2019 Candidate Profile: Matt Slater For Yorktown Supervisor

YORKTOWN, NY — There are several contested races in this fall's election in the Hudson Valley, including the race for Yorktown town supervisor. Yorktown-Somers Patch asked candidates in that race to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Matt Slater, 33, is running for Yorktown supervisor on the Republican, Conservative, Independence, SAM and Green party lines. His opponent is Ilan Gilbert, the Democratic incumbent.

Slater has been program administrator for Westchester County since 2018. He is a resident of Yorktown and is married with two children.

The single most pressing issue facing our community, and what I intend to do about it.

Science is clear. Climate change has had an undeniable effect on the world in which we live and the town we call home. Nearly a decade ago, Yorktown first attempted to confront this problem but we will pick up where they left off. By becoming a certified Climate Smart Community, we will take real action to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy the natural beauty of our piece of the Hudson Valley.

Becoming a Climate Smart Community means participating in a state recognized and supported program that helps local governments take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. Many of the priority projects associated with the certification process qualify for state financial assistance. There are 35 participating communities in Westchester but only three that have been certified. Yorktown took the first step by passing a resolution on Dec. 8, 2009.

Under the Slater administration, the town will establish the required Climate Smart Communities Task Force within his first 30 days in office, comprised of local residents. This is the first step in the certification process and would be followed by a Government Operations Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post?

My goal is to make Yorktown a smart city. It’s about better and best management practices, which includes educating the public in the problems we face. Yorktown needs to change the conversation. Only then can we have a truly collaborative, meaningful and participatory process with the residents of our town. I've been focused on bringing together stakeholders while my opponent has tried to play the blame-game with no tangible accomplishments he can point to. That is why my campaign has built unprecedented support on the local, county and state levels. I am the first Yorktown supervisor candidate in more than four years to be endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters. I have also been endorsed by the Westchester-Putnam Central Labor Body, The Building and Construction Trades Council of Westchester-Putnam, the New York State Troopers PBA and Lake Mohegan Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 2956. My opponent has not received any endorsements whatsoever.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

For example, an elected official was found to have violated the town code by the bipartisan ethics board and the six month delay in releasing this information to the public, caused by the Gilbert administration (see https://www.tapinto.net/towns/yorktown/articles/ethics-board-ruling-discussed-in-public) is unacceptable. It is quite obvious we need to update our ethics code to ensure this does not happen again.

As I have highlighted over the last seven months, the current administration has failed to keep our parks adequately maintained. They have missed opportunities to take advantage of state funding programs like the local waterfront revitalization plan. Their anti-business approach has led to more vacancies and closures throughout our hamlets.

Supervisor Gilbert’s administration has not promoted energy conservation and has not greened its procurement, conducted an energy audit of its own facilities or undertaken any efforts to green its buildings with solar panels, LED builds, electric vehicle charging stations. We are a decade behind the eight ball in Yorktown.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Yorktown lacks any asset management program, let alone a sustainable one. That has to change. Open Data is being utilized across the nation to foster greater transparency and civic engagement. The days of unalterable ledgers are behind us. Citizens are demanding information that can be easily understood and provide clear data driven evidence for decisions. Furthermore, Open Data platforms encourage civic engagement by allowing citizens to collect and manipulate data to provide insight and potential solutions to issues facing the municipality.

You should not have to be a CPA or bookkeeper to understand the monthly expense reports released by Town Hall. That is why I would pass an open data law requiring every town department to follow an open data policy that proactively releases datasets in machine-readable formats. Open Data ensures real transparency by providing information every resident can understand. It also opens the doors of town government by giving residents the tools to engage in constructive dialogue about town issues. A leader doesn’t need to have all the answers but needs to know when they hear the right one.

As supervisor, I will explore an Asset Management System Pilot Program. Making decisions based on best guesses or intuition is no longer accessible to an educated and intelligent citizenry. Asset Management Systems are being utilized by municipalities around the nation but not Yorktown. From our vehicle fleets and equipment, to our roads and bridges, to sewers and water distribution system, an asset management system provides a central hub of data that drives decision making, provides long-term financial planning and performance level of municipal assets.

