In the Town of Gardiner, a place where the population is notoriously polarized between a contingent of citizens who care passionately about the environment and another group who prioritize business development of any sort, the office of town supervisor has been held for the past decade by a consummate middle-of-the-roader. In the words of Marybeth Majestic, whose term will finally end on December 31, 2025, “I’ve been the epitome of bipartisanship.”
Although she had been willing to undertake a sixth term, Majestic decided to bow out of a possibly contentious primary after Gardiner’s Democratic Committee nominated Town Board member Michael Hartner as its candidate for November, instead of endorsing her reelection. The left flank of the party was unhappy with Majestic’s performance on several issues, accusing her among other things of dragging her feet on shutting down the Awosting Club glamping operation – a battle where Hartner had been the standard-bearer for the environmentalist contingent.
But Majestic can claim a remarkable track record over her ten years in office before passing the torch. First elected on the Republican line in 2015, ousting Democratic incumbent Carl Zatz, Majestic ran unopposed in two elections, sometimes on both the Democratic and the Republican ticket. She says that one of the best compliments she received during her incumbency came from former Town Board member David Dukler, a Democrat: “He said, ‘What I like about you is that you can agree to disagree and move on to do what’s good for the town.’ That would be a great way to be remembered.”
Having to negotiate a middle way was part of the legacy left to Majestic by previous administrations, with several controversies falling into her lap for historical reasons. Notable among those was the siting of Gardiner’s second cell tower on municipally owned property, next to the town highway garage on South Mountain Road. Neighbors rose up in vocal opposition, but the commitment to the site had been made during the Joe Katz administration, under a contract guaranteeing the town $30,000 a year in lease revenue from the cellular company. Moreover, federal communications law made it impossible for potential negative health impacts to be taken into consideration in the debate. Majestic says the battle over the tower was “a huge challenge,” and a leader of the anti-cell tower forces, Tim Hunter, opposed her in the 2023 Democratic primary.
Another long-simmering dispute that was finally resolved during Majestic’s term was the unpermitted expansion over many years of the Lazy River campsite. While the resolution certainly didn’t please everyone, Majestic takes pride in the fact that the town was able to reach a compromise with the resort owners that set permanent limits without triggering a lawsuit. Not running up astronomical legal fees is nearly always a major struggle for municipal leaders in towns facing heavy commercial development pressure from deep-pocketed corporations.
One recent major victory, the installation of traffic lights at the accident-plagued intersection of Route 44/55 and Bruynswick Road at Benton Corners after years of lobbying, seemed to residents to take much longer than it should have. However, says the supervisor, “In the world of DOT, that was lightspeed. And that corner is evolving into a new center for the town, with new businesses like Pitch Pine and Full Circle.”
Majestic’s predilection for fiscal conservatism, honed by her work on town budgets as secretary to three of the previous four town supervisors, paid off for Gardinerites in the form of a long streak of years with minimal tax increases. That will no longer be true in 2026, due largely to unfunded mandates from the state. Municipalities are now required to have “dot-gov” websites linked to the New York State system, and to absorb the increased cost. That’s not entirely a bad thing, in Majestic’s view: “We’re required to have cybersecurity coverage now, which will cost us $50,000 a year. But we’re not wide-open anymore, so we’re eligible for cybersecurity insurance. Employee health insurance is also up 15 percent. You have to right-size your government to fit your needs.” New financial management software adopted in 2024 was costly, but long overdue, and helps the town avoid audit woes.
Another increased expense in 2026 will be a new tax to fund an ambulance district, established in response to urging from Ulster County for “a guaranteed response when you call 911.” Majestic explains that, while local rescue squads are still well-staffed at night and on weekends, they are often slow to respond during daytime hours when most people are working. “Volunteerism has fallen by the wayside,” she says. “This is something I’m proud of getting done. Other towns in the county should seriously consider it.”
Many of the outgoing supervisor’s most significant achievements over the past ten years were accomplished at little or no cost to local taxpayers. She originally ran on a platform of pursuing long-postponed infrastructure improvements, and made good on her promises. Painting and repairs to Town Hall tapped into volunteer labor from Watchtower Farms. The Clove Road Bridge, condemned as unsafe, was replaced thanks to a substantial member-item grant from state senator John Bonacic and construction funds accrued from Spectrum contract fees. Other grants enabled installation of security improvements at the Justice Court and an Inflow and Infiltration study for the hamlet’s sewer district.
ARPA monies allocated by the state and county for recreational facilities during the COVID epidemic funded upgrades to facilities at George Majestic Park, including a paved basketball court and a pump track for skateboarders. More ARPA funds secured by the Open Space Institute covered most of the costs of improvements to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. Other park bricks-and-mortar improvements, such as replacement of the pavilion and upgrades to the pole barn, were paid for out of a bloated tax stabilization fund left over in the town budget from previous administrations.
Majestic is lavish in her praise for the work of Climate Smart Gardiner, a volunteer group that persuaded the Town Board to commit to a comprehensive program of energy-saving measures whose implementation has qualified the town to obtain a series of NYSERDA grants. These have funded such improvements as installation of solar panels at Town Hall and the Highway Garage, several EV charging stations, upgraded Dark Sky-compliant lighting at town facilities and the recent purchase of an EV-powered Chevy Blazer for the use of Building Department employees. Just last month, the Hudson Valley Regional Council bestowed its annual Stalwart Award “for sustained and exceptional contributions to climate action over an extended duration” to the Town of Gardiner, “for their participation in every HVRC program possible, more than any other municipality in the region.”
Other milestones in Majestic’s term of office that were pleasing to local environmentalists included adoption of a Solar Law, updating the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, completion of Natural Resource and Greenhouse Gas inventories and conversion of streetlights to LEDs. A Community Preservation Plan and a Real Estate Transfer Tax were adopted to fund acquisition and protection of sensitive parcels of open space and wildlife habitat. The Gardiner Department of Parks & Recreation worked with the Gardiner Trails Alliance to establish the new Riverbend Trail system for mountain bikers at the Transfer Station site.
Whatever quibbles locals may have with the retiring supervisor, it would be tough to argue that she isn’t leaving the town a better place than she found it. While proudly defending her track record, she also deflects much of the credit onto enthusiastic civic participation by the townsfolk. “The greatest thing about Gardiner is our people. We’ve got an educated, involved group of residents who don’t have a problem letting you know how they feel – which is a good thing,” Majestic says.
To the incoming class of municipal officials, she offers this piece of advice: “It’s important to keep an open mind, a willingness to listen and hear what people have to say. Government is the art of compromise.”
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