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Deputy St. Lawrence Country Treasurer Cole announces run for treasurer

Posted 5/13/16

By CRAIG FREILICH Renee Cole, deputy treasurer for St. Lawrence County, is running as a Democrat to be the county treasurer. Cole says her broad experience in managing business, BOCES, and village …

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Deputy St. Lawrence Country Treasurer Cole announces run for treasurer

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

Renee Cole, deputy treasurer for St. Lawrence County, is running as a Democrat to be the county treasurer.

Cole says her broad experience in managing business, BOCES, and village and county finances makes her highly qualified to be treasurer, and that her first run at elective office “is an entirely different challenge, and I’m looking forward to it.

“I think it will be interesting, and I know it will be a lot of work, but anything worth having isn’t easy,” she said.

Cole has been in charge of the treasurer’s office since January, after Treasurer Kevin Felt resigned to take a job in North Carolina.

She had been appointed as a deputy treasurer in May 2015 after her Republican opponent in the current contest for treasurer, former Deputy Treasurer Robert Santamoor, who left the Tresurer's Office in a disagreement with Felt.

After his campaign announcement in March, Santamoor said he was fired after four years as a deputy over “philosophical” issues.

“I don’t really want to dwell on the past. We had philosophical differences on how the treasurer’s office should be run,” he said.

Cole said each step in her career has built upon previous experience to the point where she feels fully prepared to be treasurer.

Cole was Village of Canton Deputy Treasurer before she moved to the McCadam Cheese plant to keep the books on accounts receivables.

She was offered a job in 2007 in the business office at St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, where she worked for five years before moving to the St. Lawrence County Highway Department as assistant manager of highway administration.

In 2013 Cole was hired as head of fiscal services at the county Department of Social Services, before she was moved to the county treasurer’s office as a deputy to Felt.

“I think I have a lot to give with my background. The county needs someone with this kind of good, solid experience to get through the challenges the county faces,” Cole said.

The county has been struggling with diminishing sales tax revenue and higher costs, and has been forced to borrow money from time to time to tide it over from budget to budget.

She also said she is looking forward to getting the treasurer’s office up to full strength again.

“We’ve been short-handed for four months, but we’re making a lot of progress, and when we’re fully staffed it will be even better.”

She also said she is enthused at the prospect of being St. Lawrence County’s first woman treasurer.