GUILDERLAND — Democrat Jean Cataldo, who is running unopposed for a second term as town clerk, says that being at the counter is the best part of her job. She is happy that many of the visitors to Town Hall are there to see her, whether for a marriage license, dog license, or handicapped parking tag, or to ask about regulations and procedures.

“I love the fact that perhaps I can give people the information they’re looking for. Some people are just so appreciative of that,” Cataldo said.

It feels good, she said, to be able to give residents not only the information they need, but also respect, “so that they can be happy and have a good experience.”

The salary for the clerk position is $59,495.

When Cataldo is not behind her counter on the second floor of the town hall, she can often be found at community events like ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new businesses, even though she is not obligated to attend. She enjoys “those happy events” and it is nice to be invited, she said, but more importantly it’s an opportunity to meet with people who do not usually come in to Town Hall but who may, nevertheless, have questions for her.

Cataldo was elected town clerk in 2013. She began working for the town in 2000, when she was appointed, first, deputy receiver of taxes and then, just a month later, receiver of taxes; she served as receiver of taxes for 14 years. Previously she had worked in banking, as an executive secretary, for about five years.

One improvement she would like to see is a credit-card option for residents who would like to pay that way. The tax office has always had that option, she said, but the clerk’s office never has.

One stumbling block, she said, is that the fees for many of the services at the clerk’s office are fairly low — for instance, it is $10 to license a spayed or neutered dog. Credit-card fees, meanwhile, might be $2 or $3 on one transaction. “That’s 20 or 30 percent,” she said, adding that it might not be practical for many residents. But she does sometimes get requests from residents for the option, she said.

Cataldo said she believes Supervisor Peter Barber is planning to introduce this payment option at both the clerk’s office and the building department. Then, she said, “it would be up to the individual” whether to pay with cash, check, or credit card.

People would need to understand, she said, that the credit-card fee would not be built into the price, as it is with goods in a store, but would need to be paid in a separate transaction. Customers would need to swipe their card twice, she said — once to take care of the fee.

The most challenging part of her job, she said, is writing the minutes from the town-board meetings that are to be approved by the town board and posted on the website.

“I’m not good at condensing, and it seems that I write too much,” she said. It’s hard to watch the video and work on the transcription while jumping up from her desk to greet a customer at the counter, she said, so she often stays late or works on the weekends.

She also likes to submit the minutes to the town board for approval, she said. “My understanding is that I don’t have to have them approved, but I prefer to keep up the tradition of getting their blessing,” she said, adding, “We’ve had many public hearings lately.”

Since at least 2015, the town has been posting summaries of the meetings online, since those could be produced more quickly. The summaries list the items that appeared on the agenda, and whether the items were approved, continued, or turned down.

As a backup, Cataldo said, “We are fortunate enough to have our meetings recorded, and then played back three times over the week following. So there is a record.”

Cataldo is happy that the videos of town-board meetings will soon be posted on the town website, catalogued so that anyone wishing to learn more about a particular item on the agenda will be able to click on it to see that section of the video.

Cataldo, who is 62, is divorced and has two grown sons in their thirties.

A surprising fact about her is that she has won a lot of prizes in radio contests over the years, she says, adding, “I think my name is probably still well known in the radio world.” She had all the radio stations’ phone numbers memorized years ago, when she was at home with her young children.

Prizes she has won include a trip to Florida and “zillions of tickets to concerts, which has been great.” Most stations have a rule that says you can’t win if you’ve won anything in the last 30 days, she said, adding she believes that rule may have been created because of her.