AW Stories of the Month
Interview with Mayor Matty Mattioli of Royal Palm Beach
Mattioli Runs Again for Mayor
By Krista Martinelli
Mayor Matty Mattioli moved to Royal Palm Beach thirty years ago and has watched the village grow. When he moved here from Pennsylvania, it was a village of just 5,500 people and today Royal Palm Beach is more of a “small city” with 34,000 residents. He has served as Mayor for two years, and he’s been a part of the Village Council for 18 years. “I like what I’m doing,” says the 84-year-old Mayor, who has been involved in politics since the age of 18.
Mattioli is proud of many of the projects that they’ve completed
and also of the fact that Royal Palm Beach is not in a state of economic crisis. “I believe we can accomplish what we want to do without needing to raise taxes,” says Mattioli, pointing to the Village’s reserve of 73 million dollars. “Why deprive yourself of living a normal life,” he says, “when you have money in the reserve?”
When it comes to the national economic downturn, Mattioli is critical of the banking industry. In his previous career as a real estate agent (for 25 years), he saw the writing on the wall when mortgages were being handed out all too freely. “If you could breathe, they would give you a mortgage,” he says, referring to a few years ago, just before the housing market crisis. “We the American people bailed out the banks. Now they should be bailing people out…because you can’t do nothin’ without money!” he says with a smile.
This is the way Mattioli is – funny and to the point. He’s the proud grandfather of eleven grandchildren. His wife passed away a year ago. So he’s on his own now, trying to take the wisdom of his previous years in politics and apply them to the upcoming years. “Now that I’m retired, I like what I’m doing [as Mayor]. If something good comes of it, all the better.”
Mattioli worked with the Better Business Bureau and the Palm Beach Economic Council, teaming together to build a large, approximately 500,000 square foot warehouse, which will be run by Aldi Company, behind the Regal Cinema on 441. “I’m very proud of this project and it’s estimated to create about 500 new jobs,” says Mattioli. He reminds us, however, that it will take 15 months or more to build it.
In his previous career, Mattioli worked for Corning Glass as a territory manager for 22 years and really enjoyed the position.
Eventually he felt the strain of constantly traveling and decided to retire in Florida. He also has experience officiating horse shows for 33 years and as a polo referee for 25 years at Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. He feels that he has a good working relationship with the Village Manager Raymond Liggins and the other five Council members. Because of the Florida Sunshine Law, they cannot discuss the proposals that come onto their desks, except for in the course of the public meetings. However, they have a good system for looking at the budget, communicating every day and coming to agreement on the proposals that are most beneficial to Royal Palm Beach.
The Mayor’s opponent Felicia Matula has pointed out that she would “run the Council meetings differently,” making a point to listen to every individual who wants to speak. Mattioli explains that he holds the gavel, so in the normal process of the meeting, he gets to speak first. Then he asks the Council for their opinion. Then they ask the applicant, the person bringing a proposal before the Council, to speak. Issues are decided by a “Yay” or “Nay” vote.
“Every agenda has room for statements from the public,” says Mattioli. He feels that concerned citizens will speak up as needed. However, he’s not so concerned with the fact that Royal Palm Beach council meetings are usually attended by just a handful of residents. He explains, “They’re happy with what’s going on.”
Mattioli has focused on the Parks system of Royal Palm Beach and was also instrumental in having new water and sewer lines installed in the south end of the Village. In his other activities, Mattioli is a founding member of the Young at Heart Club, a member of the American Legion post 367, on the board of directors of the League of Cities and a member of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Church.
He aims to keep Royal Palm Beach a great place to live, work and play.
Reminder: The election takes place on March 13th, 2012, so don’t forget to vote!