CLIFTON PARK — The Board of Trustees of the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library are seeking candidates for two library trustee positions to begin January 1, 2024, due to the expiring terms of two incumbents, both representing the Town of Clifton Park.

The annual Library Budget and Trustee Election is scheduled for Thursday, September 14. It will take place at the Library from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

In order to qualify for trustee, candidates are required to be registered voters residing in Clifton Park, within the boundaries of the Library Tax District. The trustee positions are five-year terms. Employees of the Library, contractors, and vendors to the Library are ineligible. Residents will vote for the trustee candidates from their respective town of residence.

Trustee packets are available beginning June 1. Interested candidates may pick up a packet in person or download one from the Library website: www.cphlibrary.org.

The Library Board consists of 11 trustees: seven representing Clifton Park and four representing Halfmoon. Trustees attend monthly board meetings, serve on assigned committees, and contribute their expertise to benefit the Library and the served community.

The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, located in Southern Saratoga County, provides materials, programs, and services to the residents of Clifton Park and Halfmoon. The Library at 475 Moe Road in Clifton Park is open seven days a week and can be reached by phone at 518-371-8622 and online at www.cphlibrary.org.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Federal is hosting a Family & Community Day to members and residents of the local community on June 10 from 12 to 4 p.m. Members of the community are invited to join as they kick off the summer season and another great year. Plus, receive a $25 Wind-Chill Factory Gift Card for opening an account. Enjoy a round of mini golf, lunch or ice cream, courtesy of Saratoga Federal.

Saratoga Federal staff will be onsite at the Wind-Chill Factory from 12 to 4 p.m. to answer questions and open accounts. There will be no minimum balance required when opening an account at the event.

Saratoga Federal has been providing financial services to the community since 1945 and is open to all individuals who live, work or attend school in Saratoga County. Details are available at www.saratogafcu.org/windchill.

MALTA — Caruso Builders have begun work on a new development of townhomes in Malta near the Malta Drive-In Theatre.

Located at 2782 Route 9, the development will be known as Sage Estates and will contain 34 lots for 68 units, said Anthony Caruso, president of Caruso Builders. Caruso said he was aiming to add a townhome community to his company’s portfolio and cited the convenient location of the development.

“We don’t have any type of townhome community in our portfolio, and it was really something that I was looking to do,” said Caruso. “I felt the location, in close proximity to Exit 13, SPAC, and Saratoga in general, had some really strong benefits.”

The company has completed a majority of site-clearing work, Caruso said, and plans to begin work on infrastructure in the coming weeks. He said the first model home from the development is planned to be constructed in the fall.

“So the direction we’re looking to go with this townhouse site would relate to the other homes that we’re building throughout the area,” Caruso said. “It’s not going to be an entry-level price, but we’d like to try to keep it under what you’d typically see for a product of this type a few minutes outside of Saratoga, or in and around the downtown Saratoga area.”

The development is located across from the Malta Drive-In and is roughly 10 miles south of SPAC and downtown Saratoga Springs. 

“Everything that we put into a single-family home plays a part in a townhome,” Caruso said. “It’s just a different product type and opens us up to the clientele that is really not interested in a single-family, and in more of a townhome and townhome community.”

Caruso, who is an area native and founded Caruso Builders in 2009, said it is exciting to continue to develop properties in his home region.

In 1948 Philly Dake had a simple idea — let people make ice cream sundaes the way they want them. Stewart’s Shops’ customers loved this idea and the Make Your Own Sundae was born.

The notoriety of the Make Your Own Sundae grew with the help of TV programs like Stewart’s Western Sundae and as an early advertiser on shows like Hopalong Cassidy, Hawkeye, and Whirlybirds.  This flagship sundae remains a customer favorite to this day, stirring a fond nostalgia with so many.

What is a Make Your Own Sundae? A Make Your Own Sundae starts with the ice cream of choice from the cone counter. Customers can then choose as many or as few toppings as they prefer. Toppings include chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, caramel sauce, marshmallow topping and pineapple topping. Then customers can finish it off with chocolate or rainbow sprinkles, mini M&Ms®, fun chips and don’t forget the nuts, whipped cream and the cherry on top!

Stewart’s Shops invites all our customers to join the 75th Make Your Own Sundae Anniversary celebration on Sunday, June 11th! Stop by your local shop for $1.75 Make Your Own Sundaes all day.

President of Stewart’s Shops, Gary Dake said, “My Aunt Philly truly left her mark on Stewart’s Shops. She believed that ice cream should be an experience and the Make Your Own Sundae is one of her many legacies.”

About Philly Dake-

As the Executive Vice President of Stewart’s Shops and a key leader for 50 years, Philly Dake has made many contributions to Stewart’s Shops. She was the creator of Philly Vanilla ice cream, which remains one of the most popular half gallon and pint flavors. A natural philanthropist, Philly Dake was always finding ways to give back. Her generosity and passion for the arts and education supported many nonprofits including SPAC and the YMCA.  In 1999, she created the Make Your Own College Scholarship Program to help the children of Stewart’s Partners with college costs. This program has awarded over $6 million to over 1,500 recipients. 

Members of the LGBTQ+ community are protected from discrimination and harassment in the workplace under both New York State and federal law.  The New York Human Rights Law explicitly lists sexual orientation and gender identity as protected statuses, and the United States Supreme Court – in the landmark 2020 civil rights case Bostock v. Clayton County – found that Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination encompasses both sexual orientation and gender identity.  

New York’s law more expressly addresses issues relating to gender identity because of GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act). Specifically, GENDA applied the protections of New York’s human rights laws to gender identity and expression, which are defined as “a person’s actual or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression, or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being transgender.”  

What does this mean?  Most of us are familiar with what it means to target someone because of their sexual orientation, i.e., someone’s physical, romantic or emotional attraction to another person.  Some of us are more recently learning about gender identity and what it means to be transgender, i.e., that someone’s gender identity is different from the one they were assigned at birth.  Individuals are also protected from gender stereotyping, i.e., you do identify as the same gender you were assigned at birth, but you don’t, for example, dress in the way one expects a woman or a man to dress and you are targeted for that reason. 

What is illegal? Anti-discrimination statutes prohibit employers from taking what we call an “adverse employment action” – like getting fired or not being promoted – against an employee because of that employee’s protected status.  Most employees are “at will”, meaning they can be fired at any time for any reason, so the sticking point in any employment case is demonstrating that the employee was targeted because of their protected status and not some other reason, even if we don’t agree with it. 

These laws also protect employees from harassment based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.  When harassment rises to the level of a hostile work environment and, in extreme cases, to the employee’s forced resignation, they can also have a claim under the anti-discrimination laws.  The law also encourages employees to complain about harassment, and those complaints – assuming they specifically raise the illegal reason – are protected from retaliation.  

What can I do if I am targeted?  Making an internal complaint to your boss or HR is always an option, and the law encourages this type of complaint particularly if the harasser or wrongdoer is a coworker.  Retaliation is always a risk, but this can be an opportunity for the employer to make things right.  You can also make a complaint to the EEOC (this is required to preserve federal claims) or to the New York State Division of Human Rights (this is optional).  Lawsuits are also an option and employees are allowed to make immediate claims in court under New York State law which, unlike federal law, does not require making a complaint to an agency first.  

This article is for informational purposes and should not be relied on as legal advice or in taking action at work.  Every situation is different and you should consult your employee handbook and consider speaking with an attorney to discuss your rights and options.