Local government must maximize every tax dollar. An asset management system, if properly implemented, provides concrete data to support decisions by municipal leaders. Advanced asset management systems improve efficiencies, effectiveness and overall productivity while achieving transparent fiscal responsibility. Asset management systems and companies are expanding at a rapid pace. Working with municipal department heads the Slater administration would look to identify a specific system and utilize a pilot project to determine its long-term feasibility.

We can make tremendous impacts on energy use and the environment by greening our town's procurement, which is spending money wisely. Our town should have a director of sustainability and an environmentally preferable products program, to design environmental procurement standards that will have our departments incorporate them. This will spur innovation, save taxpayer dollars and protect our most beloved and precious natural resources.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

As chief of staff for State Senator Terrence Murphy, I helped guide the state’s investment in Yorktown. Over the past four years this included:

· $1.9 million in state funding to rehabilitate our local highways and bridges

· $250,000 to pave Quinlan Street, which occurred this past Summer

· $725,000 to assist in the modernization and consolidation of town facilities

· $500,000 for the Yorktown Heights Fire Department to purchase necessary equipment for the new Kitchawan Fire Station

· $80,000 to help Yorktown purchase a new weed harvester to fight against the dire blue-green algae that continues to close our local lakes during summer months

· $75,000 to purchase new radios for the Lake Mohegan Fire Department

· $65,000 to advance the services of the Putnam/Northern Westchester Women’s Resource Center

· $45,000 to support the mission of Drug Crisis in Our Backyard

· $40,000 for the Lakeland School District to build a new playground accessible to children with special needs.

· $25,000 for the Yorktown School District to purchase new scoreboard for the baseball and softball fields, as well as new equipment for the high school swim team

· $22,500 in additional funding for the John C. Hart Library

· $20,000 to support Yorktown’s Alliance for Safe Kids (ASK)

· $10,000 for the Yorktown Police Department to purchase a new K9 officer named Spar.

Working with the New York State Department of Transportation, I facilitated the installation of a full traffic light at the intersection of Route 118 and Route 129. As Senator Murphy’s chief of staff, I helped author and pass new laws such as:

· Designating nearly two-dozen local lakes, including Mohegan Lake, Sparkle Lake and Junior Lake, as inland waterways for the purposes of waterfront revitalization and environmental rehabilitation.

· Limiting opioid prescriptions to just 7-days, a direct result of a statewide task force on opioid abuse and addiction that Matt organized and executed.

· Recognizing the Vietnam Veterans of America as a benevolent order to provide parity with other veterans’ organizations.

· Executing a study to properly determine the true value of lost revenue to our community through New York State’s untaxed land policy.

· Naming two state roads for fallen warriors with ties to the Yorktown community.

Along with Senator Murphy, I was one of the first people to arrive at Allan Avenue’s Beaver Ridge where I helped organize and deliver dry ice, bottled water and food for the residents when dangerous winter storms caused blackouts in our area.

After Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast I organized the “Fill A Truck” effort in the Yorktown Heights CVS parking lot which collected nearly 50,000 pounds of donated goods and sent them to Texas. When Hurricane Maria destroyed the island of Puerto Rico, I worked with the New York Medical College, the Greater Hospital Association of New York and the Center for Excellence in Precision Response to Bioterrorism and Disasters to send a medical mission to the island administering 1,000 doses of necessary vaccines and providing direct care to residents still in need.

The best advice ever shared with me was …

"Wise leadership requires collaboration; otherwise, it will lead to failure." — Gen. James Mattis

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I have a bold plan to make Yorktown a better place to live. My innovative approach will bring new jobs and vitality to our community by making town government more responsive and easier to use for residents and businesses. I am focused on making Yorktown a destination by investing in infrastructure, creating walkable downtown areas and protecting Yorktown’s lakes and parks.

My wife Kellie and I have a 3-year old son, Charlie, and a 2-month old daughter, Elizabeth. I am a program administrator for Westchester County, member of CSEA Local 9200 and Grace Lutheran Church, where I served on the Congregational Council.

I graduated Yorktown High School in 2004. I have a BA in Politics from St. Anselm College and received my Masters in Public Administration from Marist College.

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