Website of Carmen Rue

I am a member of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Monticello, New York and a Community Liaison for the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department. This is an online space where I can tell you about things that matter, and you can contact me with your concerns. This site serves the best interests of the Village and people of Monticello by making public information, including Minutes of Board meetings, as well as my thoughts on certain matters, more accessible. I welcome your ideas on any topic, online or at Board meetings.


Dear Friends,

It is my honor and pleasure to contact you as someone I know is concerned about Monticello’s future to ask your support and your vote to re-elect me as a Village Trustee on March 20, 2012.

After four years on the Village Board, accomplishments I can point to include a 0% tax increase for 2011-2012 brought about by cutting unnecessary expenses, with no lay-offs; repaved 25 local streets; oversaw NYSDOT’s renovation of Broadway; lowering the sanitation rate from $104.00 to $88.00 per quarter for residents, and also cut commercial rates; kept water rates low while Monticello continues to provide the highest quality municipal water in the region; working with seniors for improved access for the disabled to the Stroebele Community and parking lot; and working together with homeowners to bring properties up to code.

Grants obtained with my advocacy and active participation have included:

2011

• $120,000 grant for decorative lighting: federal highway funds via Congressman Hinchey;
• $15,000,000 million Broadway Project Construction 2008 to 2011;

2010

• $5,000 grant: Sullivan Renaissance, for improvement of the front of the Village Hall;
• $6,447,000 grant: USDA Federal Stimulus for wastewater treatment plant upgrade;
• $7,984,000 low interest loan: US Department of Agriculture for the water and sewer system;
• $15,000,000 grant for original Water System Upgrade (plus $2,600,000 still pending);

2008 & 2009

• $1,700,000 RESTORE-NY grant for Entertainment Village on Broadway, starting this spring;
• $330,000 grant: NYS DOT for Walkable Monticello sidewalks, completed on Route 42 South.

I have contributed successful ideas and devoted countless hours working on committees to bring such activities as a Halloween parade for youth, community Thanksgiving, multi-faith Broadway holiday decor, hosting a massive farmer’s market and street fair and the first alcohol- and drug-free “Night Out” on Broadway in August, planting 8,000 daffodils on Broadway that will blossom this spring, and other major local events.

I have proven my ability to work together with everyone for a unified and growing Monticello. I will need your vote in March in order to see our village repopulate Broadway with successful businesses after the series of closings and bankruptcies that began 8 to 10 years ago. We are turning Monticello around!

Please help continue economic successes and emphasis on positive activities for local youth that have begun. Contrary to the negative gadfly’s who are vocal on the Internet and in print media, businesses are even now opening or moving to the Village. The work of the last four years, thanks to your trust and confidence, is finally paying off.

I will continue to work with Monticello’s finest and as liaison to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department to make our community safer by preventing crime and holding criminals accountable, while at the same time improving working conditions for our Police Department who are committed to respectful community policing. Don’t let this stop!
Overcoming obstacles, I have fought – and will continue – to make our village better, not bitter. We have to work together. Friends and family know me as “a fighter”. I am tenacious and persistent. I will not give up on Monticello!

I work part-time with my husband Tom Rue as the office manager at Choices Mental Health Counseling PLLC on Pelton Street here in the Village of Monticello. We have three grown children and four wonderful grandchildren.

Call or e-mail me to discuss any issues concerning our “new” Monticello; now or at any time in the future before or after my re-election when I can assist you in any way at all. I always return phone calls from constituents.

Any support you can give – including your vote on March 20, 2012 to help re-elect me will be genuinely appreciated. Please don’t give up now.

Sincerely,

Carmen Rue, Monticello Village Trustee

The meeting of December 20th included a public hearing on a local law creating a new Village Police Commission, followed by the law's adoption by a 3 to 2 vote creating a three-member "commission" consisting of Mayor Jenkins, Trustee Hutchins, and Bess Davis (though Ms. Davis left before her appointment was announced and has not yet publicly accepted).

