Town officials sworn into office with help from family members
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> Town government got underway for another year Monday when six town officials who won political races in the fall were sworn into their respective offices.
Being sworn into office can be done publicly or privately.
The choice is at the discretion of the person taking the oath. For many years in
Clifton Park the oath of office ceremony has been a public event held in town hall with friends, family and supporters either taking part in the ceremony or seated in the audience.
With the town hall meeting room two thirds full, seven elected officials, six Republicans and one Democrat, went to the front of the room with friends and family in tow, placed their left hand on a bible, raised their right, and took the oath as administered by Saratoga
County Family Court Judge Paul Pelagalli.
Taking the oath of office Monday were Highway Superintendent Dahn Bull, Town Justice Robert Rybak, the ceremony’s lone Democrat, Councilman James Whalen, Councilwoman Amy Standaert, County Supervisor Jonathan Schopf, and Town Supervisor Philip Barrett.
The six officials were all incumbents when they chose to seek reelection last year. Joining them for the first time was newly elected Town Clerk Teresa Brobston.
Brobston chose to run for the office last fall when longtime Town Clerk Pat O’Donnell announced she was retiring. To make the occasion more joyous than usual, O’Donnell showed up to wish her former deputy town clerk well.
Joining Brobston in the center of the room for the ceremony was her husband Dennis who held the bible. A large group of family members, including the couple’s grandchildren joined them.
Pelagalli noted the shift in the town clerk’s office before proceeding with the oath.
“I was a town attorney for 24 years before taking the bench three years ago and I swore Pat O’Donnell in last time and I was here (in the audience) for the swearing in of Pat O’Donnell for years, so this is a major change in swear
ing in of people in Clifton Park,” he said.
Once the official ceremony was concluded Barrett took to the podium to congratulate the six officials, thank the audience of about 50 for attending, and thank the many volunteers in the community who give their time and effort to the town.
“We are blessed with a very strong and numerous base of dedicated volunteers who work every day to improve our community and we can’t thank them enough,” Barrett said. “We have many volunteers who invest a tremendous amount of hours each year in our community. They do it because they care about the community and they want to see it thrive. We just can’t thank them enough.”
He then gave a short overview of the state of the town saying town government will be working harder and smarter in 2020.
“That’s our goal each and every year; to make sure we can continue to improve the Town of Clifton Park and that we’re realizing our full potential as a town,” he said.
Barrett noted that in his view, the town is facing some challenging conditions with policies coming from the state, a situation, he said, that the town will work to overcome as it does whenever confronted with a challenge.
“Additional expenses, unfunded mandates, and concerns with many of the new laws will be a theme throughout the new year,” he said. “Hopefully some of those will get changed during the legislative session coming up but if they don’t we’ll be ready to address them, meet them head on, and be successful.”
Nevertheless he described Clifton Park as having a bright future as it continues to offer residents low taxes, well-funded schools, wonderful parks and recreational facilities along with valued services that are close to home. It is something many communities desire, he said.
“We have all those things in spades,” he said.
Going into the next decade he said the town will make greater strides in saving money, maintaining the town’s tax base and services, holding the line on taxes, keeping an eye on finances, and improving its trail network, parks and recreation facilities.
In the area of improvements Barrett announced later that the town has received two grants that will help with funding on two projects.
The town will take a $150,000 state Canal Corporation grant and use it to help build a 100-foot pedestrian “farmer’s bridge” at a historic dry dock on the original Erie Canal. The bridge will take pedestrians to the 1825 Erie Canal towpath allowing them to connect to the Erie Canal Community Connector Trail if they wish. The Connector Trail takes hikers between the Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve and the base of the Northway Twin Bridges.
Barrett announced also that the town will use a $278,000 Regional Economic Development Council grant to build a multiuse trail along Hubbs Road from the former Jonesville Store to the first entrance of the Dutch Meadows subdivision.
The trail will connect the subdivision to an existing sidewalk network near the store which in turn allows pedestrians to access the Usher’s Road sidewalks and pathway, Martin Jewett Town Park, Parkside Trail soccer fields, and several businesses on Longkill Road.