Washingtonville/Blooming Grove - In a storied career of 37 years contributing to official operations of the Village of Washingtonville and Town of Blooming Grove, Mayor Tom DeVinko can mark another win in this week's Mayoral Election and begin year 38 of service, including 18 years as Village Mayor and 6 years on the Town Council.
Tuesday Election vote results were: Tom DeVinko 366, Donna Jacaruso 338, Susan Cohen-Walski 314 in an election in which they ran unopposed. DeVinko said there were a small handful of write-in votes.
There has been plenty of controversy over that time span, including interim years when Kevin Hudson and then Joseph Bucco took the spot of Mayor. With DeVinko aking the leadership again this last term, there were some major challenges to overcome, including Day 1 when the newly elected team discovered that Village finances were in such a mess that they could not even write a check to pay bills. They have diligently brought finances back in order, gathered grants to cover special projects, and are working with the other Village boards to update new codes to go with a new Comprehensive Plan. Their success can largely be credited to remaining calm and focused during some heated debates and coming through speedily with a response, usually by the next meeting, when they did not have immediate answers.
Trustees Donna Jacaruso and Susan Cohen-Walski also had their hands full and came through with flying colors. They took on dozens of assignments with little to no prior experience, and quickly became proficient, including a new computer record-keeping system, chairing Comprehensive Plan meetings, establishing a new Architectural Board of Review and setting up as well as monitoring a new water metering system. Donna and Susan each had a turn as Deputy Mayor so that there would always be someone available to answer the bigger questions if DeVinko was busy.
The remaining two trustees, Steve Presser and Vernon Coleman will be up for reelection in the next election, and meanwhile are kept busy, among other assigments, with employee relations and negotiated contracts (Presser), and grant writing (Coleman).
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