Trustee Rue and Trustee Marinello voted "No" to the law's adoption. However, Trustee Marinello then joined the other three board members, voting "Yes" to appoint the persons named above. Mayor Jenkins, Trustee Hutchins, and Trustee Matthews all voted in favor of both measures, with the mayor casting the tie-breaking vote that ensured the law's passage.

This entry was posted on Wed, 12/21/2011 - 01:11

The public is invited to join with officials of the Village of Monticello, County of Sullivan, State of New York, Congressman Maurice Hinchey, and Sullivan Reniasance Foundation at a dedication ceremony celebrating the completion of the MONTICELLO LIGHTING PROJECT.

Graphic design of the invitation and commemorative program by Helen Budrock of Sullivan Reniassance.

Related Links



"Artist's rendering provided."

This entry was posted on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 20:21

The Mayor, Village of Monticello Board of Trustees, the Village Manager cordially invite individuals, businesses, Town, County, and State officials, and all their family members and friends, to take part in planning the Village of Monticello’s annual Halloween parade.

Line-up for the Sunday, October 30, 2011 will start at 2:30 PM on Saint John St., hosted and led by the Village Recreation Department in conjunction with local members of the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce, Sullivan Renaissance, YMCA, Monticello Business Association ,Community Progressive Response (CPR),the Monticello youth programs Dream Tank, and other area groups and individuals.

We are pleased to announce that this year the Halloween parade will be held on the "new" Broadway rain or shine, with as broad-based participation as possible, for an enjoyable, safe, drug- and alcohol-free fun for local youth, and an opportunity for all who live and work in Monticello to take contribute to a memorable evening. All summer long, youth programs also ran at the village’s parks and swimming pool.

The village is also planning a holiday lighting festival to start in December.

Broadway is almost finished. The formal August 21st ribbon-cutting event was a great success, attended by several hundred well-wishers and celebrants. The rain held back for most of the day, which in itself was a good omen! Decorative street lamps similar to those on Pleasant Street will soon be erected, lining Broadway between Village Hall and Jefferson Street. Costs for this work will be contained with the assistance of Delaware Valley Job Corps Center members, supervised by licensed professionals.

Exit 106 is to be moving along slowly but surely, under the auspices of the NYS DOT. Other side streets and the Village hill will shortly be paved as well, by Village workers. The Village Board is exploring residential zoning for Broadway combined with business incentives, coordination with real estate professionals, networking with businesses and governmental entities to identify new ways to connect capital with opportunity, and promote small business resources and partnerships.

Lots of exciting things have happened this past summer, including regular entertainment hosted on the steps of the LH Cooke Sullivan County Court House, and the National Night Out event organized jointly by the Village of Monticello and The Recovery Center – all of which were well attended and well received.

There are more good things coming, but public participation is needed.

To find ways to help keep our community rolling forward, or for more information, call the Village Manager’s office at 845-794-6130, ext. 306.

This entry was posted on Sun, 09/04/2011 - 21:38


THE MAYOR and BOARD OF TRUSTEES of the VILLAGE OF MONTICELLO, Hon. Gordon Jenkins, and Trustees Theodore Hutchins, Carmen Rue, James Matthews, and Victor Marinello invite YOU and your fammily and friends to celebrate the RIBBON CUTTING AND GRAND RE-OPENING OF BROADWAY on August 21, 2011.

The ribbon-cutting will occur at 1:00 PM in front of the Lawrence H. Cooke Sullivan County Court House, follow by a host of family-oriented events until 6:00 PM.

Call Deputy Manager John LiGreci at (8145) 794-6130, ext 306 or Mayor Gordon Jenkins at (845) 794-6130, ext 304 if you need more information.

Collaborating Groups: Sullivan Renaissance, Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce, The Recovery Center

Download Documents:

  • Broadway Craft and Farm-Fest Poster
  • Broadway Grand Re-Opening Flier
  • Business Discount Form (for Farm-Fest) [MS Word]

    • This entry was posted on Sun, 07/17/2011 - 23:07

    Several members of the Board of Trustees worked very hard to lower the Manager's proposed 25% increase in taxes to something more in the range of a 1% to 0% increase – or even better.

