Every town or village needs a devoted public servant like Carl Sterling.

For over 30 years he was the tireless, hard-working mayor, treasurer and clerk of East Syracuse. And he also fought fires.

Just how dedicated was he?

A 1987 story in The Post-Standard had this quote from Arlene Domres, a secretary then in the village office.

“I can’t say anything bad about Carl; except he should take a vacation sometime. I quit keeping a personnel record on him because he never takes any time off. The last time he was out was when he had a back operation and then he worked from home.”

Domres counted off the vacation time he used: four days off in June 1975, five days in July 1976, one in August 1976, and one sick day in 1978.

Sterling did occasionally bolt from the office without any advance not

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