Credit: Lenora Champagne
“Working with the townspeople” is the best part of her job, said Town Clerk Madelin Dafoe, who is running unopposed for a four-year term and has endorsements from both major political parties. Dafoe’s rapport with residents is longstanding. Not only was she born and raised in Pine Plains but she also began working for the town as a teen, serving as a recreation assistant, lifeguard and camp counselor at Stissing Lake beach.
After graduating from Stissing Mountain High School, Dafoe attended SUNY-Cobbleskill and Columbia-Greene Community College. She lived in Copake during her marriage then returned to Pine Plains with her two children, Charlotte and George, who are now 9 and 6. In November 2019, Judy Harpp, then Town Clerk, reached out to Dafoe, who was hired as her deputy.
When Harpp retired in August 2021, the Town Board appointed Dafoe to Town Clerk, and she ran uncontested in the election in November 2022. “She’s very good in the office, very good with people,” Harpp said of Dafoe. “She’ll do a good job for the community. And she’s a local girl, which I feel is important.”
Dafoe’s job includes keeping minutes of Town Board meetings, safekeeping records, providing hunting and fishing licenses, issuing marriage licenses and death certificates, and handling Freedom of Information requests. Much of her paperwork is now digitized. As a member of the Dutchess County Town Clerks Association, which meets every other month, and the New York State County Clerks Association, which meets every April, Dafoe can take webinars to help learn the new technologies.
But many services have yet to be updated. “It would be nice to be able to accept electronic payments, but it’s not in the budget,” Dafoe said. People writing from out of state for a copy of their birth certificate, for instance, have to wait until they send a check and it clears. Those coming in for a hunting license on their lunch hour may not have a check or cash with them. Dafoe pointed out that different departments could have their own QR code so “the Planning Board wouldn’t have to wait for a banker’s check for an escrow payment.”
Dafoe has worked with both Democratic and Republican supervisors and board members without problems. “Everyone is friendly,” she said. “Everyone is hands-on. Sarah Jones is my liaison with the town board—she’s the best.” Jones is stepping down from the board this year, but Dafoe now knows the ropes.
“It’s a difficult job,” Dafoe added. “Every day is different. I try to be approachable, and I like to believe people are happy with me.”