Former mayor, super reflects on 23 diverse years as local leader



NEW SCOTLAND – Supervisor Ed Clark says that he is unsure what he will do with his free time after he retires.
"I’m looking around," he told The Enterprise. He joked that maybe he’ll get a job at Wal-Mart, greeting customers and handing out flyers.

Clark has spent three two-year terms as the supervisor of New Scotland. Before that, he was the mayor of the village of Voorheesville for 17 years.

He has lived in the village with his wife, Patricia, for nearly 40 years, he said.

Clark, 71, grew up on Staten Island. He worked for the New York State Department of Labor, and, when he got a promotion, he was given a choice between working in New York City or in Albany. He chose Albany, he said.

Clark decided to run for supervisor, he said, because he wanted to try something different, and was intrigued by a new challenge.
"I thought I could do it," he said. "I thought the skills I developed as mayor would serve me well as supervisor, and I think they did," said Clark, citing his knowledge of municipal law and of municipal budgeting practices as examples. The village has about 2,700 residents, and the town, which includes the village, has about 8,700.
There is a "very significant difference" between the two posts, said Clark. That difference, he said, was "the change from no politics to nothing but politics."

He recalled that, at one point during his time as mayor, a reporter from The Enterprise asked him what the political composition of the village board was. He told the reporter that he honestly didn’t know, he remembered. "We didn’t run on party lines" in the village, Clark said.
The town supervisor has relatively little power compared to the mayor of the village, Clark explained. "The town board decides everything; the supervisor is just the administrator... The mayor has much more authority, and that’s a big difference."

In his first campaign for supervisor, Clark was enrolled as a Republican. He is no longer enrolled in a political party, but has continued to run on the Republican line, he said.

He designed a palm card with a list of issues and went door-to-door, he recalled of his campaign strategy during his first run for supervisor.
"I went to every single home in town," he said. He asked residents what they felt were the most important issues, and if there was anything he had missed in his list, he said.
"I learned an awful lot about the town of New Scotland," said Clark. "It was very interesting," he added of campaigning.

In each of his three runs, Clark had a Democratic opponent.

For the entire extent of his time as supervisor, Clark has been among the town board’s political minority — the Democratic Party has held the majority.

Challenges
"One of the reasons I’m leaving, is that I’m tired of watching what I consider poor management practices," said Clark.
If the supervisor were to be among the board’s majority, he said, "It would be possible to accomplish a great deal more.
"Overall, it’s been a positive experience for me," Clark said of his time as supervisor. But he admits there have been challenges.

A major challenge of the job is the budget process, he said.

During his first term, Clark said that he projected that, with the town’s budgeting practices, the reserves would run dry.
"Attempting to get the board to address those issues was very difficult," he said.
"I was right," said Clark. "We’re running out of reserves now."

Another challenge for Clark was his attempt to get the board to adopt more systematic personnel policies, he told The Enterprise. Clark refers his plan as a "systematic job ladder."

The town should have a category of jobs and a list of what the employees for those positions should be paid relative to the other jobs, Clark told The Enterprise earlier. The salary should reflect the amount of responsibility and skills involved, he said.

The Democrats implemented a plan that has a top level and a lower level, putting a cap on raises. Workers at the top level will be paid $19.28 per hour, according to the proposed 2008 budget, Democratic Councilwoman Deborah Baron told The Enterprise earlier. Once employees reach the top level, they would be eligible only for the cost-of-living adjustment, she said.
"The board has settled on an approach I consider absurd," Clark said of the two-tiered system.
The board’s "refusal" to re-appoint Julie Nooney as the town assessor is a "salient issue," Clark said.

Nooney’s six-year term ran out in September. She is still working as assessor but without official board sanction.

In this year’s budget discussions, the board refused to give Nooney a pay increase, and she received only the cost-of-living adjustment, Clark said.
"I frankly don’t know what governs their decision. I think they’re wrong in both cases," he said, referring to the board not re-appointing Nooney and not giving her a raise.
"The job of assessor is never uniformly accepted," Clark said. "There’ll always be people who think they were over-assessed," he said. "The fewer complaints, the better the job... and you’ll never get to zero."
Clark said that the town had "relatively few" complaints from the last townwide revaluation of property.
"I think she’s done a terrific job," he said of Nooney.
Clark and the Democrats have "disagreed on many issues," he said.
The unwillingness on the part of the Democrats to consider a revision of the town’s comprehensive plan has been "very frustrating," Clark said.
The Residents’ Planning Advisory Committee worked hard for over a year, he said. "Their effort was pretty much ignored," said Clark. "Politics intruded in that."
Another "minor" frustration, Clark says, is that many Democrats who ran and lost a campaign were "rewarded for their attempts" by being immediately appointed to the town’s planning board or the zoning board of appeals.
"They’re all good people, and are trying hard to do what is best for the town," said Clark of the Democrats. "They’re trapped by a loyalty to an organization that supports them, and expects their support in return," he said. "That’s the nature of politics."

"I enjoy people"
Clark said that, although the job has been frustrating, his "overall observation is not negative.
"There are a lot of good things about being in this position," he said.

Clark said that he considers his greatest accomplishment to be the maintenance of a town government responsive to citizens’ needs.
In the past six years, he said, the town’s recreation program has been strengthened and improved. Clark also initiated the senior outreach program, which, he said, is a "terrific service to all who use it."
"We have maintained robust services with fiscal constraint," Clark said.

What he has most enjoyed about the post, he said, are the people in Town Hall, and also getting to know many people in the town.
"I enjoy people... and the variety of things that make up the people in town," Clark said.
"A big part is the people in the office," he said. "I really like them.
"Everyone who works for the town works hard, earns their pay, and keeps the community interests in mind," Clark said.
The people in his office are what he will likely miss most after he retires, Clark said. "I won’t miss night-time meetings," he added with a smile.

The new supervisor, which will be determined after absentee ballots are counted, will take office in January.

Election night is a tense night, said Clark, who joined the Republican candidates at the American Legion Hall in Voorheesville last Tuesday as election results came in.
"It all comes down to one day to see if you did things right," Clark said. "It’s an anxiety I didn’t miss," he added.
"It always felt good to be able to travel around the town and village and know so many people and wave to them," Clark said. "I enjoy the positive sense of community we have in New Scotland... I hope that doesn’t diminish for me because I’m not here anymore," he said of being at Town Hall.

Although he has no specific plans for all the free time he will have come January, Clark said that he will certainly have more time for his favorite hobby — taking his dog, Murphy, for walks in the park.