When we spoke, Chris Tambini had been on the town board for six weeks.

He finds it interesting and is challenged and engaged with all the work that goes into town business. It’s different, he says, than his two-and-a-half year stint on the planning board, where he got to work with a lot of people coming through with new projects.

“It’s fun,” he laughed, “you get to mold the town.” But, he said, there [at the planning board] you are just dealing with everything along one line. “With the town board, there are so many different ones. You have personnel, you are dealing with community issues, you are dealing with emergency service issues, you’re dealing with finances. It’s all over the place.”

Tambini and his family—wife Lisa and sons Ryan and Louis—moved to their summer home in Yulan, following the loss of their house in Oceanside, Long Island, which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. A fourth-generation member of a moving company, he has experience with logistics and automotive and truck repair.

“We fell in love with the area. It was way different than living in the city,” he said.

What was most different was that the “people in this community are willing to help and be a part of it. It drove me to get involved. My son wound up getting me involved with the fire department, and then, of course, the American Legion Ambulance Service. I saw the good people in this town and it drove me to want to dedicate more time and do more things. So, I basically looked at the council position when Jim Hansen had vacated the position. I was interested and basically see it as an extension of service.”

As for his goals in office, “We have a wonderful area. We have a very diverse area. My goal is be there for everyone. To listen to everybody. I want to make sure people know there is an open door. Please come and talk. All the challenges that come along with it, we’ll attack those as they come.”

Tambini is also the treasurer of the Yulan Fire Department, the president of the Highland Ambulance Service, and runs an automotive repair shop located at the Yulan Service Station. He starts his day at 2:30 a.m., to get all the clerical stuff out of the way.

“When we moved up, I couldn’t believe how they came to us. All these great things happened and it showed us the real sense of community. So it makes you want to give back, like, you know what I mean?”