Patefield says its time for a change
— Alan Dale
for the Laurel Advocate
LAUREL — Mark Patefield just felt it was time for something new.
That decision, the current mayor of Laurel made, he believes, will also benefit the city moving forward as he finishes his second, four-year term at the end of 2020 and will move on to new ventures.
“It’s one of those positions where you need some turnover,” he said. “I have enjoyed doing it and enjoy doing it, but after eight years sometimes you need someone to come in with different ideas.”
Patefield said he made the decision on his own and was not encouraged to make this move.
“A mayor is a position where there should be a term limit,” he said. “I think I did a pretty good job, but obviously not everyone is happy with what you do, but I got some positive feedback overall.”
Patefield believes he could have run again and been supported, but he always looked at public service and that it is “not about me, but what I can do for the town.”
He admits walking away comes with leaving some projects behind before they are finished, such as the downtown revitalization plans and the fixing up of Main Street and various sidewalks. He also mentioned the work on the community center and the feasibility of its future in the next few years.
“We will always be moving forward, so there will always be unfinished things that you hand off to the next person,” Patefield said. “It’s more about helping the town that I grew up in and helped me so much.”
He started as mayor officially in 2013 and he looks back at the growth of the city with pride.
“It’s always been moving forward and looking at how to improve,” Patefield said. “For people to visit the town and not drive on a gravel road was a big deal. We also updated the sewer system and got that in place, so the next generation doesn’t have to worry about that for the next 50 years.”
Now that he is going to be out of office by the end of the year, he plans on working with his two current businesses – owner of the drug store in Laurel as well as USave Pharmacy in Wayne – and being more involved with his kids as they get older.
“They grew up with me in meetings,” he said. “I want to spend more time with them.”
He and his wife, Christina, love to golf and he would hope to spend more time with her on the links and read some of the books in his collection that he hasn’t gotten to, yet.
Patefield aims to try to even his record against his better half on the course.
“It’s getting closer all the time,” Patefield said. “She played in college so when we met, she beat me all the time, and from the men’s tee. When we first met that was what we did on our dates. Now we’ve only gone a few times over the last three or four years.”