    The board has met every day from last Monday through yesterday. We have a final meeting scheduled with the Treasurer tomorrow when we will try to bring the final budget down to a desired level.

    I want to thank the Treasurer, Heather Berg; and also Village Clerk Janine Gandy for working with us to head off Barbarite's proposed massive tax increase.

    Throughout the budget-revision process, the Village Manager absented himself entirely and offered no input whatever – not so much as an e-mail, memo, or a suggestion, all the while continuing to collect a full paycheck.

    Audio recordings of the budget work sessions can be heard here.

    This entry was posted on Tue, 06/21/2011 - 22:58

    Walkable Monticello: Pre-Construction Meeting Minutes

    This entry was posted on Fri, 04/15/2011 - 19:15

    Click the image below to download an Acrobat file of a letter dated March 3, 2011 updating Monticello taxpayers on plans for resuming Broadway renovation.

    This entry was posted on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 19:24


    CLICK THE ABOVE FOR A HIGH-RES UNCROPPED PHOTO. (COURTESY MONTICELLO FIRE DEPARTMENT.)

    Monticello residents, taxpayers, and business owners all want to see Broadway busy with traffic and commerce again, as it was years ago.

    An option that the Board of Trustees has promoted for a decade or more has been the "artist loft", which allows business owners to live on the second floor of structures which are otherwise zoned for commercial use only. This good idea has worked well, but it has not gone far enough.

    For years I have advocated changing the zoning to allow upstairs residency on Broadway again, as it existed years ago, as a way to improve the neighbourhood.

    I am currently exploring a concept for re-populating Broadway with residents who will operate stores and other businesses on the street level.

    Some have proposed allowing residentail use of second floor apartments, but restricted to building or business owners and their families. Definining who is "connected" to a building or business owner could be hard, or result in a law so narrow as to be ineffective.

    We can not pursue a public policy designed to keep out "substandard tenants" (to quote the infamous words of our present Village Manager, John Barbarite)[1] or prohibit Section 8 residents, or we risk running afoul of the Fair Housing Act. We want to elevate the economic condition of Broadway by creating conditions that will benefit entrepeneurs and landlords of any race, nationality, or status.

    I favor refining and clarifying the present law to provide financial incentives for residents of second-floor residents to establish and maintain businesses in street-level store fronts. The purpose would be to entice business people to live and work on Broadway.

    A variation of the "artist loft" law, the idea I am proposing here is that upstairs residents who operate successful businesses downstairs be afforded such incentives as low-interest small business loans, grants, or other financial aid, but tied to the assurance that the upstairs tenant must operate a commercial business on the street level below. Only the operators of businesses on the street level and their dependents would be allowed to reside on the second floor.

    Financial incentives would attract those committed enough to Monticello that they are willing to live and open a business on Broadway.

    This proposal would attract financially stable residents to live on newly renovated second floors, while creating and operating new businesses on the street underneath their homes.

    I am looking for support and improvements to this idea as I consult with fellow members of the Board of Trustees, and County, State, and other government officials and business and property owners for the good of Monticello.

    Suggestions from Monticello business people, the Chamber of Commerce, and Sullivan Reniasance, are welcomed by Village elected officials like myself with and creative ideas for our "new" Monticello.

    This entry was posted on Mon, 02/28/2011 - 00:14

    Largest Ever USDA Rural Development Investment in NY will Repair System that 2008 Engineering Report Deemed "Near Failure"

    Monticello, NY --Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today was joined by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Agency New York State Director Jill Harvey, Monticello Mayor Gordon Jenkins, Trustees Carmen Rue, Victor Marinello, and T.C. Hutchins, as well as other local and county officials to announce a major federal investment for the repair of the wastewater collection and treatment systems in the Village of Monticello.

    This entry was posted on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 22:32

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    The Village of Monticello welcomes new businesses and residents. As a Village Trustee, I invite you to contact me directly if I can help advocate for your needs, especially if you feel you are not receiving fair or adequate treatment at Village Hall. Government should serve you, not vice-versa.

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    The Website of Carmen Rue on sullivancountytalk.com