Archive: Around Town

Tompkins County Clerk Maureen Reynolds was recognized by NYS Senator Pam Helming Tuesday, in the Finger Lakes Visitors Center in Geneva, NY, as a 2020 Women of Distinction nominee.  Each year the New York State Senate recognizes women who make a positive impact in their communities.  Reynolds was nominated by Lansing Town Clerk Deborah Munson.

"This is an exciting time in women's history! 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage," Helming said. "Because of the brave women that came before us, women living in this great nation have the opportunity to vote and to have our voices heard!"

In her nominating letter Munson wrote, "Maureen is always available, willing and friendly to help anyone and share her knowledge. She has helped all of the Tompkins County Municipalities get digitized with Laserfiche. Maureen writes grants and has received over $2 million to help the municipalities which eliminates space for hard copies. In the past, people complained about going to the Tompkins County Department of Motor Vehicles, but now that Maureen oversees it, there is routinely a 95% positive feedback given by the customer (over 1000 customers in February 2020). At election time, Maureen was endorsed by both the Republicans and the Democrats. She is widely respected and very knowledgeable. I have worked with Maureen and personally known her for over thirty (30) years and she is definitely an outstanding woman and very deserving of this award."

Helming recognized nominees from her district individually at a ceremony Tuesday, limited because of COVID-19 restrictions.  The award ceremony was originally scheduled for May, but it had to be canceled because of the pandemic.

"As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has required us all to adapt and change many events," Helming said. "In an effort to adhere to guidelines and ensure the safety of all our nominees, I will be hosting a ceremony with individually allotted times to recognize each nominee and meet their nominators and families.  In the past we have done a ceremony with several hundred people in attendance, however, this is not possible this year."

Reynolds has been recognized with numerous awards from the Center for Digital Government; the National Associates of Counties; Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard; Challenge Industries; NYS Archives; NY Association of Local Government Records Officers; and the Tompkins County Bar Association.  She saved Tompkins County $5.5 million by digitizing county records, instead of renovating a building to store them.  She has applied for and received over $2 million in grants to benefit Tompkins county and its municipalities.  She has made digitized County Clerk records available to the public at no cost.


The Women of Distinction awards were established in 1998 to honor New York women of remarkable character who take the initiative in serving their communities. 

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