(Long Island, NY) The Suffolk County Legislature has unanimously approved the appointment of Jason Richberg to the position of Clerk of the Legislature. Immediately following the vote, which was taken at the Legislature’s General Meeting in Riverhead Oct. 6, Richberg was sworn into the position by Suffolk County Clerk Judith Pascale.
“It is with great pride that I congratulate Jason on his appointment to this position,” said Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory. “As Chief Deputy Clerk, Jason worked closely with former Clerk Tim Laube, and together they instituted a more transparent and efficient office. In addition to his experience, Jason also brings a tireless work ethic and a commitment to mentoring interns and junior staffers. I look forward to working with Jason in our continued efforts to make government more accessible to the people it serves.”
Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory, left, congratulates Jason Richberg shortly after Richberg was sworn in as Clerk of the Legislature. The appointment was unanimously approved Oct. 6 at the Legislature’s General Meeting in Riverhead. Photo Credit: Suffolk County.
Prior to his appointment to the position of Chief Deputy Clerk in 2014, Richberg, 33, served as Chief of Staff in Presiding Officer Gregory’s district office in Amityville. As Chief Deputy Clerk, Richberg played an instrumental role in running the Legislature’s summer Page Program, which gave high school and college students the opportunity to intern at the Legislature.
“After working with Jason for the past year, I can say with confidence that he will be a great Clerk of the Legislature,” said Laube, who recently left the position to serve as business leader for the Shelter Island School District. “The Clerk’s office administers and executes thousands of pages of documents each year, and it takes strong leadership, administrative skills and patience to get the job done. Jason has all of those qualities and more to serve the Legislature in a bipartisan fashion, and he has the best staff in the county to help him do it.”
Richberg graduated from North Babylon High School before attending Wilberforce University in Ohio. As a teenager, he interned with the Town Attorney’s Office in the Town of Babylon, and, as a college student, he managed voter registration drives on three campuses. He also served as a fellow for People for the American Way and completed the Black Executive Exchange Program offered by the National Urban League. Additionally, Richberg has extensive experience teaching swimming, and he currently serves as a warden at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Lindenhurst.
“How people get engaged in government is by what we see and what we experience,” Richberg said, noting that his interest in civic engagement dates back to accompanying his family to the polls as early as 1988. “Making government more accessible, both by transparent record-keeping and by welcoming young people to our internship program, is the most important thing I can do as Clerk. You have to be able to say you made the world better today than it was yesterday. That’s all that matters.”
Richberg lives in West Babylon with his wife, Dorinda Richberg, whom he married over the summer.
The Clerk’s office manages the records of the Legislature, including all legislation, as well as transcriptions and recordings of General Meetings. Additionally, the Clerk is responsible for overseeing all Freedom of Information Law requests.
