Anyone making a Gen X slacker joke never met Marc Molinaro. In 1995, at just 19, he became America’s youngest mayor – a position he held for six terms in upstate Tivoli, population 1,300.
“I fixed potholes and water main breaks, picked up garbage and built parks,” says Molinaro, a Republican elected last year to Congress. While his peers were pledging fraternities, he was steeped in zoning and economic policy: “Being a village mayor, you are the person people turn to, which is both challenging and fulfilling.”
Inspired by a high school program in Washington, D.C., Molinaro actually won his first election at 18, to the Tivoli Board of Trustees. Later, as a Dutchess County legislator, he wrote the Clean Indoor Air Act, which became a model for eliminating indoor smoking statewide.
After a stint as the Assembly’s assistant minority leader, Molinaro spent a dozen years as Dutchess County executive, working on criminal justice reform and building a model for a community-based mental health care. He ran for Congress “because I felt they could use some upstate common sense,” he says. “I felt they could use a village mayor.”
Three decades later, Molinaro draws daily on the lessons he learned back in Tivoli. “At that level, you see your decisions have real impact for real people,” he says.
“My generation has lived through a lot of history really quick, and it seems to be accelerating,” he says. “But I’ve cherished every second of my last 30 years in public service.”
– H.D.
For Full article: https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2023/11/above-beyond-gen-x/392045/
Paid for by Marc for US Inc.
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