FULTON – Councilor Don Patrick of Fulton’s third ward does not have to travel very far if he wants to visit the home he grew up in. In fact, Patrick can see it from where he currently lives: three doors down.
The councilor grew up on West 3rd Street in the neighborhood of Sunnybrook Meadows and will celebrate 50 years of working for Fulton in 2024. Patrick holds a deep love for the city, with a simple goal in life, giving back to the community that gave him so much.
“This is my home. I actually helped my uncle who was mayor back in the late 60s and early 70s. I helped him move furniture into [the Fulton Municipal Building,] Patrick said. “I ran [for city council] because the city offered me a living for many years, and I just wanted to give back.”
Prior to starting his tenure as councilor in 2016, Patrick spent nearly his entire livelihood working for the city in various departments. After a semester away at college, he began at the department of public works making $1.75 an hour on the back of a garbage truck. For a brief spell, he left the city to work at the Nestle’s factory. Two years later, he returned to the wastewater treatment plant, starting as a laborer and working his way up to run the entire department.
When it was time to retire from the plant in 2015, it did not take long for him to impact the city in other significant ways. He stepped out of the plant on December 31, 2015 and a day later on January 1, 2016, he entered the common council chambers. While the transition to elected official is never perfect, Patrick’s first-hand experience working for the city made it easier.
“I’d been to all the departments. I knew the inner-workings, I knew the people that run them,” Patrick said. “When people call me, I’m usually on their doorstep. I go to their house, I find the problem. I know what department to go to to get it taken care of … and that helps.
Now in his ninth year as ward councilor, he has seen many fresh faces enter the common council. He tries to share as much knowledge as he can with new councillors, again, because of his love of the City of Fulton.
“As president of the council, I’ve always told [the councilors], if they have [a question] about anything, they can call me,” Patrick said.
He added that he will bring councilors outside of city hall and to the various departments to “show them what goes on.”
Beyond working with the councilors, he takes his job leading the third ward very seriously. When citizens call for help, he shows up, looking to find an answer or point them to the right city department.
Patrick truly loves what he does. He shared that he has always enjoyed helping others, and this is another way to do just that.
“I like to help people. I had been a coach for kids for many, many years, and that was about helping kids,” Patrick said. “This was kind of a tie in. All the kids I coached back then are now middle-aged adults. I felt like I wanted to give back to the city what [it has] given to me.”
His love of the community and the youth of the community extends beyond his previous work as a coach. Currently, he sits on the Site Base Committee for Lanigan School. Patrick acts as a “go-between” for the school and city to help both parties maintain a fruitful relationship with each side helping one another. He has also worked to beautify the third ward with the Fulton Block Builder’s neighborhood group via cleaning up the park and paving streets. This beauty is something he dreams to share across the other five wards.
“Where I live, people have a good life. It’s well taken care of,” Patrick said. “I would like to see that city-wide. If you walk out the door in [whatever] ward it may be, that you can look at the same thing as if I walk out the door in my ward and what I look at. That’s what the people want.”
Patrick has worked towards this dream over his 50 years of service to the city. Starting at “square one,” back in the 1970s to now, all he ever wanted to do is give his all to Fulton, the city he grew up in. After all, the man – now in his 70s – was raised just three houses down from where he resides today.
“My big thing was to give back to the city, and that’s what I’ve felt like I’ve done,” Patrick said. “And I’ve been really happy.”
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