“Everyday somebody called and had some problem and I was their way of solving it.”
Marc Molinaro is a man who has given his entire career to public service, and there are no signs of slowing down. At the age of 18, Marc Molinaro was elected to the Board of Trustees in Tivalli, a year later he became mayor, and proceeded to be re-elected five times, and was elected four times to the Dutchess County Legislature. At 36 years old Molinaro was elected as Dutchess County’s 7th County Executive, the youngest executive in county history.
But how does an 18-year-old manage public office and academics you ask? Molinaro explained that at first, the road wasn’t easy, at first he interned with Eileen Hickey at her State Assembly office for about a year and a half. Where they may not have shared the same party, it was there in her district office that he fell in love with public service. “Whether or not you think people should always call the government office, at the end of the day people don’t necessarily know what level of government, or what layer of government, or where to turn for help. So they may call a familiar face, and if you happen to see a lawn sign or the assembly woman’s name in a newspaper, you say well maybe I’ll call her.”
Falling in love with everything that came with his start he found that Hickey had instilled some ideas into not just himself but all the interns in their office. “Public service is about making a difference, we never asked when you called what your party affiliation is, we don’t care how long you’ve lived in a district, we didn’t ask you what your place of residence is or what your income was. We just asked, how can we help you?”
From there the spark ignited and Molinaro continued to volunteer and focus on his duties as a Village Trustee. Then and now he had information thrown at him left and right, not the typical classroom setting for an 18-year-old elected to office but he enjoyed it. The more he took on the more he learned about what public office had to offer him. It led to a two year Associate’s Degree turning into a five-year plan, while holding the office of mayor, and living with his parents.
Fast forward to 2018, Marc Molinaro holds the County Executive office and is planning for his State of the County address. Of course, the question of the challenges facing Dutchess County come to mind, and Molinaro quickly answers, stating the obvious about the high cost of living in New York state and its large government structure. “Simple projects become more expensive, it makes it difficult to grow jobs because businesses have so many other places they can go. In a worldwide economy, you don’t have to be in New York to benefit from New York.” The economic challenge aside Molinaro also sees the societal changes that have come with this year. “Moms and Dads are working two and three jobs to make ends meat because its that expensive, seniors are priced out of there house because its that expensive, young people, millennials don’t find it easy to find their way to housing because it’s so expensive.”
Molinaro sees one of the biggest issues as a whole in 2018 is the lack of predictability from Albany and Washington, saying that leaders aren’t following the same old playbook. “Predictability in government is important.” Molinaro said, “Because businesses want to invest, and they don’t want to invest in the short term, they want 20 years of predictability.” Molinaro wants people to understand that projects don’t get done overnight, that it takes work and time to finish projects properly. Same deals with revenue and regulation, consistency is always necessary for a stable government.
Amidst the conversations that have occurred after Dutchess County Jail was ranked among the top five worst jails in New York State, Molinaro was fully aware that the State Commision on Corrections. “It’s interesting, the state has never created such a list before and my expectation is that they won’t create such a list again,” Molinaro said in regards to the documents, “Dutchess County has an awful jail, we’ve had an awful jail for 20 years.” Since Molinaro stepped into office in 2012 he has acknowledged and made a plan to fix it, the Commission only repeats the concerns that Molinaro has had for such a long time. The new jail is aimed to create a transition center for those that have been struggling with addictions, mental illness, or any circumstances that would need professional help as opposed to incarceration. The 200 million dollar project is already underway, and according to Molinaro, it is moving as quickly and efficiently as possible.
With the problems facing Dutchess County aside, and the subject of the jail discussed, there was something else on my mind. The issue of gun control has spread so quickly across the country, and with the students from Stoneman Douglas High school raising their voices and speaking about what has been done to combat the issue, as a father Molinaro shared his views on the subject.
“What those young people experienced, and kids younger than them, and kids before them experienced is nothing any of us can ever understand or appreciate. Their response to that and how they grieve and how they wish to communicate, and how they wish to make it through that traumatic and tragic experience isn’t something we should be judging. They have every right to grieve out in any way they wish and if we don’t understand it, if we think at times it’s not the way we would communicate, well tough luck. We should be saying to them we want to be helpful, and if it’s having a serious conversation about policy then we should, if its providing safety we should, and if it’s just letting them air out their grievances, their concern, their anger, we should let that happen too.”
Dutchess County contracts Student Resource Officers who are trained through the Sheriff’s office for this specific purpose, the safety of children at any and every level is important. Molinaro also explained that there are also mental health counselors in schools. These officers with the SRO are trained in their standard format and also trained in crisis counseling, making them all the more important to those that they help. Schools have also been offered training on what is considered Mental Health First Aid, “Kids have their own problems, their own challenges. But it’s up to us to find them to see them and to be helpful to them.” But it doesn’t stop with the teachers, the students are also encouraged to speak up on all issues that could be going on with another individual. Molinaro believes in the conversation, that we need to bring ourselves back to understand what is going on with the individual, interactions between people that are seen to struggle. Reverting back to these so-called tribes, whether its party affiliation or what have you. He refers to Bobby Kennedy’s statement about public service “Public service as a dignified duty, despite that too many elected officials take advantage of that duty.”
Finally the looming question, will he run? Articles have surfaced and numerous statements had been made in regards to the County Executive shot at running for Governor, but he had made statements about not running. “It’s coming around again this time, maybe opportunity knocks twice.” He has heard the rumors, and he thinks about it, he thinks about how he would change the tactics of his future run. He wants to celebrate public service the right way.
Although a smile comes across his face as he reminisces about his son, “He said ‘Daddy we play the Newburgh pumas in soccer and we’re never going to beat them, I just know we’re never going to beat them. But I’m going to go to that game every time because I’m gonna try.’ How do you argue with that? ” His heart is warm, his words so clear, and being inspired by his 8-year-old son, well what more can you ask for.
Ema Fernandez 