Republican Denise Sheehan has ended months of speculation by announcing her run for Colonie town supervisor because, as a lifelong resident, she said she is worried about the direction the town is heading in.
The financial situation in Colonie has worsened over the past four years, and it is threatening our quality of life, she said in a press release. `We need a strong leader who is willing to open the books to public scrutiny and make the hard decisions to address this problem once and for all.`
Sheehan touts her past managerial experiences as commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, where she managed a budget of more than $950 million with 3,500 people working under her. Sheehan was also the Colonie Planning and Economic Development Director and is currently the executive director of the Climate Registry.
One of Sheehan’s ideas is to make the budget process more open and transparent. This would include creating a citizen budget committee. She said that there is some expertise in the town that has been untapped.
`There are a lot of people in the community who have worked in the government and private sector who have a lot to contribute,` she said. `Having a citizens’ budget would enhance the decision-making process.`
Sheehan said she is looking to restore faith in government by promoting public participation and not `interrogating` residents when they make public comment, hiring qualified workers and following the civil service program. This would mean using a merit-based hiring and promotional system by forcing employees to work their way through the ranks.
`I want to take the partisan politics out of hiring and promotion,` she said, adding the town’s ethics code could use some revamping. `I refuse to hire any of my own family members. It is something the town is seeing now. This is not what town government is about.`
Sheehan said she would look into using more renewable energy products. This would include putting solar panels on town buildings and capturing methane and turning it into energy at the wastewater plant.
Sheehan said she would also like to look into the use of town-designated engineer and make it a more competitive process.
`I want to ensure business, that what businesses are paying for that they are the most competitive they can be,` she said. `The process needs to be done totally by the town.`
Sheehan said she has met with the Republican, Conservative and Independent committees in town and is seeking a broad base of support. Albany County GOP Chairman Don Clarey said he is ecstatic over Sheehan’s announcement.
`I’m so thrilled with the Colonie town committee who recruited her,` he said. `She’s a proven administrator. I’ve met her several times, and she is a great lady. She’ll make a great supervisor.`
Clarey highlighted Sheehan’s experience as the commissioner at DEC and said that will make for a good reason as to why she should be leading the Republican ticket. He said he doesn’t fiddle with town politics, but he always likes to provide his support for people who are looking to run.
`I like to encourage people who want to run,` he said, adding that candidates will call him and ask him what he thinks.
Clarey said Sheehan will have to tackle taxes in the town of Colonie if elected because, he said, the current administration has not been able to lower the debt and has raised taxes.
`Property taxes are a big issue there,` he said.
The Colonie Town Board is currently dominated by Democrats except for Councilman Dan Dustin. He said he is happy to hear Sheehan has decided to run and he understands her concern regarding the direction the town is heading in.
`I think most people are interested in electing somebody who has the necessary background to accomplish the job no matter what party they are,` Dustin said. `Certainly, given the significant losses by the town in the past three or four years, it’s not headed in the right direction.`
Dustin said he is confident Sheehan’s managerial and fiscal background will help turn things around. He criticized Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan’s administration for the lack of improvement over the past three years she has been in office.
`There’s certainly been enough time,` he said. `Folks continually talk about it. She had a one-time deficit reduction tax and it didn’t reduce it. It actually ran a deficit in the year of the tax. So all the tax did was pay for the current year’s deficit.`
He also criticized the town’s request for proposal that was put out to find a private partnership with the town landfill, calling is a `fire sale of its own assets.`
`She [Sheehan] has my wholehearted support for what she is going to accomplish in November,` he said.
Mahan defended her accomplishments since taking office, saying she inherited a problem and that will not fix itself overnight. That is why her administration put a 10-year deficit reduction plan in place.
`It takes time,` she said. `An experienced person knows you can’t take a town that has been put into an extremely hard financial situation, on the brink of going under, and expect it to be completely cleared up overnight. It took five or six years for the town to get into this financial mess and it will take some time to get out.`
There are many things the current administration has accomplished, Mahan said, such as stabilizing a $10 million cash flow, creating a more collaborative town government and creating the first line item budget in the town.
`Our budgets, when you look at them, you have to monitor them continually,` she said. `We did very well in managing that. Almost all departments came under their budget.`
Sheehan doesn’t believe the deficit reduction plan has worked and said that she would make sure to create more revenue opportunities by `fully embracing innovation and technology` and fully using the town’s own assets to their full potential. One example is the town’s landfill, which she said has a lot of opportunity available in it.
She said she is wary of the private partnership the town is seeking, adding that the town hasn’t even put the RFP up on its web site.
`It’s one of the town’s biggest assets,` she said. `It’s going to affect the town greatly. The Internet and the town’s website should be used to get info to people about the landfill.`
Mahan said that her critics have not taken into account the many variable that can happen during the year compounded with a failing national economy, which she said has had an effect on everyone. She said she is trying to put the town in a better financial situation and looks forward to doing it in her third term.
Mahan said the Republican Party has been putting many obstacles in her way, though, which she said has had a negative impact on the town.
`This is part of something that has been going on since I took over this position,` she said. `The end result is it costs taxpayers money to constantly look into things and then throw out frivolous lawsuits. It really hurts the taxpayers. They’re the people that ultimately get hurt.`
It isn’t over, Mahan said, and she said intends to keep things positive.
`I like to stay on a positive path,` she said. `I’m a positive person and this year is not done.`
Even with all of the criticism, Sheehan said the town does have a model public safety program, and praised it as being one of the best in the country.
`It’s obviously a huge priority for the town,` she said. `It’s the reason why people move here.“
