Joseph Stargiotti has served on the Pleasantville Board of Trustees since 2006. But Stargiotti isn’t a typical politician. As a matter of fact, Stargiotti considers himself to be anything but a politician.

“Truthfully, the things that drive the Republican and Democratic party on a national or state level are not important to me,” Stargiotti said.”Whether we [the village board] put a bathroom on Parkway Field, or we put a turf down, Democrats or Republicans have nothing to do with that. There is nothing that I can think of since I’ve been on the board that has anything to do with politics, and that is different.”

As a resident of Pleasantville, Stargiotti has always been interested in small tight-knit communities, and working for a municipality had always enticed him.

“I enjoy the civic service aspect of doing this because it really is not politics,” Stargiotti said. “You have to make choices that are best for the community above all else. What I love about this town is that nobody on this board runs as a Democrat or a Republican.”

Since joining the board, Stargiotti has run as an independent in every election. He said he believes that in a small town like Pleasantville, the most important thing is to listen to the people and solve their problems.

However, Stargiotti does describe himself as”financially conservative,”an ideology that makes him feel like the outlier on the board.

“I feel like sometimes we look for revenue sources or spend money in ways that I disagree with,” Stargiotti said.” For example, in 2015, an issue that was brought to the board was to raise the parking rates. I voted no because I don’t think that parking tickets should be a revenue source.”

Stargiotti said enforcing parking tickets is essential. However, he said the rates on parking should not be raised just because the town can charge more.

Another issue where Stargiotti was in the minority was the topic of discussing the salary of the Pleasantville Chief of Police Erik Grutzner. Despite admiring Grutzner, Stargiotti felt that his salary was too high, and that it was coming out of the expense of taxpayers.

On both of these issues, Stargiotti was the only one to vote no. But despite losing he believes that having different viewpoints is vital in government, and he isn’t alone.

“I think that Joseph’s perspectives are very refreshing,” said Patricia Dwyer, the Pleasantville Village Administrator who has worked with Stargiotti for 11 years. “He brings a new creativity to the board, and that is very important to have.”

Stargiotti doesn’t care if he is in the minority. He said he wants to save Pleasantville citizens as much money as possible, and if that means he has to stand alone, then he’s fine with that.