My name is Tara Stickles and I am a lifelong resident of the Town of Montgomery. I have 12 years Municipality experience and have been the First Deputy Town Clerk for the Town of Montgomery for 8 years since being appointed in June of 2000 by, now retired Town Clerk, Amolia Miller.

Currently I am a member of the Orange/Sullivan Town Clerk's Association and the New York State Town Clerk's Association.

On a personal note, I graduated from Valley Central High School in 1985. I then received an A.A.S. degree in Business Communications from SUNY Orange before embarking on the daunting task of raising a family. Upon reentering the workforce in 1996, I started as a water-billing clerk and the secretary to the Planning & Zoning Board of Appeals in the Village of Walden before moving on to the Town. I am married to Dean and have three children, Sarah, Dylan and Douglas and two stepchildren, Daniel and Dina, all of whom make me tremendously proud.

I have been fortunate enough to have been a part of a workplace where I received valuable knowledge, training and experience in all aspects of the Town Clerk's Office and I have proven my ability to excel as a team player as well as handling total responsibility for any key task. I am continually using my problem-solving and decision-making skills and am confident in my management ability, resourcefulness and ability to relate to others. One of the most rewarding aspects of this office is meeting and assisting so many of our Town residents. I've enjoyed the work immensely and enthusiastically accept the full responsibilities as Town Clerk. I am a highly motivated professional with unlimited personal initiative as well as strong qualities of dependability and trustworthiness and am looking forward to continuing to serve the residents of the Town of Montgomery in the same proficient and courteous manner that they are used to.

It is my strong desire to continue to run the Town Clerk's Office as professional and efficient as it has been done in the past and I will utilize my experience and training to accomplish this goal. There are however, a few innovative ideas that I would like to see implemented to further advance the Town Hall with today's technology and that will be my first objective as I take over the reigns in the Town Clerk's Office. I am going to look into obtaining grants for scanning and indexing records to make them more readily available to the public as well as Town employees. Our office just recently used grant money to purchase a digital recorder, which will enable me to reproduce audiotapes of meetings much quicker. I also would like to see the website utilized more by providing information to the Town residents more rapidly and readily. I will continue hosting AARP Defensive Driving Classes at Town Hall and scheduling the appointments for the Income Tax Aide program for the Elderly. I would like to get a rabies clinic scheduled for the spring and am hoping that the Town continues with the cat spaying/neutering clinics.

As always, when anyone walks into the Town Clerk's Office they will still be helped to the greatest extent possible, treated courteously and most likely leave with, at the very least, a smile.