ALTAMONT — After 16 years as a trustee, Dean Whalen has declined to run for a fifth four-year term on Altamont’s Village Board.

His seat will be filled by Tresa Matulewicz, a member of the village’s zoning board of appeals, who was the only candidate to submit a petition before the Feb. 9 filing deadline.

Also running unopposed this year are Mayor Kerry Dineen, Trustee John Scally, and Justice James Greene.

The village’s Election Day is March 16 from noon to 9 p.m.

Voting is in-person, but there is also a vote-by-mail option, said Village Clerk Patty Blackwood, residents should call her at 518-861-8554, ext. 10, for a ballot.

Voters should wear masks, Blackwood said, adding there will be enough inspectors on hand to disinfect each ballot box every time a voter exits.

Residents have until March 6 to register to vote, she said, which can be done weekdays at the village hall between noon and 5 p.m.

Whalen was first elected to the board in 2005, when nine candidates filed petitions for either village mayor or trustee — it was the highest number of petitions that most officials could remember being filed for Altamont, The Enterprise reported at the time. 

Five candidates were running for two trustee seats, and four were running for mayor.

Issues at the time included a police force that some villagers felt was excessive, an overtaxed public water system, and a lack of planning for the future.

In announcing his candidacy in a February 2005 letter to The Enterprise editor, Whalen wrote in part, “Altamont is entering a time of profound change. As an architect with planning experience, I feel I can make a significant contribution to preserving that spirit … I am teaming with Harvey Vlahos, candidate for mayor, to implement a four-point plan for Altamont’s future: enhance the sense of community; have an open, efficient government; preserve our architectural heritage; and do comprehensive planning for the future.”

Whalen, an architect, would go on to head Altamont’s comprehensive planning process, which led to Altamont’s comprehensive plan. 

He did not respond to a message this week, seeking an interview. 

The 2005 village election saw the ousting of incumbents and ushering in of Whalen, Dineen (then a trustee), and James Gaughan as mayor. 

Dineen, a music teacher in the Guilderland school system, would be unopposed for trustee in the next two elections until 2017, when she was unopposed in her first bid for mayor. 

She has not faced an opponent since her 2005 election as trustee.

“I think after 125 years we are probably overdue for a female mayor,” she told The Enterprise at the time. “I am proud to be the first and hope to set a good example for other women to get involved in community  government.”

Scally previously served on the village planning board and was unopposed in his first run for trustee in 2017, filling the seat vacated by Dineen when she took the mayor’s office. 

Matulewicz was appointed by Dineen to the zoning board in February 2019 to fill out the expiring term of John Huber, who had died earlier that year.