Sandy Roth thought the Clifton Park Town could be doing a better job working for the community, so ran for office.
Seventeen years and one month later, Roth is retiring from his position as councilman but plans to remain a familiar face in town politics. He said he has always felt fortunate for how his Town Board involvement came about.
I didn’t like some of the things I saw happening; it was at that time the board was kind of mixed [a Democratic supervisor, two Democratic board members and two Republican board members] and I made the determination that I would run in the next election, which was in 1992. What happened in 1991 was that one of the people on the Town Board decided to resign and being that I had already indicated I was interested in running, I was one of four people from the Republican Committee that wanted to represent the town, said Roth. `The committee had to nominate somebody to occupy that vacancy and the town board made the final resolution. I was lucky enough to be the one appointed and I’ve always been very grateful to the committee for allowing me to have that opportunity.`
Roth said that he felt like things in Clifton Park were at a standstill and he thought it should continue to grow as a community and be more responsive to residents.
`It’s not that I felt we had to build, build, build all over the place; I just felt that people did want to move into the town of Clifton Park and in order to be able to do that, we had to have areas people could move to,` said Roth. `I wasn’t the type that wanted to save every single tree, although the environment is something I’ve always been very close to. All my campaigns were centered around ‘quality of life.’ The environment is important, but at the same time we have to realize people have rights also. You’ve got to have a balance and that’s what I’ve tried to bring to the town board, balance.`
Roth has been a part of countless efforts that the town board has worked toward together during his tenure, like limiting the number of houses in western Clifton Park, the purchase of open space and the development of another park. He emphasized that while the board works as a group on many things, there are two accomplishments he is proud to lay a significant amount of personal claim to.
`Household Hazardous Waste Day is something I’ve started and coordinated ever since. About the third year I was in office I’d seen one done in the town of Niskayuna sponsored by GE. I liked what it did ` allowed people to bring hazardous waste to an area that would collect it as opposed to just throwing it in a garbage can ` so I started the day in Clifton Park,` said Roth, who said the board didn’t expect it to be as successful as it was. `We said it was something we’ll try to do every couple years and the first year we thought only a few people would show, but we had around 300 cars show up. We’ve been doing it every year since; this year we had over 1,000 cars attend.`
Roth’s second achievement ` middle-income senior housing ` has been six years in the making and will tentatively finally come to fruition this September.
`We had high-income and low-income senior housing but no middle-income housing [people with Social Security and some savings or retirement]. The apartments would be one bedroom for maybe $500 a month or a two bedroom for $650. Many builders came with proposals but none were interested in middle income until two and a half years ago when an organization from Rochester approached us and accepted it [middle income],` said Roth. `It took a couple years to get qualifications from the state and we had a groundbreaking last summer. There will be 80 senior housing apartments on Miller Road; it’ll look great once it’s done.`
Roth may be retiring from the Town Board, but he doesn’t plan to disappear from town affairs altogether. He said he has spoken with supervisors and indicated that he would like to remain a part of several committees, like the Environmental Conservation Commission and the Arts and Culture Commission, but won’t know to what capacity this will be possible until after the new year.
His desire to remain active even in retirement is indicative of his approach to life and work ` he’s served in the military, worked for five years at an accounting firm in downtown Albany, served as budget officer and eventually vice president of finance at St. Peter’s Hospital for 12 years, was chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Bellevue Medical Center for 13 years, joined the Ballston Lake Emergency Squad as an EMT where he still volunteers, returned to Bellevue for another three years and then finally called it quits.
`After 17 years I felt it was enough for me, although I’m not going to tell anyone I won’t miss it. I will miss it. I sincerely enjoyed it and that’s why I want to keep my hands in a few things. I’ve always tried to do the best I could,` said Roth.
He said his family was a large part of why he decided to retire from the board.
`I’m going to be 72, so that’s one reason, but my family felt they would like me to slow down. They wanted me to visit more and possibly take longer vacations,` said Roth.
He said that although he’ll try to take a little time to relax, tax season is coming up and he always works part time. He also volunteers at Elks Lodge in Clifton Park and teaches the AARP drivers safety program. He also plans to visit his children that live out of state.
At the Dec. 21 Town Board meeting, Town Supervisor Phil Barrett presented Roth with the Key to Clifton Park, the town’s highest honor for service to the community.
For more on this story, pick up the Dec. 31 print edition of Saratoga Spotlight.“