Swinnerton starts the transition

WATKINS GLEN—Mark Swinnerton was selected as Watkins Glen’s new mayor during the March 15 village elections.
He will take over, along with two new board members, as of the April 4 Watkins Glen village board meeting. Kevin Smith and Scott Gibson campaigned with Swinnerton as trustee candidates.
Swinnerton replaces Judith Phillips, who was appointed as mayor in 2005 and elected to the position in 2007.
In preparation to being sworn in as mayor, Swinnerton said he sat in on the Monday, March 21, village board meeting. He explained his primary focus in starting out will be on the budget. Swinnerton said he wants to do a zero-based budget.
He said in past years, the board used the previous budget as a model. In doing a zero-based budget, Swinnerton explained the board will build the budget up by each line item. This means meeting with the different department heads to talk about expenses, which Swinnerton is planning on doing.