"I'll tell you all why I'm here tonight, if you haven't guessed. I'd like to announce I want another 4-year-term in the city of Dunkirk," Mayor Richard Frey said Wednesday evening in Katerina's before friends and family.
Frey, currently serving his third term as mayor of Dunkirk, said he picked Katerina's to announce his decision to run for re-election because it was right in the heart of where the city's development has been over the past 10 years.
"The boardwalk across the street, the lofts up one block, the incubator up the block ... the project we're looking to develop in the Dutch Bertges building," Frey said while noting the development projects that have taken place during his tenure. "I love the city of Dunkirk and I'm proud of the accomplishments we've seen come to life over the past 10 years. I've been blessed to be part of over $10 million invested into the city of Dunkirk's waterfront ... and that's just along our waterfront."
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Frey announces re-election
Pointing to a number of reasons for his decision to run for re-election, Frey said a lot of it had to do with "unfinished business."
"We are working hard each day to bring better opportunities to our residents and I want to see projects through to completion," Frey began. "For example, I can't thank the people at REM-tronics enough. They are working away to open their Dunkirk manufacturing facility on Brigham Road which is a great success. I want to duplicate these efforts in the next four years by seeing the Cott-Cliffstar Project on Roberts Road to completion."
Frey also mentioned the work to be done on the Dutch Bertges Dealership and the Flickenger Building. While finishing projects was a major reason for his decision, Frey did not leave out the strong support he has received from his family as a motivating factor as well.
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OBSERVER?Photo by Michael Rukavina
City of Dunkirk Mayor Richard Frey, alongside his wife Pat, announced his bid for a fourth term Wednesday evening at Katerina’s on the Lake.
"I'd be re-missed if I didn't mention my real special guests that I have here tonight. I have my oldest son Mike here from Colorado, I have my youngest son Timmy and his lovely wife Martha and my grandsons TJ, Tyler, and my daughter Debbie Rozumalski."
Debbie read aloud, and through some tears, a letter received Wednesday sent by NYS Senator Catherine Young congratulating Mayor Frey on his desire to continue leading the city of Dunkirk.
"I have the real strong support from councilman Muldowney, who has been with me since day one," Frey added. "Between Truman Bradley, Bill Tuggle, Rich Newton and Kevin Muldowney, they have done the impossible to keep the city of Dunkirk together in the Republican party. I can't thank you enough."
City Clerk Bill Tuggle who will be leaving to start working with the Chautauqua County Board of Elections on June 1 could still become a familiar face at City Hall come November.
"As everyone may have learned I have accepted the position with the Board of Elections and I'll be starting there June 1, but you couldn't take me out of Dunkirk permanently," Tuggle said. "I've seen a lot of good things under Mayor Frey, Kevin Muldowney, and a whole bunch of people in the city and I'd like to help out as best I can so I'm throwing my hat into the ring as the candidate for Second Ward Council. I hope I get all of your support and I'm looking forward to an exciting time."
City Republican Committee Chairman Truman Bradley acknowledged the unofficial endorsements and added a few others as well.
"Bill is running for Second Ward, Kevin (Muldowney) is probably going to move to Councilman-at-Large, and we're going to endorse Independent Mike Michalski again for First Ward Councilman," Bradley said. "We haven't officially nominated yet because we're still looking for people for the Third and Fourth Ward. We're probably going to discuss that after we meet tonight."
Second Ward Councilman Kevin Muldowney said he is excited for the new challenge.
"I've been on the board for 10 years and hopefully the voters will return me to city council," he said. "I look forward and I'm excited about what we've done the last 10 years and I'm looking forward to bigger and better projects at least for the next couple of years."
Muldowney is hopeful that he and Mayor Frey can continue on with what they have accomplished over the past 10 years.
"He always says he had dark curly hair and says I was a lot thinner,which half of it might be true, I never remember him with dark hair," Muldowney joked. "He's put together a really nice team of people over the years. People come and go but he has a real knack of putting the team together and concentrating on a project and we go until that project is done."
"I hope we'll see some success this fall. We're going to work like hell at it I'll tell you that," Frey concluded. "But it will be a gentleman's campaign. We'll talk about facts and we'll talk about figures and we'll talk about projects but we have an awful lot to point to as our successes. So we're going to move on, the campaign starts today I guess."
Comments on this article may be sent to mrukavina@observertoday.com
