Trending
After a four-year and nine-month term, Brocton Mayor Richard Frost will not be running for a second term. In that one term, however, Frost accomplished many things he's proud of, as well as accomplishing his main goal of doing his best for the citizens of Brocton.
Frost's path to becoming mayor wasn't exactly planned. He had been a write-in candidate that garnered enough votes to win the election, after a few Brocton residents came to him and told him he'd be good for the job.
"Some people stopped at my office, I was running my own business, Frost Transportation," Frost said. "Some people stopped in and asked me to run for Mayor. I was selling my business anyway and though maybe I can do this. I told them if they want me to run, write my name in. The only thing I advertised was on Facebook. I didn't get an overwhelming amount of votes, just enough to win."
Frost sold his business six months into becoming mayor, fully wanting to dedicate himself to the role. Though he never had any experience as an elected official prior to stepping into the mayor's role, Frost did run once "a long time ago," and he did sit on local boards and volunteered to sit on the Businessmen's Committee. Those things didn't quite ready him for the world of politics.
"Those were nothing to prepare me for the political ramifications of it all," Frost said. "I don't really like politics to be honest."
Frost is not a political guy, describing the politics of being mayor as "something that has to be done." He doesn't believe politics should be involved in helping the residents of Brocton.
"I didn't want politics to interfere with this," Frost said. "Political affiliations or thoughts didn't matter to me. I didn't want politics to play a role, there's no room for it. I just wanted to do the best I could for everyone.
And that's all Frost wants his tenure to be remembered for, is doing his best to help the village that he cares about so much. And, some of the things he's most proud of from his tenure, reflect that.
Frost oversaw the new water system in the Northern Chautauqua County Water District and the Chadwick Bay Intramunicipal Waterworks. He, along with the board, county, and land bank, saw to the demolition of a building in the middle of town, due to it being an eyesore and unsafe. Frost is also proud of the joint efforts he's had with the town of Portland and Supervisor Dan Schrantz.
"I'm very lucky to have him as supervisor," Frost said. "We consolidated some of our efforts; we consolidated the court system, the highway superintendents. I'm pretty proud of these things, because in small government, the more we consolidate, the more money taxpayers save. Those things are very important to me, and thank God the trustees went along with it. Portland was lovely to work with."
But, most of all, his tenure will be defined by his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's been a very difficult time to lead anything," he said. "Managing the time off, the separations, and following every executive order form the governor and county, there was just a lot to it. We were just trying to be COVID safe."
Frost would describe the COVID-19 response as successful, despite having to keep up with the rapidly changing environment COVID-19 caused.
"We had to keep up with a lot of things," Frost said. "We had a lot of Zoom meetings, we closed our office to the public to try and keep social distance, and we still had to come to work. We alternated shifts and tried to keep only one person in the office."
Frost contributed to the protocols and everyone followed them to the best of their abilities.
"We kept COVID-19 away from people well here," Frost said. "No one in the village other than a few residents got it, and we can't control every resident. Our employees were pretty safe as well."
COVID-19 is the reason his tenure was extended an extra nine months, as he was originally supposed to leave office in March, but he was extended the extra time. Frost's last day was Thursday, with Art Miller taking over Friday. While Frost has no desire to get in the way of Miller, he will make himself available if Miller needs any advice.
"I'll stick around and help with the Waterworks billing system because I'm familiar with it, and I'm more than willing to be here to help Art and assist him," Frost said. "But there's nothing I would do to the new regime to interfere."
At the end of the day, Frost is just a guy who wanted to do his absolute best for the community he's been a part of since he was 19. And the reason he's not sticking around for a second term is his age. Frost, who is 71, would be 76 at the end of another term, and he didn't think it was in the cards. He didn't become mayor for any personal glory, he did it to give back to the place he loves.
"I thought if I could give four or five years of my time to help the village, I should," Frost said. "I'm glad I did it, it was a good ride, and to be honest with you, it was a great pleasure and an honor to serve Brocton. It's people, employees, and trustees have all been great to work with. It's not just one person. A lot of people think sitting in the Mayor's chair means that you're all powerful and all knowing, but really you just learn every day and do the best you can."
Now that Frost is done, he's got one goal on his mind: Relax. Though he noted that he's not much of a retirement guy, he's got some hobbies that will keep his time occupied.
"I'll find something to do, I can't just sit home and watch TV," he said. "Golf should take up some of my time, but I can only golf and fish so much. The pressure I felt has kind of been relieved, I felt responsible for everything that happened here and I guess I am in a way, but I can't be responsible for things that can't change, and I can't stop it from happening."
Frost leaves office with immense respect for anyone who came before him, and those who will come after, and he just wants to be remembered as the best mayor for the community.
"It's a tough job," Frost said. "Anybody before me or after me will tell you that. Everyone who has done this should be respected."