Since she decided to run for Pine Plains Town Board in June of this year on the Democratic line, for one of the two available seats, Jeanine Sisco has hit the ground running. In talking to residents she has learned that many don’t know what’s going on in local government, or that they are misinformed, confused or fearful about potential projects and policy changes. So while Sisco listed several key issues facing Pine Plains in an interview with the Herald on a very rainy and cold September day, she said the “overall encompassing issue is there should be more open and inviting and friendly conversation, sharing of information. What is the town board doing?”
In saying she knows what “better communication” looks like, Sisco mentioned the weekly newsletter that Darrah Cloud, the previous town supervisor, sent to subscribers. She also pointed next door: The Town of Ancram sends frequent email notifications, and its website informs citizens about government meetings and their agendas. According to Sisco, a similar system in Pine Plains would strengthen the connection between the town board and the community and serve as a “model for how people could communicate with one another.”
Sisco cited the proposed septic system in the central district as a matter on which people could be better informed. In the grant-funded feasibility study done for the town and published in November 2021, engineers arrived at three viable places to locate the system, and she has since learned of two more from retiring town board member Don Bartles. Sisco supports having a septic system and said that while “my personality is not to go super slow, we do need to explore all the options and inform people in Pine Plains about what it all means to them.”
Sisco listed several other important issues for the board to address: whether to permit more solar-energy ventures; obtaining county, state and federal grants to underwrite the septic system and other infrastructure projects by, if necessary, hiring professional grant-writers (“It would be money well spent”); increasing recreational activities; and developing more affordable housing for seniors and for young families, which she said would bring more jobs and “bump up our decreasing school population.”
Sisco worked for 37 years for the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities in several administrative roles and retired as a deputy director. She said she gained experience with “studying infrastructure, purchasing and renovating properties, providing oversight for bidding and construction processes, and adhering to New York state building codes in Dutchess and four other counties.” In cases when she had to explain to a community why a group home for people with disabilities would be an enhancement and not a threat, Sisco said she “understood that people sometimes just wanted to be heard and she helped people see beyond their fears.”
As Sisco sees it, being on the town board requires “doing some of the work myself, not just relying on other people or just telling others what to do. Yes, I do have a manager’s skill set but I never expect someone to do the work I wouldn’t do. I build strong relationships with people I work with.” As an example of this, Sisco described her experience with The Stissing Center. She began as a volunteer about four years ago and continues to volunteer, even though she was appointed to the board of directors two years ago and is now the secretary of the board. “How I operate is to stay connected with everyone and everything that is going on,” she said, adding that she is “a grass-roots kinda gal.”
Sisco has been a Pine Plains resident for 41 years. She and her husband, Keith, live in what some call the Patchin House, one mile north of the traffic light. Two of their children, Lukas and Brittany, now live elsewhere, and Alec is a music teacher for the Pine Plains Central School District and music director for the Stissing Theatre Guild.
The election is on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Early voting is from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5.