The Overlook is conducting a series of interviews with candidates for office in the Nov. 3 election, offering readers an opportunity to hear directly from those seeking to shape their communities. In this installment, reporter Isabella Schoonover sits down with Fred Costello, the incumbent Saugerties town supervisor, who is running unopposed for reelection on the Democratic and Working Families party lines.

Saugerties Town Supervisor Fred Costello, 57, is running unopposed on the Democratic and Working Families party lines. A Saugerties native, he served on the Town Board from 2003 to 2017, when he was elected supervisor. His family runs Sue’s, a small Italian restaurant in Barclay Heights, where he earns his living. In his free time, he enjoys being on the water, hiking, cycling, or any opportunity to be outside. He and his wife have one daughter.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the single most important issue facing Saugerties, and what specific steps would you take in your next term to address it?

Costello: This particular period, I think, is going to be dominated by land use. We’ve been blessed by some growth here in Saugerties, and the demands on land use have changed quite a bit. I like to remind folks when we did the previous comprehensive plan, there were like two sentences in it about short-term rentals, and then we did the next comprehensive plan, and you would think that was the only problem we had.

Traditional retail is under extraordinary pressure from online retail, and you’re seeing that in strip malls that, historically, have had high occupation rates and are now suffering long-term vacancies. You see that in the village as well.

The repercussions of those are going to fall on local governments in many ways to try to find creative solutions to repurpose buildings and to generate traffic and to do things where retailers can be successful locally.

Where could the town operate more efficiently, and where would you prioritize taxpayer spending? How would you pay for additional spending?

Costello: One of the things that we have been doing regularly is employing technology wherever we can to try to be helpful. It saves us money, but it also enhances the service that we’re able to provide. We are working again with a new vendor to try to do a more enhanced website that’s more interactive.

Some communities have been able to use technology to monitor school zones and other areas of traffic concern. So we applied for those grants too. We haven’t been awarded one yet. We’re going to keep doing that because I think speeding through a school zone is something nobody wants to see, and not to make it punitive, but to get compliance so that everybody’s as safe as they could be.

How would you help residents learn about town decisions and have a say before those decisions are made?

Costello: I’m open to all suggestions because we definitely try. TextMyGov is a relatively new way to reach directly out to people, but folks have to sign up for it. So I would encourage people to continue to sign up for it.

We try to put as much information as we can out there. There’s five of us making decisions for 19,000-plus, so we need to hear from all of you to make sure we make a decision that there’s a consensus in the community for.

A proposed battery energy storage system (BESS) has prompted debate over renewable energy and fire safety, including calls for a moratorium. How are you addressing residents’ concerns?

Costello: I’m really proud of the board. Collectively, I think now pretty much all five of us have actually been to a BESS site. We’ve invested tremendous amounts of time and effort to educate ourselves about those concerns.

Obviously, safety is going to be a priority for everyone, and I took this very seriously. We are continuing to work in a way to make sure that those concerns that have been expressed about safety are mitigated. Ultimately, the Planning Board is going to make the decision about that particular site.

If the Thompsons Road project moves forward, one of the obligations they have is to train the first responders on what to do when they get there.

What actions will you take to ensure residents have access to clean drinking water?

Costello: We’re going to continue the efforts we’re working on. We have the drinking water protection thing that we’re doing with the village that will cover the reservoir. Through the water resources study we did, I think 20 years ago, we identified a number of aquifers throughout the town, and we have already created the aquifer protection overlay, which doubles the bulk standards where those aquifers are to protect them for future use.

One of the things we celebrate in our comprehensive plan is our semi-rural character, and we want to protect that. That’s what makes it a nice place to live and raise your family.

As much work as we’ve done, we’re still challenged because, as technology gets better, we can now create chemicals that have all these amazing features because of their durability, but they don’t break down organically for a very long time, and they get into our drinking water supplies.

You’re referring to PFAS.

Costello: Yeah. You need the mass of the state as a whole or the federal government to step up and regulate industries in a more positive way.

How do you plan to balance economic development with affordable housing needs?

Costello: There’s a couple ways to go at that. One is to do everything we can to support jobs that can afford the housing prices as they stand, and we’re going to continue to do that work with the partners we have now, and we’ll seek new partners to come in and help out with that.

We always have to look at our zoning and say, where are gaps? Many of our peers had to do legislation to adopt accessory dwelling units. We already had it in it, and I’m not taking credit for this. The people that did the comprehensive plan were really thoughtful and ahead of the curve because when they did that, we weren’t experiencing the housing crisis that we are now.

I think going forward, mandates for a percentage of housing of scale will help a little bit. But we can’t solve the affordability problem just in Saugerties. It’s not just a problem here; it’s the entire Hudson Valley.

Why do you identify with your political party, and how would that affiliation inform your approach to government?

Costello: I like to think that we are becoming more diverse in our ethnic backgrounds, which is a good thing. We are becoming more diverse in our political views, we’re becoming more diverse in how we celebrate religion, and that is not a bad thing.

I think as Democrats, we’re trying to acknowledge that and be more welcoming of diverse perspectives, and that’s how I subscribe to it. In my view, the Democrats are the ones at this moment that are not afraid to celebrate those differences and move forward as a group together.

What about the potential consolidation of the village and town governments?

Costello: We always need to assess the services we provide and try to decide: Has technology made it easier to do it a different way? Do partnerships allow it to be done a different way, and be just as efficient or just as successful delivering that service?

I think one of the best examples of successful consolidation was the police department. When we did that 15 years ago or so, the town was spending about $1.7 million on policing and the village was spending about $1 million, and it took more than 10 years for us to get back up to that combined $2.7 million. Even today, we’re just a little bit over $3 million.

If we were to do something with highway, or at least build a joint facility and have two highway superintendents, the state would help us fund that. It would easily be a $7 million or $8 million project. That’s a lot of money for our residents.

If we can find a creative way to help offset a substantial amount of that cost, we owe it to our residents to have that conversation. The town is not interested in or of the posture to say we’re going to aggressively take over a service. We are not going to do that.

Village government has to take the lead on those initiatives and bring those decisions to their residents, just like the police. Ultimately, that went for a referendum amongst the residents, and it was supported.

If that occasion came up for consolidation of courts, or building department, or the highway department, I would be just as sincere and try to do it in the best way that we can, so that the benefit to our residents is mutually beneficial from a cost savings perspective, and protect the services that the residents have come to rely upon.

Isabella Schoonover is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Woodstock, Saugerties, Hurley, and surrounding Ulster County communities. Send correspondence to isabella@theoverlooknews.com.