Athens asks, ‘Who will be the mayor?’

Serrago, who has been mayor of the village since 2021 and served as trustee for two years, is a musician, writer and small business owner. A performer by trade, Serrago sings and plays guitar for special events such as weddings or business gatherings. She graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

As mayor, Serrago has used her background in management and event production to enhance community engagement and awareness.

“When I started out as a trustee in the village I identified a need for increased communication with our residents and increased transparency,” she said. “I made improvements to the [village] website by taking us to a more user-friendly place, making sure our meeting schedules and minutes were posted, and I started a communications committee.”

In December 2019, Serrago founded the village newsletter which, she said, is a way for community groups to stay in touch with their members.

In terms of challenges, Serrago said she feels the most important issue in need of addressing is the town’s aging infrastructure.

“In my first year as mayor I’ve identified a number of issues that I’ve been focusing on: One is our water and sewer structure,” Serrago said. “We’ve had a lot of improvements in the past, but with COVID coming and a huge influx of new residents, it was clear that we really needed to up our improvements as fast as we could. The American Rescue Plan Act gave us funding, and we were able to take a full chunk of that and do full studies of our water treatment plant and sewer system.”

Serrago said she hopes in her second term, she will be able to get funding from the state for the aging pipes beneath the village streets.

“I’ve had a great time building relationships with local leaders like Michelle Hinchey, Marc Molinaro and Chris Tague.”

Republican candidate David Leggio is a former insurance agent who has served as village justice in Catskill, where he presided over traffic court, small claims court and arraignments. Semi-retired, Leggio said he feels his strength as a candidate rests on his availability for his constituents.

“I’m basically what you would call semi-retired,” Leggio said. “I still work a couple of nights a week down in Kingston, but, for the most part, I would try to be available as often as possible to the public.”

Other personal qualities Leggio names as his strengths are his honesty and altruism.

“I’m honest, and I do care about people,” he said.

Like Serrago, Leggio identifies the water and sewer systems of Athens village as priorities and recognizes the funding for them is half the battle.

“It’s not easy to come up with the funds in an emergency sometime,” he said.

As to why voters should cast a vote in his favor rather than the current mayor’s?

“I think [Mayor Serrago] is doing a remarkable job,” he said. “I’d like to think that I could do better.”