Former Boston town clerk will soon take over as the new Erie County comptroller

David Shenk, formerly the town clerk of Boston, will take over as Erie County comptroller later this week, following an appointment by the Erie County Legislature. In accordance with the county charter, members of the legislature must vote to fill the vacant comptroller position with a candidate from the same party as the departing official.

Mark Poloncarz, a democrat, vacated the post to become Erie County executive earlier this year, leaving the seat open for another democrat to take his place. Shenk was chosen by a nine-member screening panel of business professionals and community leaders organized by the Erie County Democratic Committee, which submitted his name for review by the legislature. The legislature, divided down party lines, voted 6-5 to appoint Shenk.

Shenk will fill the comptroller position until a special election is held in November, which he will have to win in order to remain in office until the regular term expires in November 2013, at which time he will have to run again in order to remain in office.

After serving as Boston town clerk for 20 years, Shenk said he feels prepared to take over the mantle of comptroller, resulting both from his professional experience as town clerk and his work in the military. He has served in the U.S. Army Reserves since 1988 and performed three overseas tours with the Reserves: Desert Storm in 1991, the original invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2010-2011, from which he returned this past fall. In addition, he has gone through training at several leadership schools through the Reserves.

As town clerk, Shenk attended a number of conferences with the state comptroller that dealt with a variety of topics relating to government and financial concerns. It is this experience in town government, along with his degree in management from Houghton college, that Shenk said he expects to serve him well as comptroller.

“The county executive and the Erie County Legislature adopt a budget and it’s the comptroller’s job to make sure they live within their means,” Shenk said. “I track revenues and let them know if we need to tighten our belts.

“The comptroller’s office has a staff of about 35 accountants and auditors, so on the day-to-day, the comptroller needs to be an independent manager.”

Despite the divided vote between Democrats and Republicans in the legislature during his appointment, Shenk said he does not anticipate partisan differences to affect his work as comptroller.

“The most important thing is, the legislature needs to go through their appointment process, and now that we’ve done that, I anticipate that we will be able to work together,” Shenk said. “Now it’s time to do the work of the people.”

He noted that he thought the citizen’s review committee selected him because of his history of working across party lines as a Southtowns government official.

“I’ve long been a bipartisan representative across the Southtowns, and a lot of times, new officials would call me for advice. When you’re going through an election, that’s one thing, but when it’s time to do the job, you’ve got to buckle down and work for the people,” Shenk said.

He will take over the Erie County comptroller position later this week, although he still has to finish transitioning out of his duties as town clerk in Boston.

“The thing about being clerk in a small town is that I wear a lot of hats and I can’t just throw in my resignation and walk away. There’s a lot of loose ends to tie up,” Shenk explained. He said that he would recommend Acting Boston Town Clerk Jennifer Mule’ to serve in his place, since she has worked with him for 10 years and had experience managing the office while he was deployed in Afghanistan.

“In my opinion, she is the most qualified person the town board is going to be able to find to fill the position,” said Shenk.

Shenk lives in Boston with his wife Polly and their two bichons, Caesar and Charlie.