WESTERLO — As a large building project was felled with a public vote Tuesday, a group of Republican candidates has risen to challenge the incumbent town council that approved the $2.75 million bond.

Vastly outnumbered by Democratic enrollment in the rural town, the candidates — George Langdon III for supervisor, and Amie Burnside and Kevin Flensted for two council seats — are counting the ballots cast: 341 against and 162 in favor of a proposal to renovate the town hall and replace the town highway garage.

“They’re looking for some type of change,” Flensted, 43, said of voters. He said residents are frustrated with a lack of transparency in town government.

Originally, when Supervisor Richard Rapp was planning to end his decades-long hold on the seat, Flensted said, Democrats in the town had approached Flensted, the chief of the Westerlo Fire Company, to run in his place, and his interest in town office was sparked. But Rapp, the chairman of the town’s Democratic committee, now plans to run for another term.

“I want to see some things done,” Rapp said of his decision, noting the town’s bicentennial is being celebrated this year, though its September events are before the election.

“I have an interest in the town,” he added, describing himself as loyal.

At 78, Rapp has been in office for 45 years, he said, and was once a public works commissioner for Albany County. He said Democratic incumbents Alfred Field and Anthony Sherman, both councilmen, and Robert Carl, a town judge, received the Democratic endorsement, too.

Rapp could not be reached on Wednesday after the referendum.

Speaking beforehand, Rapp hoped it would pass, and insisted the town buildings were badly in need of improvement while deferring to the voters.

But the grievances from town residents in recent months have focused on how little public participation was involved in such a large project.

At a hearing to explain the design proposal, Fred Grober, an engineer, said the board had made itself the building committee and met to tour the buildings, which wasn’t advertised to residents.

Addressed about such complaints, Rapp said “I feel we’re doing the right thing,” and added later, “They all had a chance to speak. I don’t deny that to anyone.”

Fixing the highway garage, which has had a leaking roof, has been discussed for years in Westerlo. When bids for repair were higher than anticipated, the town board followed residents’ suggestions to study the cost of replacement.

The figure of $2.75 million for the two-phase project came much later, however, and the public informational meeting came after the board voted to approve the bond in June. By the end of the month, enough signatures had been gathered in the town of 3,400 to force a special election by petition.

“People are totally different than they used to be,” Rapp said when asked of how the town has changed over his time in office. “They complain about everything. That’s just the way people are.”

The three Republican candidates wrote a letter to the editor last week urging residents to vote against the proposal and criticizing the board for giving it little public discussion.

This week, they wrote a letter introducing themselves. Langdon is originally from Long Island, and spent his career in the transportation industry, training truck driving for the New York State Motor Truck Association. For 40 years, he has been living in South Westerlo. He has a doctorate in ministry and volunteers as a guidance counselor and as an assistant to a pastor.

Flensted works for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. as a manager of quality compliance, analyzing data for the company’s quality systems. He grew up in western New York and moved to Westerlo in 2007 to be closer to his wife’s family. He believes the garage should be replaced, but disagreed with the proposed allocation for the town hall.

Amie Burnside was raised in East Berne, serves on the town’s zoning board, and works for Fidelis Care, a health insurance company.