BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — Potsdam’s new village administrator, the municipality’s youngest ever and first female, is settling into her new role as head of the village's day-to-day operations and is focused on collaboration of village department heads while keeping an eye on Potsdam's bottom line.

Isabelle Gates-Shult was appointed by the village board to the interim administrator position at the end of April and was subsequently promoted to the full administrator's position in May.

"It feels like an absolute privilege to serve Potsdam in this capacity, and now the recent change in title and permanent appointment to village administrator, it's an honor," Gates-Shult said. The new administrator said she has an "immeasurable amount of appreciation" for the board and mayor for believing in her and giving her the opportunity to help lead the village forward.

"And to be the youngest appointed administrator for Potsdam as well as the first female administrator for Potsdam feels so special and almost surreal, and I look forward to serving the village and our community members in this new role," she said.

The new administrator has worked at the village for just under two years serving as treasurer for the last year and spearheaded the village's adoption of a new, modern budgeting and financial management software from ClearGov Inc. Gates-Shult's experience with implementing the software and handling the village's finances gives her an inside perspective on management of the municipality's various departments.

"I feel like the administrator should have more of that CFO (Chief Financial Officer) role as well and really have that true financial oversight," she told North Country This Week. "I feel like I have an advantage because I was just in the treasurer role and I've seen the ins and outs of the funds, how they work, how our cash management works. So now I'm in the administrator role and I get to oversee all of the operations while still having that grasp of the financial condition we're in, which is crucial now more than ever."

While she spearheaded a major overhaul of the treasurer's department and how the village manages its budget, Gates-Shult said she has always been moving towards an administration position.

The new administrator has a degree in business administration and management and brings that education to bear on the duties of the village's lead position.

"This is what my degree is in. I feel like it's what I've been working towards," the administrator said. "So when the mayor approached me to see if I was even interested I immediately (said) 'Yes of course. I'm interested.'"

"I feel like it's everything that I've been working towards and everything I have been just working so hard at," she said.

Gates-Shult, now 37, has strong ties to the community having lived here for 30 years, first in the village and then just outside in the town of Potsdam with her husband Corbin, a lieutenant with the village police department. The couple have a six-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.

"One of our goals is to move back into the village because I feel this is the heart of Potsdam," she said.

Gates-Shult graduated from Potsdam High School and SUNY Potsdam and her daughter now attends Potsdam Central. She and her family have a built-in support system here with her parents living in the community. Gates-Shult's ties to the community go back even further with her late grandfather working as Clarkson professor for 30 years. "I'm a local through and through."

"This is my home. This is all I've ever known," she said of the community.

Gates-Shult said she had goals and aspirations of moving into an administration role with the municipality from the treasurer's position, but thought of that progression perhaps more in line with a five-year plan.

"And then it all happened so fast," she said. "But again for me it was a no-brainer. This is what I've been working toward and sometimes the best opportunities come when you least expect them and I think that's what happened in this case."

Gates-Shult said restructuring of the village departments towards a more collaborative model is on her list of goals in the new position.

"I immediately started thinking how can I restructure these departments to make more of the work-life balance better, to create just more structure as well as support amongst all of us. Because I feel like right now everyone's kind of on their islands, or they were. And I just feel like that was inefficient."

"I thought, I already had the financial background, so let's incorporate that into the administrator role and let's tie it together," Gates-Shult said.

"I love the oversight because I love that I get to assist all of the department heads and really support them and their needs and what their departments are looking for," she said. "That's one of my goals, just more inclusion and communication amongst everyone. I think that it's important that we are all communicating and bouncing ideas off of each other. We have weekly department meetings and it's amazing. Everyone, again, just throws those ideas out and gets to know what every department is doing and I think that's important because what if, in the future, we can have shared services between departments if we realize that both can utilize this function."

She said she also plans to check in regularly with the department employees as whole to hear what their concerns or issues may be.

"I really feel like a good chunk of this role and job is personnel," she said, adding that understanding each department and the people in them is key to the administrator's job. "We couldn't do it without them, and they need to know that they are supported."

Gates-Shult will be on point for two upcoming retirements (and subsequent hirings) in key positions with the village with the departure of longtime Village Planner Fred Hanss next spring and Chief Water Operator Brian Page this fall. Those retirements, along with a relatively new lineup on the village board, several new department heads, and turnover in other positions, present "a perfect time" to revamp and restructure the village departments to improve efficiency, the administrator said.

Outside of the personnel management duties she will have, the new administrator will stay busy with multiple initiatives and projects moving forward.  

Gates-Shult will be at the helm as the village moves into the major construction phases of its state-funded Downtown Streetscape and Riverwalk projects, and hopes to move forward with future improvements at the recreation department as well.

The municipality will be starting an engineering study soon which will inform future discussions about what improvements or changes or expansions might be possible at Pine Street Arena and Sandstoner Park, she said.

Another current issue the new administrator is tackling is a more detailed look at the village's water and sewer services. Water meter testing has begun and the village is also contracting with an outside firm to inspect residential service lines for possible lead removal.

A detailed analysis of the village's hydro dam complex is also in the future.

"And I want more focus on parks. We have so many beautiful open spaces in Potsdam," she said. The administrator said the village is looking at ways to reduce the influx of wild geese in Ives Park and improve waste disposal options, maintenance and upkeep there to keep the park cleaned up for residents.

Another goal for the new administrator she said is improving and enhancing the village's relationship with the town government to share services, ideas and information.

Gates-Shult said she has been focused on the goals of the position and the goals of the village and that she feels humbled to have been appointed to the position. "I feel like this is what I've been working toward and this is exactly where I want to be and now it's my own home that I've lived in for 30 years that I get to help better," she said.

"And so now to add the layers of being the youngest and first female. No pressure or anything. No pressure at all," she joked. "But I will say the support I have received from community members, some of whom I haven't spoken with in years that have reached out or who will stop me in the store just to congratulate me, that is motivation in itself and I think it's very reassuring to me that I already have such a support system in place and I hope to continue to gain the respect and trust of our valued residents because that's what we are doing. We are looking to make some big changes and do big things."

She encourages village residents to come talk to her with ideas and issues they may have. She said she may not always be able to fix the problems immediately but knowing about them gets things started.

"I feel so confident about the future of Potsdam and I feel all of these changes are what it's needed for quite some time," she said.