Debra Tierney (R/C/I)
Why did you decide to run for office?
Other than Joan Jordan, who’s retired now, I am the only one with the experience and know-how to keep the town clerk’s office running with accuracy. I’m a lifelong resident of the town, as is my husband and his family.
With all the projects going on in town, you need someone who has knowledge of the background of the issues. Consistency is important now because these large projects are coming up.
What positions/experiences/skills do you believe make you a competent town clerk?
All my adult life, I’ve run offices: first an auction company for 30 years, and now for the town since March, when Joan [Jordan] retired. I have experience operating computers, working with money, bookkeeping, recordkeeping, filing all sorts of reports, being the registrar for the town and also a notary.
I was Joan’s deputy since 2008 — basically doing all the same jobs I’m doing now.
What do you see as the top three greatest challenges facing the Town of Rosendale right now?
1. The pool: trying to get the money to do that through grants, without putting a bond out to the taxpayers. There’s already too much burden on taxpayers.
2. The move to our new offices — that’s going to be a big change foe everybody. A lot of us will have more room in our offices, so all the records are coming out of the basement where they’re getting moldy. We’ll be taking records out of IMAR so we don’t have to pay for storage anymore and out of various places in town where they’re stored.
3. A lot of water and sewer lines are so old that they need to be replaced. There were three water main breaks on Main Street alone last year. And the sewer plant can’t handle things like Hurricane Irene. That all needs to be upgraded. There’s a lot of flooding in town whenever there are heavy rains; that needs to be addressed.
If elected, what would be your top three priorities?
1. My first priority is to continue to serve the people of this town, which I’ve done in both my personal and my work life. The people of Rosendale deserve the best. I just want to do the job.
2. Second is to make sure the move is smooth and productive. I want to make sure that the town has accurate records. Keeping the minutes of town meetings is at the discretion of the town clerk.
3. I will continue to help out with the pool fundraisers. Whenever people ask, I help out with other departments. ++
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