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Donohue Ready to Take Over as Lewisboro Town Clerk

LEWISBORO, N.Y. – After nearly 30 years, Lewisboro residents who come to the Town House will find a new, yet familiar, face behind the town clerk’s desk.

Following Kathy Cory’s announcement last month that she would be retiring from her post as town clerk at the end of March, the town board unanimously voted to appoint Deputy Town Clerk Janet Donohue to fill the position.

“I’ve got some really big shoes to fill,” Donohue said of Cory. “She’s been my boss, my mentor and my friend. But I’ve had awesome training from someone who was the New York State Town Clerk of the Year, so I feel ready.”

Donohue has served as deputy town clerk for the past four years. She grew up in Rochester, N.Y. and moved to Lewisboro 15 years ago and got married. In fact, Cory officiated at her wedding.

While living upstate, Donohue was a custom service manager for Wegmans supermarket chain for 14 years. When she moved to Westchester County, she took a job with Searle Pharmaceuticals in Stamford, Conn., before taking time off to raise her two daughters. She then worked for a medical education company in White Plains before learning of the opening the town had for a deputy town clerk.

“I learned that Florence Furdyna was retiring and I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring,” Donohue said. “I e-mailed my resume to Kathy at midnight and she got back to me the very next day and I went in for an interview.  She told me she liked my customer service background, which is a big part of this job.”

Donahue has been married for 15 years to her husband Ken and has two daughters, Jenna, who is in the fifth grade, and Lauren who is in the seventh grade.

The soon-to-be town clerk has already chosen her replacement. Mary Hafter will begin learning the ropes of the deputy town clerk job this week.

“I had a lot of qualified applicants that I interviewed,” Donohue said. “[Hafter] has been in Lewisboro for 17 years. She’ll start Monday so we’ll have a week overlap with Kathy still here.”

Donahue said the biggest challenge about working in the town clerk’s office is the unpredictably of the job.

“Every day is different,” she said. “You never know what will happen, like the hurricane and October snowstorm last year. You have to be able to roll with the changes – and there are a lot of changes.”  

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