Councilman
Questions? Call or Text (914) 475-4075
P R O V E N L E A D E R S H I P
EXPERIENCE INTEGRITY LEGACY
"It has been an honor to continue the legacy of elected public service of my great grandfather, Village of Wappingers Falls Trustee Frank Riley, and my father, Dutchess County Legislator John A. Beale, who represented much of the same area that I currently am elected to represent."
P L A T F OR M
VISIBLE
A town representative must be visible and involved in our community. As a lifelong resident and the longest serving elected council member in our town, I have attended more town meetings than any other member and have been outspoken on town issues and concerns. Since 2007, I continue to maintain a 99% voting record and am present at town community events and functions, often leading town ceremonies.
In 2022, I was nominated and elected "Grand Marshal" of the 2023 Dutchess County St. Patrick's Parade, which occurs annually in the Village of Wappingers Falls. For the past 25 years, I have served as Master of Ceremonies for this gala parade, the largest in Dutchess County. This was truly the honor of a lifetime.
Outside my elected position, I am active and involved in our community as a fire service leader and emergency management professional.
TAXES
With record-breaking inflation and economic uncertainty due to policies on the federal and state level, we simply cannot afford to be taxed out of our homes, which is happening in many areas in New York State.
During my tenure, I have ensured that our town taxes remain among the lowest in Dutchess County. It's a fact - the tax rate in the Town of Wappinger has remained lower than all surrounding municipalities. The town has remained under the 2% tax cap each and every year since its inception - not every town has done this.
To further protect our residents, in 2017, I sponsored legislation creating the first "Taxpayer Protection Fund" in Dutchess County. This measure establishes a reserve fund for the specific purpose of guaranteeing the town remains under the 2% tax cap.
As we work to finalize the 2024 town budget, I will again be voting to lower the town tax rate, to ensure Wappinger remains an affordable place to live.
PUBLIC SAFETY
As an experienced incident commander and disaster manager, I understand the importance of public safety, especially in a local municipality. My roots are in the volunteer fire service - an integral part of the fabric of our community. I joined the Hughsonville Fire Department at age sixteen and have held many leadership positions, including twenty years as Fire Company President. As Fire Chief in 2001 and 2002, I established the emergency medical response program, which continues today and has resulted in many lives saved by our volunteer firefighters. Today, I continue my fire department service as an elected chief officer.
Since 2014, I have been responsible for county-wide emergency management. First appointed as emergency management coordinator, I was promoted to Director of Emergency Management for Dutchess County in 2022, with overall responsibility for preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation from major emergencies and disasters. In addition, I am responsible for the innovative approach of public health integration into emergency management.
In our town, I directly oversee the town's ambulance contract with Empress EMS, ensuring contract compliance, quick response times and optimal patient care delivery. The Town of Wappinger serves as a model for pre-hospital care. It is extremely important that town continue to serve as a leader on this front as the nationwide EMS crisis continues to affect many municipalities with extended response times and subpar patient care. We will not let that happen.
Our town is unique. We do not have the burden of a costly police department. Instead, we facilitate the New York State Police within our town emergency services facility and we contract with the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office. This shared service arrangement provides great value for our town by ensuring quick law enforcement response from multiple agencies within our town, if required.
In 2023, Supervisor Thurston and I worked with Wappingers Central School District Superintendent Dr. Dwight Bonk and Dutchess County Sheriff Kirk Imperati to expand upon the School Resource Officer (SRO) program in our town. Our SRO's are specially trained members of the Dutchess County Deputy Sheriff's Office assigned to schools within our town to provide for additional safety. SRO's had previously assigned on a full time basis to Roy C. Ketcham Senior High School and Wappingers Junior High School. Working with the school district and the sheriff's office, we were able to secure additional SRO coverage at Evans Elementary School and Myers Corners Elementary School for the 2023-2024 school year.