Veteran chair praised for consensus-building, COVID response
By Tim Rowland
Essex County Supervisors Chair Shaun Gillilland, whose tenure will likely be best remembered for its forays into affordable housing, controversial changes to the county fairgrounds and its aggressive and competent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Monday that he will retire from public office at year’s end.
Gillilland, 67, has been recovering from nine hours of open-heart surgery late last year, and while he’s doing well, he acknowledged that it’s slowed him down. Elected Willsboro supervisor 12 years ago, Gillilland lost the Republican primary in June but remained on the independent line in the general election.
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“I’m doing very well physically, but I’m not around the bend yet,” he told supervisors at their July 21 meeting. “So with my family, I decided to go ahead and retire at the end of this term, which is probably the best thing, just for my health and for my psyche going forward.”
Gillilland’s retirement means that at least a third of Essex County’s 18 towns will have new leadership next year, with supervisors retiring in Newcomb, North Elba, Lewis, Crown Point and Ticonderoga.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure to have served with you, learned from you and disagreed with you — but we always ended up wanting” what was best for the county, said Lewis Supervisor Jim Monty. “I see this as a tremendous loss for Essex County and the town of Willsboro.”
Gillilland assumed the chair in 2019, a year before the country was blindsided by the pandemic.
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“One thing I’m personally extraordinarily proud of is how this county came together and responded to COVID,” he said. “We didn’t lay people off, we didn’t go into massive debt, like other counties did. We weathered it. We decided early on that every worker was vital. We altered what we had to do, but we continued to provide the services to the citizens of the county.”
As the pandemic evolved, the county experienced an acute shortage of housing and workers. The county formed emergency task forces to examine both issues and ultimately beefed up recruiting efforts for county positions. It formed the Essex County Land Bank, has had success reclaiming or tearing down blighted properties.
Gillilland said proud, too, of finally brokering a solution to a decades-old problem of a historic but dilapidated building at the Essex County Fairgrounds. While there was strong community support for rehabilitating what was known as the Cornell building, Gillilland maintained it could never be affordably brought up to modern standards.
Ultimately, supervisors decided to build new office space for its agricultural agencies next door to the historic structure.
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A Navy veteran, farmer and consensus builder, Gillilland’s boards were noteworthy for their congeniality and lack of partisanship. Among the supervisors, it was often difficult to tell Democrat from Republican, a rarity in this day and age.
Gillilland saved his ire for the state, which he routinely sparred with over its burdensome and expensive mandates and lack of corresponding funding.
Supervisors thanked Gillilland for his leadership and expressed optimism that his inclusive governing style will be passed along to the next chair.
“You have been here my entire time on this board, and we haven’t always agreed,” said Jay Supervisor Matt Stanley. “But you have shown me the proper way to lead in government, and I really respect you and appreciate you.”
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Top photo: Essex Supervisors Chair Shaun Gillilland. Photo by Tim Rowland
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