Marcos Baladron, who has served as East Hampton Village administrator for just over two years, will receive the Hon. Paul F. Rickenbach Distinguished Service Award from the Suffolk County Village Officials Association next month. If he weren’t so modest, he might admit to feeling vindicated.
“I thought the mayor was kidding when he told me I had won. It’s definitely an honor,” Mr. Baladron said.
When he was originally sworn in, his appointment came with some controversy. The village board was split along party lines, with Mayor Jerry Larsen’s NewTown Party supporting him, and the Fish Hooks Party opposed to his appointment. Former Trustee Arthur (Tiger) Graham, said Mr. Baladron was not qualified for the role. There had only been two previous administrators, Larry Cantwell who served from 1982 to 2013, and Becky Molinaro Hansen, who served from 2013 to 2020.
Ms. Molinaro Hansen’s job incorporated the roles of village clerk and village treasurer, and the board was faced with a crisis. “No municipality should have that issue,” said Mr. Baladron. When Ms. Molinaro Hansen left, “the clerk, treasurer, and administrator all left at once.”
Instead, the job was reconfigured. Dominique Cummings was promoted to village treasurer, and Pamela Bennett to village clerk. Mr. Baladron’s role became chief administrator with management over the treasurer and clerk.
He is the main point of contact with each of the village department heads, which means approximately 15 employees report directly to him. If the department heads have issues, he is responsible for communicating them to the village board.
He also sees himself as an unofficial buffer.
“I’m the human resource guy for residents. Sometimes they don’t want to bother the mayor. Or they communicate something to me in a tough way because they want to be polite with the mayor. Because of that, I can often get to the heart of what the problem is; sometimes it’s easier for people to speak with me.”
Mr. Baladron seems most proud of his work on the $26 million village budget. He and his “budgetary soul mate,” Ms. Cummings, worked to provide the biggest tax cut for East Hampton Village residents in 20 years.
One way they’ve done that is by increasing their non-tax revenue, by raising the price of beach passes, for example. The rise of the East Hampton Village Foundation, which raises money for village projects, has also helped. Mr. Baladron is on the foundation’s board of directors.
He takes a collaborative approach to the budget, beginning each year at zero and having conversations with each department head, asking them, “What do you really need this year?”
“It forces them to really rethink their needs,” he says. “I ask each of them to list their top three goals for the year. They ask for everything and then I ask them to narrow it down. Then they have to provide a reasoning for it. I like knowing the details of the expenses.”
Another feather in his budgetary cap? In July, the village was awarded a triple-A bond rating from Moody’s Investors Service Inc., the first time in its history.
He credits his mother, a C.E.O. for Blyth Inc., a Fortune 1000 company, as an influence in his management technique.
Mr. Baladron went to college for “I.T. stuff” and afterward spent years alternating among the worlds of wine, web design, and management consulting. He met Mayor Larsen at a party in 2018 — “We were both complaining about the same thing: the last administration” — and when Mr. Baladron encouraged Mr. Larsen to run, Mr. Larsen agreed, provided Mr. Baladron would manage his campaign.
“When he won, I thought I’d never see the guy again, but then Becky quit, and the village needed a second signatory. I was out walking my dog when the mayor called me on a Wednesday. I was sworn in the following Thursday. It’s the coolest job I never heard of and I kind of stumbled into it,” he said.
“Marcos did an outstanding job in my campaign. I was always bringing him into village government in some fashion,” said Mayor Larsen. “He manages people in the same way I do. You respect people, and treat them with kindness until they cross a line. With him we’ve been able to lower taxes, trim the government, add services, and up the village income. His contract is for 30 hours a week, but everyone knows he’s there at 8 a.m. and often doesn’t go home until 6 p.m. He’s always available on weekends. This award was made for someone exactly like him.”
“There’s no off switch whatsoever,” said Mr. Baladron of the hours he works.
“Paul Rickenbach oversaw the village as mayor for nearly 30 years. Larry Cantwell was village administrator for 32. My goal is 33,” said Mr. Baladron.
At 43 years old, and with two years already under his belt, he could do it.
