A man of ‘distinguished achievement’

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO, NY — He’s a lightning rod for controversy at times, the guy in the middle of many of the new business developments in Sullivan County’s largest town and last week he was named the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce designee for its “Distinguished Achievement Award.”

Born and raised in Port Jervis, Cellini came to Monticello in 1969 to manage an auto parts store. He became a part-time bartender and eventually the owner of Roarke’s Tavern, which he operated for 14 years.

He became involved in a couple of Democratic party races as a volunteer and was asked to fill a vacancy on the town board in 1974 when Councilman Abe Rosenberg passed away.

He was elected as supervisor in 1994, when pundits were wondering if the last person leaving Sullivan County was going to remember to turn off the lights. “Then we had one food store left and they charged anything they wanted…and admitted it.”

But Cellini was not deterred. “The first thing I did was to get on the phone and start writing letters,” Cellini recalled.

He looked for information everywhere, like quizzing the town’s engineering firm, which was also the engineer firm for the Town of Wallkill, where Middletown’s malls are located. He wrote to the governor and legislators about gambling and he wrote to developers and corporations about locating in the town, and essentially, “they all hung up on me, before WalMart. They said they’d come talk to me,” he said.

The town developed a reputation as being “user friendly” with business, he said.

He got his share of flack from county businessmen about WalMart’s arrival, but the store brought 350 new jobs. And Cellini insists, “I don’t know of one mom-and-pop store that’s gone out of business because of WalMart.”

Since then, Cellini’s letter writing opened the door for a special grant from Governor Pataki, which led to a variety of county revitalization projects.

Other retailers have come and Cellini notes that none of them have gotten IDA tax breaks. “I’ve made that extremely clear to everyone,” he said.

Nowadays, three Indian tribes are closing on final state agreements and the developers are calling him. He hinted at a new retail project being considered for a 64-acre tract behind MacDonald’s on Route 42.

His problems are increasingly those of success. “People are unhappy about the traffic [delays in Kiamesha],” but a state highway project will start next year, eventually widening Route 42 between South Fallsburg and Monticello. “We’re also getting new sidewalks and bicycle paths,” he added.

He says Thompson will protect itself against urban sprawl, but he also says the community is better off with a concentrated shopping area.

If that’s going to make him a lightning rod, so be it. “I could be supervisor in another town and just go to board meetings and do nothing. But I like being able to buy underwear in my town,” Cellini said.