Former Mount Hope Police Chief Paul Rickard Runs for Town Supervisor

Paul Rickard at Finding Home Farms in Middletown, N.Y., on May 25, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

After serving a decade as the police chief of Mount Hope, Paul Rickard said he wants to apply his leadership skills to the town government to benefit his community.

He is challenging incumbent supervisor Matthew Howell in the June 27 Republican primary.

Rickard said he would be accessible to town residents by hosting regular office hours, enhancing government transparency through ethics reform, and keeping the tax levy stable while using his leadership skills in all facets of town operation.

“My whole [campaign] is about leadership,” he told The Epoch Times. “This town needs leadership, and we need to, at the same time, keep our sense of community and family—it is a small town.”

He secured endorsements from county Legislature Majority Leader Tom Faggione, county legislator Janet Sutherland, and former county legislator Melissa Bonacic.

Paul Rickard at Finding Home Farms in Middletown, N.Y., on May 25, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Rickard’s ancestors settled down in the Town of Mount Hope in the early 1960s, and several of his family members worked in public service professions such as policing and education.

Being the oldest child, he learned to take care of six younger siblings at an early age.

“I was thrust into being a leader—that’s a leadership position that you just had to accept,” he said.

He studied political science at Orange County Community College and became a police officer at Middletown Police Department in the 1980s.

Leadership Experience

Over his 20 years at the department, he rose through the ranks to sergeant, lieutenant, and bureau commander of operations.

In 2010, he became Mount Hope police chief. He set out over the next decade to make the department a more professional operation, from hiring, training, and policy to infrastructure and technology.

A Town of Mount Hope police car outside the police department in Otisville, N.Y., on March 7, 2023.

Of all his efforts, he said he’s most proud of his work in building community relationships.

“The police are the community, and the community are the police—Sir Robert Peel said that when he created modern police in England,” Rickard said. “I think that’s true and really what I strive to do.”

He served as the president of the Orange County Police Chiefs’ Association for two years.

The post allowed him to have his finger on the pulse of state- and county-level initiatives and match them with the needs of the Mount Hope police department, he said.

Mount Hope Police Chief Paul Rickard in his office in Otisville, N.Y., on Feb. 24, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

He also attended the FBI National Academy, a prestigious leadership program for police chiefs, sheriffs, and mid-level law enforcement managers nationwide.

Early this year, Rickard retired from policing and became the director of Hope Not Handcuffs, a regional organization that works with law enforcement agencies in the Hudson Valley to connect people suffering from addictions with help.

“Everything I do, I lead,” Rickard said. “I think a lot of people in the community have faith in me because they know my family, and they know my leadership.”

Campaign Platform

Running for supervisor, Rickard said his top priority is to be accessible to town residents by having regular office hours at the town hall.

His job at Hope Not Handcuffs has no fixed office hours, allowing him to arrange his schedule, he said.

He also wants to be active in county- and regional-level government organizations such as the Orange County Association of Towns, Villages, and Cities.

“You can’t live in a bubble, and you have to network with everyone,” he said, adding that outreach will open doors to more resources for the town.

A digital sign reminding residents of the Oct. 18 Minisink Valley School District public library vote is seen outside the Mount Hope Town Hall, in N.Y., on Oct. 2, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Ethics reform is another priority of his, including updating the town’s decades-old code of ethics.

Rickard said town elected officials and appointed members on the planning board should fill out financial disclosure forms and file them with the clerk’s office every year; he also plans to create an ethics board whose members can review related paperwork.

“I think ethics is important in government, and we need to be open and transparent,” he said. “If there is a conflict of interest, we should have a set of mechanisms [to deal with it].”

As to development, Rickard said he likes the small-town feel that Mount Hope offers and wants to keep it that way.

“I support single-family zoning, and I think there is a charm to not having a traffic light in town. I think that brings people into our community because it is beautiful,” he said.

Mount Hope Town Park in Otisville, N.Y., on May 28, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

He also supports preserving agricultural lands in town.

“I think it would be a mistake to get rid of a farm to build a housing development. I think we need to encourage our agricultural heritage here,” he said.

In terms of commercial growth, he said he would love to see more new businesses, but they must match the character of Mount Hope.

“If [a company] wants to open a four-room office here and pay ... taxes, I would be all for it. But do we want a big factory? No. Do we want a big warehouse? No. It’s got to fit in with the community,” he said.

Early voting is available between June 17 and June 25 at two locations in Orange County: the Newburgh Activity Center in the City of Newburgh and the Caroline Building in the Town of Goshen.