Patrick Didas - Clarkson Town Council

Professionally Pat is the Associate Director of Institute Audit, Compliance & Advisement at his alma mater, Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Public Accountant , a Certified Fraud Examiner, and serves as an officer of the Board of Governors of the Rochester Chapter of The Institute of Internal Auditors.

Pat’s Town of Clarkson experience goes back to 1996, initially serving as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and then nine years on the Planning Board, serving as Chairperson. He is a life-long resident of the Brockport area and a third generation Clarkson resident, living here since 1991. Pat graduated from Brockport High School (’83), Alfred State (’87), and RIT (‘90) and has two children, Cody and Chelsea, with his wife Dawn (Mercer). An avid skier, hunter and baseball fan, Pat is a ski racing official and has assisted coaching his son’s youth travel baseball team for seven years.

Pat’s expertise in finance and internal controls has been of great benefit to the Town. He has helped modernize policies and procedures in Clarkson’s employment policies and the Employee Handbook. He also implemented an employee ethics policy that includes an annual conflict of interest disclosure by all employees.

Pat was re-elected in 2009 for his second term on the Town Council to help continue the conservative and responsible stewardship of town resources; maintain the Town’s historical heritage; and to promote effective economic growth in accordance to the adoption of the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. He was endorsed by the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties on both of his campaigns.

Accomplishments for the Town of Clarkson:

• Initiated the creation of and a member of Clarkson Parks Master Plan Committee
• Assisted in the creation of the Wind Power Generation local law
• Initiated making the Town Hall as a Safe Place designation for children in need
• Initiated procuring heart defibrillators for the Courthouse and Highway Garage
• Introduced Saturday Town Board meetings in 2008, in an effort to increase government participation
• Implemented the ‘suggestion box’ for Clarkson website
• Supported the Town Noise Ordinance, now a local law
• Initiated and implemented the following:
  • Disbursements Policy and Procedures
  • Employee background checks prior to hire
  • Employee Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy
  • Annual Employee Code of Ethics acknowledgement
  • Revised the Town’s employee health care benefits (post retirement) resulting in savings to the Town
  • Town Recycling policy
• Sought more competitive pricing and restructured the office supply agreement resulting in substantial cost reduction
• Supported the conversion to Health Savings Accounts for employee medical insurance saving $30,000 annually
• Comprehensive Plan Committee member. Adopted the Comprehensive Plan in 2008
• Approved the following town tax rate changes:
  • 3% reduction of the town tax rate in the 2008 budget
  • 0% increase in 2009 town tax rate
  • 2.2% reduction in the 2010 town tax rate
  • 0% increase in the proposed 2011 town tax rate (pending approval)
• Created and administered the 2008 Clarkson town-wide motto contest resulting in “Preserving Our Past While Building a Future” as the Town’s official motto
• Initiated identification signage for Clarkson’s three hamlets. Sought funding from NYS DOT and led the procurement and design of signs for the hamlets
• Obtained funding for the construction of the canal trail kiosk at Clarkson’s Sans Soucie Canal Park. Personally designed and created the kiosk contents to reduce costs.
• Certified in the FEMA National Incident Management System training.