The Overlook is conducting a series of interviews with candidates running in the Nov. 3 election, offering readers an opportunity to hear directly from those seeking to shape their communities. In this installment, reporter Isabella Schoonover interviewed William Tighe, the Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Lynne Bailey for Hurley town clerk and tax collector.

Tighe, 56, has lived in Hurley for 32 years and is a retired police officer who served in the Town of Poughkeepsie for 23 years. He serves on Hurley’s Board of Assessment Review and works part-time as a peace officer at SUNY Ulster. He previously worked as a court security officer in Hurley.

Tighe holds a master’s degree in public administration from Marist College, now Marist University. He also performs and teaches bagpipes, is a federally licensed firearms dealer, and teaches New York State pistol permit certification classes. He is married and has one daughter.

Questions have been condensed for clarity, and answers have been shortened to remove repetition.

Why are you running for Hurley town clerk and tax collector?

Tighe: I’ve been a resident of Hurley for over 30 years. I’m familiar with the town itself. Previously, one of my part-time jobs was as the court security officer for the Town of Hurley Court, so I have a good knowledge of how Town Hall runs and its members and employees.

Additionally, I am currently on the Town of Hurley Board of Assessment Review, so that is pseudo-political. So I’ve maintained good ties with Hurley during my entire residency here.

What challenges do residents face when interacting with town government, and what would you do differently?

Tighe: I believe the biggest hurdle right now is that Ulster, in general, is receiving an influx of new residents, primarily from downstate, and those residents come up with a slightly different outlook on living, and it may or may not clash with longtime established residents. So I think the local government, especially the town of Hurley, is trying to find a balance between the two, so that everyone can just live in and cohabitate peacefully.

What role would the clerk’s office have in addressing that issue?

Tighe: It has a secondary role in that I would be working with the residents face-to-face and explaining to them some of the current rules of the town and the ordinances that they would be facing, helping them navigate hurdles of local forms and local government, how it runs, who the other board members and the supervisor are, and especially zoning and what their roles are.

So typically, from what I’ve seen, the Town Clerk is the first point of contact when residents come to Town Hall looking for assistance.

How could the clerk’s office operate more efficiently and better respond to residents’ needs?

Tighe: The office needs to be open and have established hours of operation.

Everyone’s going to be coming to the Town Clerk with a different problem or a different scenario, and the Town Clerk has to be able to change hats and fluctuate with each of the residents’ problems and help them sort through all of the answers.

How would you help residents learn about town decisions and have a say before those decisions are made?

Tighe: Luckily, with my background, especially in law enforcement, law interpretation, I would help the residents by sorting through government red tape, getting them the appropriate sources for their information, helping them complete forms if they don’t understand it, and with each individual, on a case-by-case basis, helping them to make sure things are filed correctly and avoid any unnecessary red tape.

It would be more of a personal, I believe, one-on-one encounter with each resident.

Do you think unnecessary red tape is a problem in Hurley?

Tighe: No, I don’t want to say it’s unnecessary, but it is often very confusing. So, having a background of interpretation of law and policy and rules and regulations, I think I can help them sort through what they need to accomplish their goal.

A 41-second recording was posted for the two-hour Sept. 22 Town Board meeting. How would you ensure accurate meeting documentation and accountability?

Tighe: From the conversation I’ve seen bouncing back and forth, everyone’s pointing fingers and blaming everyone else. There is allusion to the clerk herself under New York town law being responsible for minutes. There’s, again, arguments back and forth about whether written minutes override a video being taken.

It’s my belief that if the video is taken on a regular basis, then that is established as a method that the town uses. So, for one of them to all of a sudden be inaccurate, I think is a big red flag, and that needs to be adjusted first by the Town Supervisor, and then determined who is ultimately responsible for that video recording.

Why is timely, accurate access to meeting records important?

Tighe: The current town clerk has stated a number of times that well, I have up to two weeks to do it. Now, is there a reason it can’t be done the next day? It’s not like you’re dealing with New York or a large city in volume.

So I would say the minutes need to be posted accurately and quickly on the website available in the office for anyone coming in to view them. This way, with all of the residents of Hurley’s various working shifts, working from home, commuting, they are guaranteed equal and timely access to the goings-on of the town issues.

What experience has prepared you for this administrative role?

Tighe: Well, outside of patrol work, with my office being a vehicle, I’ve transitioned in the later portion of my career into the administrative portions, where, for example, as an acting sergeant, now I’m at a desk in the station, and I’m reviewing other officers’ reports. I’m working on their schedule. I’m writing policies and procedures. I’m developing lesson plans, and I’m also instructing in-service and new recruits for the various in-service law enforcement topics, anywhere from a squad level with eight to 10 members, up to a whole department or an academy when you’re dealing with 40-plus people.

And if I may add, outside of working experience, I also have a master’s degree in public administration from Marist College, now Marist University. So while I was taking those classes for my master’s, I was also just finishing up with being the president of our union, and then I finished my degree, and then I went back into the union at that point as the vice president.

And everything I learned through Marist and through that program was very useful with anywhere from maintaining, creating budgets, and various banking accounts, all the way through to just personnel management and HR-type issues.

Why do you identify with your political party, and how would that affiliation inform your approach to town government?

Tighe: In general, to strip it down to its basics, I prefer the Republican Party primarily because it tends to lean towards a smaller and more efficient government. It doesn’t get bogged down too much in committees and subcommittees and secondary meetings and approvals from other departments. It is, in my opinion, a more streamlined and simple form of government, and also leading with a hands-off approach.

I would just like to add that my job, my entire career since I was 22 years old with law enforcement, has been working for and with the public. So over all those times, all those departments, I have gained a tremendous amount of experience in working with people, working with the public, dealing with the public when they are in their worst, and helping them through it.

So I would, at this point, post-retirement, I would like to give back to the people who have supported me in my career, and use all of that experience and the education that they have essentially given me as a salary to help—at least our residents that are local here in Hurley.

Isabella Schoonover is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Woodstock, Saugerties, Hurley, and surrounding Ulster County communities. Send correspondence to isabella@theoverlooknews.com.