Piperator Seeks Re-Election as Rockland County Clerk

Rockland County Clerk Paul Piperato, D-Haverstraw, is seeking a third four-year term as clerk.

Piperato announced his re-election bid Monday at Jimmy's On Main In Nanuet, where he said he would strive to continue making innovations that would improve public access to information and documents stored at the County Clerk's Office, located at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City.

"Government must have a 'can-do' attitude," said Piperato, who previously served 16 years as deputy county clerk. "I am proud to say that we have been successful by adopting this philosophy and have been repeatedly recognized as a model government office throughout the State of New York.

Piperator was elected clerk in 2005 and re-elected in 2009. The County Clerk's Office serves as the clerk for Rockland County Court and the state Supreme Court based in New City. The office has court files and records and maintains public access to millions of court and real estate documents.

The County Clerk's Office also provides services related to U.S. Passports, U.S. naturalization and citizenship, notary public services, business certificates and pistol licenses. The clerk also oversee the county's records archives and storage center in Pomona.

Piperato contends he has been able to operate the County Clerk's Office at no cost to the local taxpayer, with the office generating at $230,000 suprlus in 2012. In 2012, Piperato was elected president of the New York State Association of County Clerks.

A graduate of North Rockland High School and St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, Piperato is a former Haverstraw Town Board member. He served two four-year terms.

Piperato started in government in 1988 as a budget examiner in the Rockland County Finance Department. In 1989, County Clerk Ed Gorman appointed him Deputy County Clerk, and he served as deputy for 16 years until Gorman's death in October 2005.