Courtesy Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce
The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Joseph Dalton Community Service Award.
The winner will be honored at the Chamber annual gala on May 11.
Nominations should be emailed to Todd Shimkus, Chamber president, at tshimkus@saratoga.org no later than Friday, March 24.
“Each and every day, we experience what it’s like to live in a thriving community thanks, in part, to individuals and organizations who work tirelessly to make Saratoga County one of the best places to live, work, and play,” said Shimkus. “It is an honor to have the opportunity to recognize a few select individuals who have made a remarkable commitment to our community.”
The award was created by unanimous vote of the Chamber board of directors in 2017. It recognizes and honors Joseph Dalton, who served as president of the Chamber from 1970 to 2010. During his tenure, the Chamber’s membership, influence, and impact grew significantly as a direct result of Dalton’s leadership, passion, and commitment to establishing Saratoga County as a great place to live, work, and play.
Past recipients include Steve Sullivan (2018), Tom Roohan (2019), John Munter Sr. (2020), Julie Stokes (2021) and Cliff Van Wagner (2022).
This is a community service-focused award to honor an individual who has served the community for a minimum of 25 years.
The Chamber said the individual selected will have proven, through their actions, “to be honorable, ready, relevant, innovative, and versatile, always doing what is right for the community.” They should have a legacy of “being forward deployed, meaning they’ve contributed to the community via volunteering their time, energy, and expertise, not just their money.
Ineligible individuals include people who currently work for the Chamber or are on its board of directors, and people whose work for the community was done as an elected or appointed public official.
The selection committee will use that criteria to choose one person from the list of nominations as this year’s honored recipient.