RANDOLPH — The 2023 Brooks Patterson Award from the Cattaraugus County Planning Board was presented to Margaret Puszcz on Oct. 25.
The award — for outstanding leadership in community involvement and economic development in Cattaraugus County — was presented to Puszcz by Planning Board Chairman Charles Couture at the board’s annual meeting at Cardinal Hills Golf Club.
Puszcz said she was “both humbled and honored” to be a recipient of the Brooks Patterson Community Leadership Award, named after tow former planning board members, Torrence Brooks and Donald Patterson.
Puszcz served the county planning board for more than 30 years through her employment by the Department of Economic Development, Planning and Tourism.
She started working for Cattaraugus County as a stenographer in the Civil Service Office in February 1971. In 1976, she became a stay-at-home mom for two years, before returning to county employment as a part-time typist in the auditor’s office. Puszcz took a full-time position as stenographer to the BOCES assistant superintendent in 1979.
She returned to the county in February 1982 as a full-time stenographer in the county planning office. She retired from the full-time post in 2011 and worked part-time until her full retirement in 2013 after nearly 40 years of service.
The recipients of the Brooks Patterson Award are chosen to give countywide recognition to leaders and volunteers who make lasting contributions to communities in the county.
The theme for the awards is “People Are Our Greatest Resource.”
A native of Mansfield, Puszcz was raised on the Sunset View Dairy Farm, which she now owns and where she lives.
She and her late husband, James Puszcz, operated the well-known Push’s Cider Mill in Great Valley for many years. They were married for 43 years before his death in 2014. Their daughter Anne (James) Conner, has two children.
More than 60 people attended the planning board annual meeting. Crystal Abers, director of the Department of Economic Development, Planning and Tourism, welcomed attendees.
Andrew Riley and Heike Jacob of Wendel, an environmental firm based in Buffalo, gave presentations on local governments dealing with wind and solar projects.
Riley, who is director of Environmental and Planning Services for Wendel, said the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) is the best tool municipalities have to make sure projects impact communities in a good way.
