Chester candidate Orlando Perez

I am a Chester resident who felt the need to get involved and become proactive in making smart decisions for our town. I am not a politician, but an opportunity arose at the Chester town board, and in February of 2019 I was appointed.

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, to Puerto Rican parents. I have four siblings and a wonderful extended family. I entered the New York City Police Department in January 1992, and after 20 years of service I proudly retired in 2012 from the NYPD.

In October 1998, my wife and I moved to Chester, where we have happily raised our two children.

I have been employed by the Village of Goshen Police Department since 2014 and I currently work as a school resource officer for the Goshen School District. If elected to the town board on Nov. 5th I promise to respect the oath of office. I promise to respect the residents of Chester and their concerns. I promise to be proactive and make the best decisions possible for the town.

Important issues:

Growth: I think overgrowth is one of the biggest issues facing the town and the Village of Chester. I feel we’re losing the balance between growth and open space. Accommodating new growth while retaining the town's rural character is key.

Taxes: We all love our homes, we all love our schools and we all love Chester. However we can all agree that we don’t love the high taxes. The board and I have worked hard to try and keep the budget under the spending cap for the fiscal year 2020.

Water: The importance of protecting our water supply needs to be addressed, and because of the rapid growth occurring in Orange County and surrounding areas, this is vital. Protecting this natural resource is very important to our town.

The short time I’ve been on the Chester town board I have introduced two new local laws, the noise pollution law and the LLC disclosure law. The LLC law demands more transparency from companies that want to do business with the town. I also voted for the real estate transfer tax, and purchase of development rights. The PDR will help the town purchase and preserve open space at no cost to the taxpayers.