Victor mayor to retire after nearly 30 years of service in village government

VICTOR — Gary Hadden went to school in Victor. He played sports, notably basketball, in Victor. He coached youth sports in Victor.

Hadden managed a rural postal route for decades in Victor and still has a part-time courier job with the Victor school district. He served on two village government boards for 27 years and is wrapping up his final days as mayor in — you guessed it — Victor.

Hadden’s decision to retire and not seek reelection as mayor after eight years and four terms was not so much about Victor, which has been at the forefront in his mind for so long, but for him and his family.

Well, maybe it’s a little about Victor, as he felt the longer he serves as mayor, the more deeply involved he gets in more things and the demand just keeps increasing.

And that’s hard when there are grandkids in Tennessee who are growing up too fast for him and his wife, Kathy. But, yes, it was time to take more personal time and a little less responsibility. Victor will have to be led by someone else.

“Maybe that’s long enough,” Hadden said. “Give somebody else the chance to lead the village and put their perspective into play.”

Getting started in Victor village government

Hadden retired in 2016 from the U.S. Postal Service after 43 years that included training other carriers and employees and delivering mail to many town of Victor residents. But he never aspired to be in government despite working a government job.

When a neighbor of his, former Mayor Dick Kalb, asked him to serve on the village Zoning Board of Appeals, he didn’t have an immediate answer, only a question.

“What’s the Zoning Board of Appeals?” Hadden said from the Village Hall meeting room, where he has presided over Board of Trustees meetings for the last eight years.

It was kind of the same situation when he was asked to serve a term as a trustee on the board.

“What’s the harm? It’s only a one-year term. What have I got to lose?” Hadden said. “If after one year, you don’t want it, you just walk away.”

Not only did he stay put, he decided to run for the office again and was one of two elected in a contested election. That was 2006. Not done yet, he decided to run for mayor in 2017.

That’s also when he retired from the post office and started working for the school district. The switch from mail carrier to courier made sense to him, but mayor?

“I had some trepidation about it. I don’t know if I’m really cut out to be the mayor,” Hadden said. “I’m not exactly a forceful kind of leader, but I decided what the heck, I’d give it a go.”

Four terms and eight years later, “I stuck it out,” Hadden said.

What they say about retiring Victor Mayor Gary Hadden

Incoming Mayor Sean McAdoo, a board trustee and former Victor fire chief who in March won an uncontested election to succeed Hadden, said his predecessor served the village for 27 “incredible” years and it’s impossible to duplicate his record, at least the way he accomplished it.

Hadden has such a care for everything about the village and Victor overall.

“How can you not just be in awe of somebody like that?” said McAdoo, who officially takes office April 7. “Gary has a way with people and a kindness that is very well respected by everyone in the community and not just in the village but the town. It’s a big hole to fill.”

Victor Town Supervisor Jack Marren said he has had the good fortune of working with Hadden when they were involved in youth sports programs and when they served on the Village Board together as well as collaborating at the town and village government level in recent years.

“He epitomizes a public servant that many communities would love to have,” Marren said. “I have much to say about Mr. Hadden, all positive.”

Retiring Victor NY mayor: Accomplishments are a team effort

Hadden prefers to see accomplishments in the village during his time in government as team efforts involving dedicated employees, community leaders and citizens.

They include beautification efforts, road and other public works projects that may not make headlines but make the village a better place.

Collaborative work toward revitalizing the business community downtown, efforts to ease traffic congestion, planning for improvements to Mead Square Park, the addition of an electric vehicle charging station at Village Hall — the list is varied and goes on and on — but the constant, he said, are the employees who do the work and have their thumbs on the pulse of the community at all times.

“All these things, will they come to fruition? You don’t know,” Hadden said. “I’d like to say while I’ve been here, I got things moving in the right direction, with the help of many other people.

“It’s hard for me to take credit for it when I didn’t do the work,” Hadden continued. “I’m really pleased to have been here during that time and say I was a small part of that.”

Hadden discovered another perk of the job while working for the school district. Kids in the hallways would see him and ask, “Hey, are you really the mayor?”

“It does make you feel good,” Hadden said. “It’s not like you’re the king of England or something, but it’s been a lot of satisfaction.”

The job had its ups and downs, as not everyone always agrees with the mayor — Hadden included. But one thing Hadden said he would like to take credit for is establishing a lot of good relationships with people, businesses and government entities.

The same thing he is being praised for by others who know him and have worked with him.

“My mantra is to be as honest as I can be with you,” Hadden said. “I think it served me well. Hopefully in the end, people respected me because I respected them.”

Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Victor NY Mayor Gary Hadden to retire after 30 years of service