekill could use a diner, a Chinese restaurant or another eatery and a laundromat for starters.

“It would not only provide service for people in the community, but also help create jobs for some of the younger people to have a place to work and have an incentive to stay here,” he said.

“Most kids who graduate from here move away so they can get a job somewhere else. There’s really no employment here.”

Lembo said the planning process has become too cumbersome for new businesses looking to open in the town.

“In other towns, they work a lot faster than we do,” he said. “We need to streamline the process to make it simpler for the applicant so it’s not a long, drawn-out process.”

Lembo pointed to the hamlet of Pine Bush as a possible business model for Plattekill.

“When I was on the wrestling team in high school, we used to go to Pine Bush and there was nothing,” Lembo said. “Now they have everything you could want. They still have agriculture, which I feel we could continue to do, too.”

Lembo would also like to see a sidewalk built from the business district in Modena to Thomas Felten Park.

“There’s a lot of things I’d like to see happen there, too,” Lembo said of the town park. “Maybe a splash pad, a wading pool, some playground equipment and possibly some walking paths through the woods. We could also use some shade there like they have in New Paltz with (shade) sails because what are you going to do when it’s 95 degrees out. We need to have more recreational opportunities there.”

If elected, Lembo said he would reinstate a committee to study the feasibility of building a community center at the park.

“From what I heard, they disbanded the committee,” Lembo said. “It’s a shame because there were a lot of people on that committee who wanted to participate and see things done. We have this property and I think we should utilize it. What did we buy it for? What are we doing with it?”

Councilman Dean DePew Sr. has been endorsed by the Plattekill Republican Committee to run for Town Supervisor.