BY MIKE PETTINELLA
For Video News Service
John Borrelli is running on the Democratic Party ticket for the District 9 seat on the Genesee County Legislature – a position that represents the City of Batavia Wards 4 & 5.
Borrelli, a Le Roy native who has lived in Batavia for the past seven years, will be competing for the seat in November against current City Council members Robert Bialkowski (Republican) and Kathleen Briggs (Conservative). Borrelli’s name also will appear on the independent Batavia’s Voice line.
Gary Maha is retiring from the legislature after eight years as the District 9 representative.
In an interview earlier this week, Borrelli, a longtime coach at Notre Dame High School (his alma mater), said he deeply cares about youth and the elderly. He said he is motivated to do whatever he can to retain and build programs that will create career opportunities in this area for those getting out of high school and college.
“I have two grandchildren and I’m driven because of them,” he said. “I want them (young people) to stay here. I don’t want to give my grandchildren a reason that they have to move out at some point because there’s nothing here for them or there’s no future here for them.”
Borrelli said he believes now is the “right time” for him to enter the political arena, following in the footsteps of his late father, Nicholas, who served as mayor of Le Roy and as a county legislator.
“He came to me and wanted me to get involved in politics. He thought I would be good at it. So, I promised him I would,” Borrelli recalled. “Then, as the years go by and they go fast, you have kids; it’s just that the time went. I’ve had this in the back of my mind for the longest time.
“And I thought now is the right time to get into it because with all that’s going on in the world today, we need someone that’s going to work for everybody and that cares about everybody – with no hidden agenda.”
Borrelli, who earned a degree in industrial engineering at the University of Dayton and worked for 24 years at Oxbo International in Byron, said his father was a huge influence on him,
“For many years, I got to see him and how he cared about the public and how he worked tirelessly for them when he was on the legislature. It was a great way to see a different perspective. He was a younger guy, a younger person — someone that cared for all the constituents in his area. He cared for everybody.”
Borrelli said he’s concerned about cuts to programs being proposed by the federal government.
“There are so many things going on with cuts. We don’t know what’s going to happen coming down the pipeline,” he said. “We’ve got the VA (Medical Center), which is vital to this area. What are those cuts going to entail? This whole Medicaid thing is another concern. We have to take care of our people and I’m willing to do whatever I can to make the right choices.”
Borrelli has been employed at Custom Vehicle Outfitters in Batavia for the past three years. He has two married daughters – Jacklyn, who resides in Batavia, and has two sons, Jackson, 4, and Nico, 1, and Nicole, who lives in Greece.