BERNE — The Republican and Democratic committees in Berne have announced their slates in what will be a very hot election with every major post in the town up for grabs. 

As The Enterprise has previously reported, both parties have nominated Democrat Joseph Giebelhaus — a former city of Albany executive and newly-appointed member of the town board — for town supervisor. The current supervisor, Republican Dennis Palow, is not seeking re-election. 

The two parties also jointly nominated Democrat Scott Duncan, a 26-year member of the East Berne Fire Department who served 20 years as chief. He is seeking to fill out a two-year term as town councilman. 

For the remaining three town board seats, Republicans have nominated:

— Conservative Chance Townsend (two-year term), Berne’s former code-enforcement officer who was discovered by The Enterprise to have been uncertified for a substantial portion of his tenure under the Republican administration;

— Republican Darin Cook (four-year term); and

— Casey Miller, who is non-affiliated, and was recently appointed as a planning-board alternate (four-year term). 

Democrats, meanwhile, have nominated:

— Democrat Melanie laCour, an attorney who was recently appointed to the town board (two-year term);

— Democrat Brian Bunzey, who ran unsuccessfully for town board in 2019 (four-year term); and

— Democrat Donald Lee (four-year term), whom the committee described in a press release as a lifelong town resident.

Berne’s election is unusual this year in that every town board seat needs to be filled because three of the board’s five members resigned last year, two of whom were not up for re-election until 2027, so their terms need to be completed by another person. Town board members serve four-year terms.

For highway superintendent, Republicans have nominated incumbent Randy Bashwinger, who has been in office since 2015 and was chairman of both the town and county Republican committees before enrolling as a Conservative in the last year. 

Democrats have nominated Republican Allen Stempel, of the Stempel family, whom the committee said in a release are “icons of dedication to the town.” The late Rudy Stempel, sawmill owner, had been the only Republican supervisor during decades of Democrats’ dominance in Berne government.

For town clerk, Republicans have nominated incumbent Kristin de Oliveira, who will appear as Kristin Francis-de Oliveria on the ballot. A Republican, she was first elected town clerk on that line in 2021. 

She’ll be challenged by former deputy town clerk, Democrat Katherine Brown. 

Also up for re-election is town justice Albert Raymond, a Democrat, who is supported by both parties. 

For tax collector, Republicans have nominated Republican Stephanie Audino, while Democrats have nominated Democrat Jim Kaufman, who was formerly the legislative director for the Albany chapter of the American Postal Workers Union.