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Clarkstown swears in town leaders; Supervisor George Homan outlines priorities
Summary
At Clarkstown's reorganization ceremony, Supervisor George Homan and other newly sworn officials pledged to uphold state and town constitutions; Homan used the occasion to highlight public-safety staffing, an aggressive paving schedule and successes in securing state grants.
Clarkstown officials and hundreds of residents gathered for the town's annual reorganization and swearing-in ceremony, where Supervisor George Homan was sworn in and used his remarks to outline priorities for the year.
Homan, sworn in by Town Justice Michael Bongiorno, thanked family and town staff before reflecting on public safety, infrastructure and town services. "We have the largest police department in the state for a town," he said, and praised the police department's leadership under Chief Wanamaker. He noted Clarkstown's parks and recreation assets and said the town is focusing on in-house work to improve streets and facilities.
Why this matters: Homan framed the administration's agenda around maintaining services residents rely on and continuing grant-driven projects. He told the audience Clarkstown serves nearly 87,000 residents and described the town as "one of the largest" in the state, arguing that staffing and capital work must match that scale.
In his address Homan credited department heads and staff for delivering services and cited the planning and engineering teams' successes in obtaining "tens of millions of dollars" in state grants. He reiterated continued investment in code enforcement, saying the building department will grow from five to seven enforcement officers to address illegal conversions and other code violations.
Other officials sworn in during the ceremony included council members John Valentino, Michelangelo Graziano, Donald Franchino and Bob Axelrod. Each offered brief remarks thanking supporters and outlining commitments to constituents.
The ceremony also included an invocation by Rabbi Paul Kirkland, a musical performance by the Clarkstown South High School Troubadours and a benediction from Father Bill Cosco. The emcee for the evening, the town police chaplain, opened and closed the program and turned the meeting over to Supervisor Homan for the reorganization meeting that followed.
