With a little over two months before his planned retirement, Ulster Town Supervisor James E. Quigley, III has decided he’s going to complete his current term.
Quigley’s current term runs through 2025, but in March of this year he announced that he was ready to step away after a decade-and-a-half steering Ulster’s municipal government. In an interview with Hudson Valley One on Friday, June 14,Quigley talked about what precipitated his decision to leave, and what’s happened since that made him realize he wasn’t ready for retirement just yet.
“Have you ever gotten diagnosed with something that you didn’t know how to handle? The psychological aspects of it start to really get to you? Well, I got diagnosed with diabetes type 2,” Quigley said. “And my doctor had been on my case for years, ‘You’re pre-diabetic,’ and I’m going to be 68 years old this year. And it hit me like a freight train. So I had to start thinking about what I’m going to do. And that’s when I made my initial announcement (in March) because I was in the midst of the uncertainty of health conditions.”
Since then, Quigley said, he’s taken his health more seriously, which has opened up new possibilities and renewed energy.
“I have been successful in losing 55 pounds,” Quigley said. “I’m now walking five miles a day. I’m waking up at 5.30 in the morning. I’ve got energy I didn’t have. I’ve got a clear head.And I’m saying to myself, I can do this, so why not continue to do it? That’s exactly where I’m at.”
Though he’s never left office after earning his first two-year term in 2009, Quigley has flirted with the idea of stepping down before. In 2013, he ran for county comptroller, then dropped out of the race that summer claiming he planned to leave politics entirely. A few months later he was re-elected to a third term as supervisor.
In April 2015, Quigley announced — then quickly rescinded — his resignation. A few months later, he decided to not seek re-election, then changed his mind and defeated former supervisor Fred Wadnola in a Republican primary. More recently, Quigley ran an unsuccessful campaign for Ulster County Executive in 2022.
Asked how he’d respond to constituents in the Town of Ulster who might be wary of his deciding to stay in office months after announcing his intent to leave, he said he could only do his job to the best of his ability.
“This is politics,” Quigley said. “If they hate me, they hate me. There’s nothing I can say and nothing I can do to change that.There are far more people that appreciate my personal sacrifices of working for a substandard salary in relation to what my value was in the marketplace. And the fact that I’m contributing so much back to the economy in the form of my time.”
Quigley added that in the months since he announced his planned departure, he’d heard from many people who hoped he’d stay on longer.
“I heard that throughout the town, the disappointment, the let down, that plays a little bit,” he said. “And then the affirmation that comes about after the announcement came out. ‘Thank you.’ You know, that is all gratifying.”
According to Section 31 of the state’s Public Officers Law, a resignation is effective after a document is submitted to the municipal clerk’s office.
“That has not happened,” Quigley said. “Now, quite frankly, what I made in the announcement I made in March was merely that, an announcement of an expectation…So therefore, I’ve always been supervisor, despite my announcement. In order for me to leave office, I either have to sign a document and deliver it to the town clerk, or an act of God has to happen. And hopefully not the second one.”
In the wake of Quigley’s announcement last spring, the town board approved delegating much of the day-to-day municipal operations to deputy supervisor Clayton Van Kleeck. Van Kleeck could not be reached for comment on this story.
“The term he used, he’s deflated,” Quigley said, adding that he believed they could continue to work together moving forward. “As long as the relationship remains professional, with the intent to serve the town, there’s no problems.”
Quigley said his decision to return — this time and in the past — has never been about wondering whether his predecessor wasn’t up for the job.
“I come into work every day and I look at the pictures of the supervisors on the wall,” Quigley said. “There are good ones and there are bad ones. And then there’s really bad ones. The town’s still here. So I don’t have a concern of what follows me, and I can’t let that be the overriding factor in my personal decisions.”
What is a factor is that his health and stress management makes Quigley believe he can still serve the Town of Ulster as he always has. And with the potential for rocky roads ahead, he’s up for the challenge.
“I’m seeing a lot of things go on out in the world that really disturb me in the financial industry,” Quigley said. “There continues to be stories…of these major office buildings selling for pennies on the dollar. And there’s tremendous amounts of wealth being wiped out. There’s tremendous amounts of capital being wiped out throughout the economy in all these areas where real estate is transitioning because of changes.And I’m concerned.”
In addition to banks who’ve loaned money for real estate development, Quigley said the town is faced with tax certiorari proceedings and other everyday financial concerns.
“And I feel like it’s getting worse, not better,” he said. “We’ve got inflation accelerating. I’ve got labor wage demands. I’ve done my best to keep taxes in control. I have no clue where it’s going, but I think it’s going to be rough. But I’ve got a 15-year track record of steering the town through the past rough waters. The town’s financial issues are in great shape now, but it could be wiped out in two years in a bad economy.”
Quigley declined to say whether he planned to run for supervisor again when his term ends next year.
“I’ve been asked that question repeatedly,” he said. “I’m not going to answer that question, because you know what? Given my history, half the people are going to say ‘He’s going to change his mind again.’ So why raise false hopes? That’s a decision for that point in time, when it comes about.”
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