Entrance addition ribbon-cutting honors Senator Betty Little
by Dan McClelland
Town of Tupper Lake leaders officially cut the ribbon on their new entrance addition and honored the woman who helped to fund it in a ceremony Wednesday afternoon on the front lawn of the town hall.
The ribbon-cutting honors went to Senator Betty Little, who arranged for a $100,000 state grant to build the $400,000 addition to the town hall, which made it fully handicapped accessible via a new elevator/lift.
“We're here today to honor Betty for all the work she has done for the town and village over the years, and for our entire region,” stated Supervisor Patti Littlefield, who organized the event that afternoon. “-And we'd like to cut a ribbon for the opening of our new addition.”
The long-time state senator was surprised she was being honored that afternoon, and thought she had been invited to town just to tour the new front piece of the town hall.
The supervisor said Senator Little “was instrumental in securing funding” to help the town build the new entrance area. “-And we're very thankful to her for that.”
Mrs. Littlefield said that Betty's successor, Senator Dan Stec, and Assemblyman Billy Jones had both planned to attend the ceremony but were called back to Albany by the new Governor, Kathy Hochul, for a special session.
A video message from the assemblyman was played during the ceremony and then read aloud by his legislative aide, Molly Ryan, who he dispatched to Tupper Lake for the event.
Mrs. Littlefield introduced the three town council members present- John Quinn, Mike Dechene and Mary Fontana. Councilwoman Tracy Luton had to work that afternoon.
Also present from the town office staff that day were Recreation Director Angie Snye, who the town supervisor said will soon be appointed deputy town clerk, assistant assessor and assistant planner, effective October when Donna Maliszewski retires, Town Accountant Samantha Davies, long time town clerk, Laurie Fuller and Donna.
Mrs. Littlefield acknowledged “three friends from ROOST present that afternoon: Michelle Clement, Katie LaLonde and M.J. Lawrence.
Local residents Hope Frenette and Don Sabin were also in attendance that day, as was Mayor Paul Maroun, who also spoke as a guest speaker.
After the introductions Mrs. Littlefield began her address:
“Elizabeth O. C. Little, who we like to call Senator Betty Little or just Betty, it is an honor to have you come visit us today. We have been trying to all get together for over a year now but COVID dictates our schedules sometimes. That's a whole other story, sadly.”
“The Town of Tupper Lake is so thankful and so lucky for the 25 years you have dedicated to all of us in the North Country as our senator and our assemblywoman.
“Keeping track of 6,800 square miles of Washington, Clinton, Essex, Franklin and St. Lawrence counties and over 300,000 constituents was no small feat!
“-And we know Tupper Lake was always first on your mind and on your agenda,” she joked.
“You've proven this to us time and time again with all your grants and access to funding you've worked so hard for all the taxpayers here to benefit from...parks, waterfront, water and sewer improvements and the reason we are here today, the very long overdue town office renovation so our town hall is fully accessible.”
“This turned out to be a wonderful project- a little more expansive than we expected in the beginning- but with all the rules and regulations we like to follow, we did the right thing!”
“We thank you for all your hard work,” she told Mrs. Little, who retired at the close of last year.
She also thanked Sharon Henderson, Betty's legislative aide who the supervisor called “Betty's partner in crime.” Mrs. Littlefield confessed that she and Sharon had many phone calls over a several year period to get all the grant paperwork “right and approved.”
She said the state money came very quickly once the construction project finished last year.
“The application process was a few years in the making and your staff was on top of it from the start,” Mrs. Littlefield told the senator.
“And you sure did get things done,” she said of Senator Little's tenure in state office.
She reminded the small crowd that day that Mrs. Little was the longest serving woman senate in state history. “I doubt anyone will break that record!”
“You have been called a leader among leaders.”
She said she remembered a conversation she had with Betty a number of years when she told her how difficult it must be to have to campaign every two years, unlike local officials whose terms are often four years.
“Your answer sticks with me to this day: 'Campaigning gets me out to talk and meet with people and that is my main role!'”
“We say your constituent services made you the peoples' senator,” Supervisor Littlefield told Mrs. Little.
She noted that Mrs. Little will continue to serve the people of the North Country as a new member of the Olympic Regional Development Authority Board (ORDA) which will orchestrate the World University Games in 2023.
“We bid you a very hearty thank you for your service!”
The supervisor presented her with a warm black jacket with the community's hemlock cone logo on the front.
The senator said the jacket will come in handy on a trip she'll take soon out west. “I was thinking the other day I should get a black jacket for the trip,” she said of the coincidence.
Mrs. Littlefield also thanked Friends Construction of Malone which built the addition and to the “town's new friends” at the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC), who did the engineering and design work and what she called the “heavy lifting” prior to construction. She applauded Community Development Director Melissa McManus for hooking the town up with DANC, which has resulted in a number of collaborative efforts with town projects in recent years.
