In March, Irvington residents will have the opportunity to vote for two of three candidates—one Democrat and two Republicans—running for two-year terms on the village Board of Trustees.

Democrat Mark Gilliland has lived with his wife Marion in Irvington since 1998, and both of their daughters graduated from the Irvington schools. He is a New York Botanical Garden-certified landscape designer, a Cornell Master Gardener, and a graphic & web designer providing services to individuals and small businesses.

Read the answers to the questions we posed below:

1) What previous experience (either on this board, other village boards or even unrelated) do you have that will lend itself to serving as an Irvington Trustee?

My volunteer work in the Village over the past eight years includes serving on the Environmental Conservation Board, Climate Protection Task Force, Green Policy Task Force and the Tree Commission, as well as providing leadership on grant writing, logo design and outreach for projects such as the “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” (LELE) leaf mulching initiative.

2) Which 2-to-3 issues facing the Village do you think are most important? Where do you stand on them? 

Budget: We need continued careful oversight of Village services, expenses and revenue projections to best manage taxes. We should explore passing local village ‘home rule’ over the budget process. Albany shouldn’t control our village budget forcing automatic reduction in desired services.

Development: We have a lot of potential "hot spots" in the Village, from the water front to the planned Mercy College expansion and the Continuum/FEE senior care facility proposal. Abbott House and other large properties along Broadway might come onto the market and thus be ripe for redevelopment. We need to reinvent and streamline aspects of the Planning Board's Site Development Approval process to ensure greater community / stakeholder input from the very start, before the first architectural plans are drawn up, not waiting for the SEQRA process.

Sustainable practices are good business and need to be core to future budget planning. This could include areas such as energy efficient upgrades to public buildings, flood control and mitigation projects, street tree replanting along Main Street and other areas, and of course, continued implementation of the "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" leaf mulching solid waste reduction initiative. 

3) Where do you stand on the waterfront and its development/zoning?

The residents of the village have been clear over and over that there are really three core requirements of waterfront rezoning that must be met in order to be publicly acceptable: a) protection of river viewsheds; b) guaranteed access to the river front; and c) protection of the historical facades of the Burnham factory buildings.

Frankly, the current zoning draft does not adequately address these concerns.

4) What's your best idea for revitalizing the downtown business district?

We need greater business diversity, enhancement of the Main Street "streetscape" with amenities (such as benches, receptacles, lighting and signage) that accent the historical look & feel of the Village, and continued emphasis on building private-public partnerships to increase tourism focused on special events, the Aqueduct Trail, and the unique access that the Village can provide to the river.

5) What do you love most about Irvington? What needs the most improvement?

I love the views of the Hudson and the Palisades from the Main Street hill, especially at sunset or on a crisp blue sky day with whitecaps on the river. Sadly, Main Street itself requires a face-lift in terms of public amenities and street tree restoration. As I've mentioned elsewhere, we have to be very careful about re-zoning implications in order to protect these unique views for ourselves and our children.

Irvington is graced with lovely Hudson River views, a small town atmosphere, and a mix of interesting and unusual people. My family moved here from the city like many others, and I have found a real sense of community filled with concerned, caring folks. Everyone is so busy with the day-to-day that sometimes we overlook what a unique place our Village is. But the natural beauty often catches my breath and for a moment I can forget about my worries and simply enjoy the view and be thankful to be here.

6) Where do you stand on property value reassessment (either town-wide or county-wide)?

The more streamlined and uniform the reassessment process can be, the better. The village should not be working on its own, so the recent transfer of assessment responsibility to Greenburgh makes sense. However, village services need to be paid for by our taxes and so tax relief can become an unintended two-edge sword for village residents.

7) What are your best ideas for keeping village property taxes manageable? 

We might explore refinancing municipal debt to discover if further rate reductions are possible. We have to (re)examine Village services for smart reductions (such as LELE) and for possible sharing (although, to date, no inter-municipal sharing concept has proved to be acceptable to the public.)

Energy enhancements to village buildings and vehicles should provide a win-win being both good environmentally and resulting in long term cost savings (esp. with ever-increasing energy costs!)

Finally, we must carefully analyze whether new development brings net revenue or actually serves as a drain on Village services/budget. This means ensuring funding of public amenities to adequately mitigate negative community impacts, as well as for non-profit developments, long term PILOT ("Payment In Lieu Of Taxes") agreements. 

8) What's something interesting about you that members of the community probably don't already know.

Most folks know that I am an avid gardener, horticulturalist and a "tree lover." (I am currently undertaking study for certification as an Arborist.) Some folks may not know that prior to this, I spent over 20 years in software development as a coder, system architect, technical manager, and VP of Product Technology. Finally, I am also a visual artist who has shown regionally and nationally.

Stay tuned for Q&A-style profiles of Republicans Walter Montgomery and Rick Rasulo later this week.