By Carol P. Bartold     

Jan. 18, 2017:  Mayor Mary Marvin, Deputy Mayor Robert Underhill, and Trustee Randolph Mayer will all run for re-election in the March 21 village election to seek an additional two-year term on the Bronxville Board of Trustees.

Marvin and Underhill will run for their seventh terms, and Mayer for his second. Mayer joined the board in 2015 when he was appointed to finish Donald Gray's term. He ran in the 2015 contest and won the seat he currently holds.

Marvin cited both unfinished business and joy in the job as the prime reasons for her candidacy. "When you have invested so much time to become educated, and when you're the point person for projects such as the flood mitigation work and the Villa BXV project on Kensington Road, you don't just leave it to someone new to tie up all the loose ends," she said.

Over the next two years, Marvin noted, she hopes to concentrate on leaving the village's infrastructure sound enough to last for the next hundred years. "This is the one issue we need to be proactive on," she said, "or we will end up wasting people's money. If we don't pay attention to infrastructure repairs, we will have to rebuild it."

Marvin characterized infrastructure repairs as the biggest liability of the 2 percent tax cap while being the key to determining the quality of life in the village.

"It's an enjoyable job, and, frankly, rewarding," Marvin said about serving on the board of trustees. "If you can help somebody, you go home feeling like you did something that might have mattered."

Underhill, like Marvin, is standing for re-election because he wants to see major projects in progress through to completion. "I have been involved with the VillaBXV project for as long as I've been a trustee," he said. "Figuring out how we handle the parking arrangements for the village spaces [in the project's garage] is a very important upcoming task." Approximately 200 spaces will be earmarked for village use.

With a skill set and experience in the real estate industry, Underhill feels that serving as a trustee provides him a positive way to offer his capabilities to the village. "Bronxville is a very special place to live," he stated.

Issues most critical to address over the next two years, Underhill put forward, are determining how best to update the village's department of public works facility; ensuring that the village zoning code is not only current but state-of-the art; and fine-tuning the village lighting project.

The DPW facility on Palumbo Place has not been updated since 1942. Plans for its refurbishment, Underhill said, are strictly in the physical and financial planning stages. "The zoning code initiative is critical," he emphasized, "because the health of the downtown is an important aspect of quality of life in this village."

Mayer pointed out that, after two years on the board, he feels that he approaches a new term with experience that has prepared him to serve the village more effectively. "The village has invested in me over the last two years," he said, "and now I think I'm in a better position to pay that back and deliberate issues in a more helpful way."

Over the next two years, Mayer commented, he hopes the board will continue to focus on village aesthetics from the standpoint of the user of the village, whether that user is a resident or a visitor. "Every decision we make should focus on making their experience better," he said, "and we should do that without losing the efficiency of village government or affordability for people who want to live here."

A diverse set of concerns, Mayer said, contributes to offering a good experience to every user of the village, from the efficiency of policing to the appearance of street lights to how people should pay when they park. "All these things are complicated questions," he noted, "because they all have impacts on our ability to keep the village healthy and keep the downtown a place that attracts people."

Betsy Harding reports that the Bronxville Democratic Caucus will be held on Saturday, January 28. Per Republican Chair Rene Atayan, the Republican Party caucus is scheduled for Monday, January 30, at 7:30 pm.

The village election will take place on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm at village hall. According to Village Administrator Jim Palmer, there will be no registration day.

Pictured here:  Mayor Mary Marvin and Trustees Robert Underhill and Randy Mayer.

Photos by N. Bower