VOORHEESVILLE — Florence Reddy, appointed as a village trustee last year, is making her first run for office on March 18. She and incumbent Brett J. Hotaling face no challengers.

Brett J. Hotaling, 48, who lives in the Scotch Pine development, was appointed to the board four years ago by Mayor Robert Conway, to fill the seat that was vacated upon the death in May 2011 of Hotaling’s father, William F. Hotaling.

Hotaling has lived in Voorheesville for his whole life. He and his wife have raised two children in the village — a son, who is 19, and a daughter, 15.

Hotaling owns two businesses in the village, Hotaling Landscaping and Voorheesville Self Storage.

He said that he is running because he has deep roots in the village and he is glad that he “can be part of the decision-making process.”

Reddy, too, was appointed as trustee by Conway, in October 2014. She replaced David Cardona, who cited personal changes and his purchase of a home in Guilderland when he resigned in October.

Reddy, 54, is a long-time village resident. She and her husband, William Reddy — who in January was appointed chief of the village fire department — raised three children in Voorheesville and also own Reddy’s Deli in Guilderland Center.

Reddy, the first woman to serve on the board in over a decade, has been serving on the village’s zoning and planning boards. She has “a little bit of a real estate background,” as she has been working in the field of real estate for 10 years — not as an agent, but as an office manager, she is quick to point out. She was with Prudential for almost all of that time, until it was recently bought out by her current company, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services.           

Reddy told The Enterprise that she is running because, having been in the position for about five months, she really enjoys being part of the decision-making process and is “just looking forward to doing it for another four years.”

“My goals,” Hotaling said, “are to keep working on the projects I’ve been involved with the last year or two, which I enjoy.” These are the extension of the Rail Trail along Grove Street, and the Main Street Master Plan Project, focusing on the revitalization of Main Street. Hotaling said that he is also in charge of the Parks and Recreation Department and hopes to continue in that capacity. 

“I’m pretty new, so I’m just kind of learning still,” said Reddy when asked about her goals for the upcoming four-year term. “So I don’t know if I have any specific goals right at the moment.”

Consolidation

With the governor pushing for consolidation, Voorheesville has already given up its village court, with cases heard now in the New Scotland Town Court. Candidates were asked how much money would be saved if the village government were to consolidate with the town, whether that system would be more efficient, and what would be lost.

“I don’t think we would benefit,” Hotaling said. “Our taxes are in the ballpark of $250 a household. You get a lot of services for that: your trash picked up, your streets plowed, brush cleanup, and so there’s some good benefits there.” He stated that Voorheesville has one of the lowest tax rates in the state, and reiterated that he doesn’t think consolidation would benefit Voorheesville as a municipality.

“I think the village taxes are relatively cheap,” Reddy said. “I actually did a little homework,” she continued, “and I know it’s only like $125 per household per thousand.” She said that she doesn’t think Voorheesville would benefit in any way if it were to merge with New Scotland. She concluded, “I think Voorheesville is perfect just the way it is.”

The $2 million budget adopted by the village board last spring had a proposed tax rate is $1.255 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Figuring an average home is valued at $200,000, the annual taxes would be $251.

Taxes

Last year, Voorheesville went over the state-set levy limit. Candidates were asked if they anticipated doing the same again this year; whether the services provided warranted the increase; and what, if anything, could be cut or reduced this year to keep taxes down.

Reddy said that she believes that Trustee Stevens touched on the budget a little bit at the last meeting, on Feb. 24, and that she is under the impression that everything’s going to remain pretty much the same. “I don’t know that it’s going to really vary all that much,” she said.

Hotaling said that he does not work directly with the budget. “Trustee Jack Stevens does a lot of that,” he said. He noted that various issues are involved, including “our lighting, which gets raised each year,” and he said that it’s very hard for a village of Voorheesville’s size to stay under the cap. He said that he thinks the village and Stevens do a great job with the budget, but that he prefers not to dive too deeply into the issue, but to leave it to those who are more directly involved.

Quiet zone

As a grassroots group of citizens has worked to establish a train “quiet zone” in the village, the candidates were asked how much would it cost, how those costs should be borne, and if they support having a quiet zone.

“I am in favor of the quiet zone,” Reddy said. She suggested that reducing noise levels would definitely improve the quality of life for the residents.

She said that the cost was still being determined and added, “I guess it all would depend on what the end result, the cost, would be. We would have to wait for that information before we could really make a decision.”

Hotaling said that he supports the idea “if the people are behind it and the people want it.” He said that the cost is still up in the air, since the board is still running studies to see what the costs would be. “When we get those,” he said, “then we can decide if it’s a good move or a bad move.”

VAAS

The town and village now share expenses for the Voorheesville Area Ambulance Service staffed largely by volunteers but with paid county EMTs for weekdays, when volunteers are scarce. The candidates were asked what the village should do to try to resolve the issue of the ambulance contract, if the contract should be entirely with the town, and if the service should move to more paid workers.

“I’m a volunteer,” Hotaling said, “a volunteer fireman.” He said he has nothing but respect for the ambulance volunteers and EMTs, who do a great job. “You know, who wants to wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning and respond to a car accident? I’m glad that we have the volunteers that we do.”

He said that it’s a long answer, as to what would be best. Mainly, he said, “You’ve got to get some people in a room, as far as the ambulance, and the village, and the town, and the sheriff’s department, to go over the pros and cons, and come up with a solution.”

He stressed that the village is lucky to have the volunteers it has — “that’s for sure.”

Reddy said that she believes that the process of trying to work things out is ongoing. “I'm not really sure in which direction that’s going to go,” she said. She added that Mayor Conway and Trustee Jack Stevens are the ones who are directly in charge of handling the VAAS contract.

“I know that they’re talking to people, working on it,” she said, “and trying to get a contract in place.”

Clarified on March 13, 2015: The second sentence of the print version of this story said that Florence Reddy "and fellow appointee Brett J. Hotaling face no challengers."

While it is true Hotaling was appointed a trustee in May 2011 by the mayor, to fill the seat left vacant by the death of his father, he then retained his seat in a special election the following March and so is more accurately termed an incumbent.