Board gives sendoff to long-term councilman

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. >>

Town Board members have honored Councilman Joel Brink for 20 years of service to the board, saying he has given thoughtful consideration to difficult issues while being respectful enough not to prolong debate on any topic.

At a board meeting Thursday, Dec. 19, town Supervisor James Quigley had difficulty maintaining his composure in noting that it was Brink’s last session as an elected official.

“He has been known to be the quiet, deliberative person on the board that has only spoken when it was absolutely necessary, when he needed to make a point,” Quigley said.

Brink is a lifelong town resident who graduated in 1954 from Kingston High School and served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1952 to 1960. He won the first of five terms on the board in 1999, running on the Republican line.

“I want to thank the employees of the town and the public officials,” Brink said. “They were very instrumental in helping me because when you come on the Town Board, you think you know it all. After the first meeting, you don’t know anything, and you have to rely on these people to help you.”

Brink said his most rewarding work as a board member was helping to de

velop projects that brought new municipal services to neighborhoods.

“It was helping the people who needed help,” he said. “It was getting water to the areas that didn’t have water in the town, getting sewer lines to areas that didn’t have sewer lines.”

Brink witnessed the evolution

of the town from its days before there was an IBM complex that grew to have 7,000 employees, to when the company pulled up stakes in the 1990s and sold the site that became TechCity, which this week was declared a “brownfield” site above and beyond the contamination left behind by the computer giant.

“TechCity is something I don’t want anything to do with,” he said. “I remember when it was just farmland

and undeveloped.”

Among recent accomplishments for the town was successfully seeing the Glide Path/Lincoln Park electric generating facility not only approved but seeing its developer agree to change plans in response to environmental concerns.

“I think it’s very important because if we have a situation where we don’t have power we need something to help us,” he said. “This is a big area to lose power.”

Brink said he is leaving the position with the knowledge that town finances are in good shape. He said he credits the town supervisor for demonstrating to board members what can be accomplished with careful monitoring.

“He puts out good reports, his budgets are complete, the financial statements have everything in them, they are very understandable, and he’s there to help you if you need help,” Brink said of Quigley.