Tony Paes, lifelong area resident, father of four, and owner of Tony’s Towing Garage wants to be Wawarsing’s next is Highway Superintendent. Paes, the Democratic nominee for the position, said he was inspired to run because he feels that it’s time for a change in the highway department.

Like his Republican opponent Gil Davis, one of Paes’ primary concerns is staying within the town’s budget, and making sure to take the taxpayer into consideration during all operations. “You’ve got to try to work within the budget that’s going to help the taxpayers — plus maintain roads,” says Paes.

“I think the highway superintendant should have a maintenance program on the trucks, where they turn them over every so many years,” instead, he says, of spending large sums of money all at one time, costing residents a lot of money.

“Some of the roads have to be redone… some of the brush and stuff along the roads should be maintained a lot better than it is… there’s places in Cragsmoor, there’s places in Oakridge, there’s places in Kerhonkson, there’s places in Napanoch, there’s places all over. But all according to your budget too, you’ve gotta [sic] have money to be able to do this.”

When asked about one the more volatile issues regarding the town’s highway, flooding in the Carlo Drive neighborhood, Paes says that many of the roads in that area are privately owned and therefore don’t fall under the town’s jurisdiction. However, he does have an idea about what may be causing much of the flooding.

“If I was superintendent, I’d clean the culvert up. Something’s plugged up down there. That’s what I was told.”
For those not familiar with the term, a culvert acts as a passageway for water to flow underneath or around roads, and a Paes feels that a plugged or blocked culvert would certainly be the town’s responsibility to manage. “If the culvert is plugged, it’s the town’s responsibility to clean it, so you clean it.”

In addition to his years working for construction companies in the area and working on roads, Paes cites past supervisors who have come from similar professional backgrounds of running garages as part of why he’s qualified for the job of superintendent. Paes also feels that his longevity in the area and his constant presence at board meetings makes him a solid candidate.

“I think just being in the area and seeing what things are being done and what isn’t being done,” he says.
“The best way to raise more money is to get smaller companies to come in here. You don’t need big, big companies,” says Paes about keeping costs down. “They [the highway department} should get companies that employ a hundred people. You don’t need this great big five-hundred-people-thing here, because when they go out, it knocks a lot of people out of jobs. If you take ten small businesses, it’s a lot better than one big one, you know what I mean?”

“I’d just like to see some changes made. In years past, way back, it seemed like you never went over what the budget is. But…some people have got to be accountable… Everybody comes to me and says, ‘I see this,’ and ‘I see that,’ and I tell them, ‘Why don’t you go to the board?’ And I would like to see a whole bunch more people at these board meetings. If they don’t go to the board, they won’t know what’s going on.”

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