PORT JERVIS – Before being elected mayor, the retiring Kelly Decker served on the Port Jervis City Council and prior to that, he was a police officer in that city.
Decker said reinvigorating the economy of the city, once a thriving railroad town, was a primary goal of his.
While that has happened slowly over the years, a $10 million shot in the arm from the state as a recipient of a Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant was just what the doctor ordered.
“We’ve gone through the process of having a local planning committee pick out the projects. Now that is all done. Now what has to happen is it goes to the state and the governor,” he said. “Around April we will actually announce who actually got the projects and then from there, it takes about six months to start contracts and construction can start as early as late 2024 to early 2025 for the projects.”
As mayor, Decker followed in the footsteps of his late father, Ross Decker, who also served as mayor of the City of Port Jervis.
