Meet Our Candidate
Abigail Field
Candidate for Southold Town Clerk
Why I am Running
I am running to make our local government, and your experience of it, better. The Town Clerk is the operations role in the heart of Town Hall, not a policy position. As Clerk, I can use my organizational, communication, and process optimizing skills to improve government effectiveness and efficiency.
For example, as Clerk I would offer more office hours, so you can get your permits more easily; the current 8am-4pm is hard for working people.
I would continue writing quick, high-level summaries of Town Board Work Sessions and Meetings, so you can know what your Town Board is up to without relying on the rumor mill, or having to show up for or stream the whole meeting. I started doing these summaries with the September 9th meetings; find them on my campaign Facebook page.
Once in office, I would review all of the processes in the Clerk’s office to look for efficiencies. I am a natural process optimizer. While I don’t believe in change for change’s sake, I don’t think “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” is a good reason to keep blindly doing it.
I’m also running because I owe this community, and want to pay it back with service. April 10, 2023, my husband David had a horrible workplace accident that broke several vertebrae in his back and neck, broke all his ribs, his leg and wrist, and separated his shoulder. We are incredibly grateful he is alive, not paralyzed, and mentally whole. We are also incredibly grateful to be part of this community. In my family’s crisis, Southold had our back.
David’s boss, John Fabb, was a saint. The Lions came out for us, as did Kait’s Angels, and the Southold Democrats. Many individuals helped in many ways. That support enabled me to focus on my husband and my children when they needed me most. I’m proud to say two and a half years later, our daughter is happily attending college, and our son, a sophomore in Mattituck, is thriving. David is making a new life.
My Qualifications
Check me out on LinkedIn. In my recent work for the Mattituck Park District, I improved their meetings, processes, and transparency in ways I’m happy to discuss in person. (Ask me about the Resolution Index and the newsletter.) My years working as an attorney for myself, the Voting Rights Lab, and NJPIRG required me to effectively organize and communicate information relating to government, critical skills for the Southold Town Clerk.
My work for the North Fork Promotion Council gave me a deep understanding of some of why Southold is special: well-cared for land and waters; vibrant art and history institutions; and unique small businesses, backed by Chambers of Commerce and the Greenport BID.
Since my NFPC days, my Southold understanding has deepened to appreciate our Civics, Lions, Rotary, CAST and the VFW; our schools, libraries, and volunteer fire departments; and our effective environmental organizations. In Southold, our community is healthy.
Helping the Southold Town Clerk’s office be as healthy as our community, and supporting our community’s health through the Clerk’s office, is another way of expressing how I want to serve Southold as its Clerk.
Vote FIELD for Southold Town Clerk this November.
Family and Background
My deepest local roots are on Shelter Island; I was a summer person starting with my first birthday, and I married a Shelter Islander. My Greenport roots are deep too. The Greenport July 4th Carnival was my summer fun, not the Strawberry Festival. The rest of Southold I really got to know after we moved to Cutchogue from Shelter Island, to send our children to school and plant new roots. .
I live on Main Road, across from the Cutchogue Village Green. If you see me out front tending my roses in my amateur way, please walk up and say hi. (Don’t honk, I won’t realize you mean me and won’t see you.)
