Longtime City of Newburgh native and current city councilwoman Patty Sofokles has decided to step down at the end of her term this year. With her decision, Sofokles will conclude an eight year tenure of service to the Ward 4 neighborhoods and the greater city.

Sofokles is the second active councilperson to make a similar decision to step down. Earlier this year, Councilman Bob Sklarz made the decision to end his tenure on council. In the midst of these decisions, the city council will see an election cycle where all four ward seats will be up for new or incumbent candidates to pursue in November. Ronald Zorrilla, a first-time candidate, made his announcement to pursue the Ward 4 seat and now stands as the lone candidate.

Sofokles said she personally feels this decision to step down is the right one for her and she was also the one to institute the two-term rule in the city. Before serving on city council, she served on the Assessment Review Board, the Board of Ethics and the Downing Park Planning Committee.

“I really feel eight years is long enough and you need to give somebody else an opportunity. When I saw that Ron Zorrilla wanted to run, I thought that’s the perfect opportunity for me to help him,” she said. “You need to get more new blood. I think two terms is enough. I’ll still be there, I’ll still attend council meetings, and resume my work on the boards I was on.”

Outside of her council duties, she runs her business, Sofokles Tax Services, on Broadway and still remains close to the work with Downing Park, which sparked her to run for office back then. Sofokles also shares that her family has been involved and in touch with what’s happening in the city for many years, with her family history tracing back to her grandfather born in 1898. Her mother was a school teacher in the Newburgh District for 38 years and her father owned a body shop business. Sofokles attended St. Patrick’s school and Mount Saint Mary’s High School and later started a family of her own in the city.

In the last eight years, Sofokles feels that she and the city council have done a lot of good things during her time, whether that be the upkeep of Downing Park, projects such as the new Delano-Hitch Aquatic Center on Route 9W and the growth of the Newburgh Waterfront. In recent years, Sofokles realizes there’s a different feeling now in the city with new people moving in and support for places such as Downing Park, Crystal Lake and overall urban spaces is growing. She is also happy to see the city now with a balanced budget and other finances in order going forward.

While there have been positive changes, Sofokles understands that there are hurdles along the way. With her business, she hears all that is said and encourages people to attend council meetings to share their grievances, ask questions and anything else on their mind. Comments from the public help the city council learn and understand what the city residents need.

Sofokles wishes she could continue another four years but is looking forward to Zorrilla serving and the other city council members continuing on. While she may be leaving, she looks to do more work in the park, possibly going back to serve on the board of the Boys and Girls Club and other municipal boards and help in other areas of the city how she can. She says she will still be a resource to her community and to future council colleagues who come on to serve and looks forward to what the council does next.

“I feel we’re in a good place. There’s a lot of people that are really involved. We have a great city manager,” she said. “I love the people that I’m on the council with, seriously gonna miss them, and we’ll still keep in touch and hang out down at Captain Jakes or something like that. It’s been a good run.”