Town Supervisor Derek Doty, who has been in leadership roles throughout Edman’s tenure, said she has been a “cornerstone” of the town. He credited her dedication and ability to keep the town in “good financial shape” during her time.

“Anytime you have a municipal government that changes players through elections quite regularly, it takes a special person to be able to work with various supervisors and councilmen and department heads,” he said. “And she has been infallible all these years.”

Edman was hired as the town budget officer in January 2005. She said she has had a keen interest in math and accounting ever since high school. She earned an accounting degree in 1999 and, before coming to work for the town, was employed at an accounting firm in Plattsburgh that did a lot of municipal audits.

“You’re always looking to better yourself,” she said, “and then this job came up.”

The experience with municipal audits meant that Edman was already familiar with aspects of how a local government runs. The budget officer role is about 80 to 85% bookkeeping, Edman said, which means tracking cash coming in or out, making sure everything is properly documented and ends up in the right place.

The town board makes the decisions, but Edman’s job is to make sure the money is available and goes to the right place. The role means wearing a lot of hats, including a human resources one, and it can be a challenge to keep track of all the different projects. However, she said that if someone has basic accounting knowledge, the job can be learned by doing and by knowing the right people to ask for help.

Edman said one of the biggest challenges facing towns, and North Elba in particular, is keeping up with infrastructure needs. Recently, the town has had a string of minor projects at the Town Hall building, as well as a large project at the North Elba Showgrounds. Addressing crumbling infrastructure needs to be balanced with keeping costs even and staying below the tax cap, the state-imposed limit that keeps local governments from raising property taxes by more than 2%. The town has never needed to exceed the tax cap since it was put in place, Edman said.

“Things get set aside and pushed back for so long because you’re trying to be responsible about spending taxpayer dollars, and then all of a sudden they become what somebody might call an urgent matter,” Edman said. “And then you’re like, ‘OK, well, how are we going to pay for this now?'”

In an environment where leadership is always shifting, Doty said Edman has provided continuity and security for the town council. The council relies significantly on the budget officer, which is an appointed position, as both an overseer and guide, especially during the preparation of the yearly budget.

“It’s a hard role not only to carry existing board members but to bring new members up to speed,” he said. “It’s a constant balancing act.”

The town has been actively seeking candidates for the role since June. Information about the open position is posted on Indeed and on the town’s website at tinyurl.com/38uv8npb.

Doty said the ideal person should have some experience in municipal governments, or at least organizations with comparable-sized budgets and multiple departments. This role requires communicating effectively with many people, something Doty said Edman has done very well.

“She finds a way to not only look over us, but even to find a gracious way to reprimand when we need it.” he said. “It won’t be easy to replace her, that’s for sure.”