Aptly named (see Hunger Games), Rockland County Legislative District 12 is composed of the Ramapo Villages of Airmont, Hillburn and most of Suffern. For many years Joe Meyers was the district’s legislative gadfly, who worked overtime for local issues he believed in. But Tuesday, November 3, will see voters choose a new representative.

District 12 is a slice of Rockland County crowded with important county and state roads, plus a major interstate that runs the length of its boundaries. The district has the Ramapo and Mahwah Rivers flowing through it and features essential Town of Ramapo and Rockland infrastructure — the Rockland Recycling Center and new Rockland Sewer District #1 water treatment plant and sewers.

All of these, the rivers, wetlands, open space, and infrastructure — call them Rockland County resources and assets — must be managed by government agencies that often compete for funding and partnerships with the private sector and state agencies.

Former educator and Suffern resident Patsy Wooters is running for Rockland County Legislator for District 12, and appears to have the exact portfolio of skills for the job.

Click to enlarge Rockland County district maps.

A member of the Rockland Water Coalition, Co-Chair of the Conservation Committee of the Rockland County Task Force on Water Resources Management, Secretary of the NY-NJ Tail Conference Board, and member of the Suffern Revitalization Committee and Rockland County Democratic Committee, Wooters has run on a platform that advocates better county resource management and encourages economic development at the local level via identifying and aggregating available state funds that are supportive of those initiatives.

Wooters summarized her intended legislative focus for District 12 here.

The corridor communities of Suffern, Hillburn (and Sloatsburg, which is in District 1 and represented by Doug Jobson) face the precise issues that Wooters has been involved in over the past 20 years.

Rockland County, the Town of Rampo and Suffern/Airmont/Hillburn could use a representative steeped in the issues that comprise the unique demographics of District 12.