South Blooming Grove Mayor Appears @ The Village's New Grocery Store

Mayor George Kalaj, second from left, tours new grocery store in the Village of South Blooming Grove with village officials (MHNN photo)

SOUTH BLOOMING GROVE – South Blooming Grove Mayor George Kalaj has been criticized of late for missing a number of village board meetings and he explained his reasons in a wide ranging exclusive interview with Mid-Hudson News.

Critics have blasted the mayor for missing those sessions, but he assured the community it is in good hands.

“Well, like everybody else I do have a personal life, I do have my own obligations, and I’ll tell you what, I do have a great staff,” he said. “I have very, very good people working with me in the village board. Therefore, I am in close contact on a daily basis with them, and no matter where I am at, I am in touch with them, and they feed me all the information that I need to know.” Kalaj declined to comment on the village’s development of Mangin Road cutting through county parkland citing the issue is in litigation.

And he acknowledged that work continues on the Clovewood development despite the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s issuance of a half-dozen stop-work orders.

“We have a village engineer, Al Fusco. He is working close with the developer, Clovewood, and DEC, to make sure things are done properly,” he told Mid-Hudson News