Yonkers Insider: Election 2021 Desk: Letter from Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni, Elections 2021.

 

Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy! I look forward to speaking with you about my candidacy for re-election as your County Clerk at the Westchester County Democratic Committee Convention on February 10th.

My career has been almost exclusively as a public servant, with a heavy emphasis on developing legislation programs and management techniques to make constituents' lives a lot better over the long run. When I came out of New York University's Graduate School of Public Administration, I entered the world of city management with the intent to change the world from the inside. I had no interest in elected office, only the wish for a career in fixing those parts of government that were broken or at least running inefficiently. I have been blessed with a career as both an appointed and elected official that has allowed me to serve all, but most importantly, the less fortunate, at the local and county level. And your support has been a significant part of that effort.

Heading the County Clerk's Office has allowed me to modernize an old fashioned bureaucracy. We have reduced the budget and cut staff from 110 to 64. We have made innovative changes that have helped the lives of our newer citizens as well. I've sworn in 40,000 naturalized citizens and made major improvements to an old personal ID program that allows our immigrant population to get anything from a library card to a bank account.

We designed and put into place a system to electronically file legal documents in our Supreme and County Courts, speeding the process for our legal community while setting up hands-on procedures for the less fortunate who may not have the legal assistance or even a computer to get their documents into the system.

My emphasis on modernizing the office and cutting waste without sacrificing work quality has led to 14 straight years of a budget surplus in the millions. This surplus is divided among other departments like the Department of Health, Veterans, or Social Services.

You may have seen our excellent mobile office that brings our passport services right to your town. This year we will add veterans and business license services to save environmental costs by reducing travel time and paperwork for these vital services.

Services to the underprivileged and having government look and sound like the community at large have always been my priorities throughout my career. During my years as New Rochelle Mayor, we built affordable housing, invited Planned Parenthood into our downtown for vital women's health services, and rewrote our City Charter to stop blocking Black and Hispanic elected officials from winning seats to our council. I was instrumental in the first African American City Clerk appointment and the first female city judge. The Clerk's office is now beautifully integrated with a half dozen helpful Spanish -speaking clerks. I pushed for the gun control SAFE ACT and Green Light Bill for immigrant driver's licenses in Albany.

We can do more and will do more. I ask for your support to continue the mission.  Sincerely, Timothy C. Idoni