It was difficult to hear Assemblyman Billy Jones digital message from a lap top so Molly Ryan, his chief of staff, read it.
She began by telling the crowd she began working with Billy his first day in office a number of years ago “and I'm a hundred percent sure we wouldn't be where we are today without the help of the senator and her staff.”
“You are greatly missed in the senate,” Ms. Ryan told her.
The following is the assemblyman's letter that Molly read:
“I would like to offer my sincerest congratulations to you and the Town of Tupper Lake on the dedication and expansion of the town hall to make it handicapped accessible. It was an honor to serve in the state legislature with you and I miss our working relationship. We worked closely together during our time in Albany, collaborating on many initiatives for the North Country and I'm thankful for the friendship we built.
“I also want to thank all the local officials who made the addition possible and in recognizing you and your efforts in approving the community.”
He said Mrs. Little's “work has left a lasting impact on the region which will last for decades to come and I'm so pleased that not only is your legacy ingrained in the hearts and minds of the residents of the North Country, but in this expansion of the town.”
Mrs. Littlefield then called on Mayor Paul Maroun to offer his praises of the senator, calling him “a man who needs no introduction here.”
The mayor had to limp to the microphone, apologizing for a recent leg ailment.
“I've known Betty for over 30 years. She was our assembly person when I was in the county legislature. Then she became our senator and I was her counsel for 17 years. When you think of the word 'counsel' you think of lawyers. That's not what a counsel does in Albany. A counsel builds a bond in a relationship. A counsel needs to know what your boss is thinking, how he or she operates, what he or she is all about!”
“Over the 17 years we talked almost every night, whether I was in Tupper Lake or Albany and I've come to know Betty quite well.”
“I wear three hats today- the mayor's hat, the county legislator's hat and her counsel-retired's hat. But I can tell you Betty is a nice person. She smiles always. We all know how nice she's been to all of us. She also helped us secure money for the emergency services building. Everything Patti said...she has helped us with so many things.
“She was a good friend with the past Governor...and whenever she wanted something she could get access to him. -And that's what important in Albany!”
Mr. Maroun said despite her nice and friendly demeanor, he's also seen the tough side of Betty Little, as she fought for the things to help people here and across her senate district.
“I remember pulling her out of a meeting one time with the Adirondack Park Agency, as she was so angry she was about to attack its legal counsel and chief of staff.”
“She was a great legislator who will do great things for ORDA.
He admitted he has worked with and for a lot of state lawmakers over the years, but “Betty Little has one thing that a lot of people don't: she has heart for people!”
Mayor Maroun said there needs to be more of that in government at all levels these days.
He presented her with pink roses that afternoon, apologizing because Betty likes yellow roses. Unfortunately, he said, the flower shop was out of yellow ones.
He also presented her with a plaque from the county legislature, adopted at the close of her term last year, thanking her for all her service to the North Country and its residents.
“Everyone is Albany thought highly of Betty Little. And that's a lot to say, because in Albany a lot of people don't like or respect a lot of other people!”
Before a tour of the new addition, Senator Little said thought she had been invited that day just to look at the new addition. “I didn't even know the set time until yesterday.” She admitted she learned of the honoring when she read a front-page story in the Free Press that morning while at breakfast at Reandeaus' Swiss Kitchen.
“I really thank you all. Because if you hadn't voted for me I never would have had these opportunities. And I had such great opportunities to represent all of this area and to meet so many people. The people in Albany call the people they represent 'their constituents.' My constituents have been my friends and they've helped me as much as I have helped them. I've learned so much from the people of this district and from those who are elected and for those voting for those elected.
“I can't thank all of you enough.”
“Who would have ever thought that when I was in elementary education” I would have someday become a state senator.
“I've always said raising six kids as a mother was my best preparation for the job. I learned there was at least two sides to every single thing in the world and sometimes more than two sides.”
She said she has thoroughly enjoyed working with people.
“Thank you so much. Thank you for honoring me. You didn't have to do this...your votes have been an honor enough to me!
Of her long-time counsel, Paul Maroun, she said “he has been really great for Tupper Lake...he let me know everything that is going on here. We spoke on a daily basis...even on weekends. He's kept me well informed and we worked well together.
She said her other aide, Sharon Henderson wouldn't miss their trips to Tupper Lake, and discussing what we can do and who we can do it for on those many road trips.
In closing Senator Little predicted Governor Kathy Hochul, who she called “a great friend of the North Country and a great friend of mine,” will do great things for New York State in the months and years ahead. “She really likes getting things done and she really respects local government,” as that is her background.
“Gov. Hochul won't forget the Adirondacks or the North Country! She likes to come here!”
Senator Little also said she is looking forward to helping ORDA prepare for the exciting university games happening in Lake Placid in less than 500 days.
See editorial this week...