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s e r v i n g tay l or , ol d f or g e , moosic & surrounding areas triborobanner.com |october 5, 2017
Lots of pride at Old Forge senior soccer parents night |pAge 3
Triboro Christian Academy’s soccer had a winning season |pAge 7
Archrivals Old Forge and Riverside met on the gridiron |pAge 8
Stepping Down
Old Forge’s mayor looks back as his tenure winds down By Josh McAuliffe
moting the borough.” Mulkerin had a good working relaspecial to The Triboro Banner tionship with the police department. He and Police Chief Jason Dubernas worked Serving in public office can be an incredibly gratifying yet somewhat frustrat- together to upgrade several facets of the operation, from receiving a grant to ing experience. Bob Mulkerin would likely agree with get tablet computers in all police cars to purchasing new police radios to installing that sentiment. After four years serving as Old Forge’s a new reporting system for the departmayor, Mulkerin has decided not to seek ment’s computers. “We definitely brought some of the a second term in office. technology up to speed,” he said. The lifelong Old Forge resident came The mayor is especially proud of his into the job with intentions of helping work as one of the coordinators of the to make his beloved hometown an even popular Snow Forge holiday extravaganza better place to live. As he reflects back in downtown Old Forge, which has beon his term, he takes pride in some real, come an annual rite for families looking tangible accomplishments, but laments to get into the Christmas spirit. other aspects of the position that were “The committee has really worked not as satisfying. year-round to make that event so special The decision not to run again was a tough one, he said, “because there were a to the children of the town,” he said. “I’m few things still left on the table.” Howev- really proud of the work of the committee er, the responsibilities of being a husband and that work is going to continue.” In his role as borough promoter, and father of two children, as well as the increasing duties of his job at Prudential, Mulkerin has been interviewed by a number of media outlets for stories about were instrumental in determining his the town’s iconic style of pizza. One of choice. the more recent interviews he did is set “I feel like we did get quite a bit done to appear soon on Vice.com’s “The Pizza in four years,” he said. “A lot of people Show.” think the mayor is the CEO of the town. Another unique facet of being mayor – But with the structure of borough govyou get to marry people. ernment, the mayor really only oversees “In four years, I’ve probably done over the police department. The mayor is 60 weddings. And I was fortunate enough almost like a PR person in terms of proto officiate some of my friends’ marriages,” Mulkerin said. “And I never charged for the ceremony. I always said, ‘This is the fun part of the job.’” Some parts of the job, though, were TS_CNG/TRIBORO/PAGES [T01] | 10/04/17
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Mayor Bob Mulkerin
not so fun. For one thing, he felt like a lot of borough business drags on longer than it should. “One thing that disappointed me, there’s a lot more negativity in borough business than I anticipated, and that’s counterproductive to getting things done. It’s frustrating,” he said. “It’s such a great town. And we have such great potential. But it was tougher than I anticipated.” In addition, Mulkerin was incredibly disheartened by the intense wave of vitriol and gossip that took root on social media in the wake of the disappearance of Ghigiarelli’s owner Robert Baron. “You see so many things, rumors, just
non-truths, that were up there. It’s very upsetting,” he said. “I’m hoping people keep the Baron family in their thoughts, and we get some resolution soon.” Mulkerin plans to make himself completely available to the mayoral candidate that prevails in November’s election, be it Democrat Robert Legg or Republican Michael Komensky. If anything, he said, his term in office has been a huge learning experience, and he plans to put that knowledge to good use when he resumes his status as a private citizen. “I’m still going to be involved; I was always community oriented,” he said. “And I’m still going to be vocal.”