By Dan Murphy
Longtime Yonkers resident, operations manager, and republican Ron Matten announced his candidacy for Yonkers City Council President last week. Matten, who grew up on Valentine Lane in Southwest Yonkers and attended Sacred Heart High School, is expected to get the Yonkers GOP nomination when they meet next week.
Matten is a graduate of Manhattan College with Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) and he holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Pace University. He wants to use his 30 years of experience in facilities and operations management, working for private and public entities, to help the people of Yonkers and the taxpayers, in the budgetary process.
Most recently, Matten has worked for the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut and the City University of New York with municipal and organizational budgets, and in restructuring organizations to operate efficiently.
In Yonkers, Matten serves as a board member of Yonkers Joint Schools Construction Board. The board was created by statute and is charged with rebuilding the facilities of the Yonkers’ school system. Ron is also a board member of the Yonkers Family YMCA. As a resident of southwest Yonkers, the “Y” had a major positive influence in his family’s life.
“I’m running for Council President to put my extensive epxerience to use for the benefit of the Yonkers taxpayer. I can make a substantive impact towards the City’s financial stability while improving the lilfe of our residents. The office of City Council President has significant authority and this authority has not been used to its potential,” said Matten who lives with his wife Khanittha in Colonial Heights where they are active members of the neighborhood associate, CHAT.
Matten plans on presenting a platform of:
• Putting term limits back in the hands of the voters. Term limits were extended without regard to the voters. Its time to give this decision back to the people.
• Bringing fiscal stability and accountability to Yonkers. In the last two years, Moody’s has downgraded Yonkers’ general obligation bonds, based on instability and unrealistic budgets. The Council President has equal authority over IG investigations. As Louis Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” It is time to unleash this authority.
• Putting quality of life above overdevelopment. Its great that the City has brought development to Yonkers, but developers don’t always consider the interest of the residents. When they do not, it has a negative impact on our communities. Development funded through the Yonkers IDA should require project labor agreements.
City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen, the top elected republican in Yonkers, said, “I’m glad that Ron Matten is running and that the Yonkers republicans have a candidate for Council President. He is more than qualified to run and has an impressive resume. That is why I recommended him to serve on the Yonkers Joint Schools Construction Board. He has worked in the Yonkers GOP for several years and will represent the party well. Run Ron Run!”
