RENSSELAERVILLE — Rensselaerville residents will have a stronger incentive to vote this November with positions in the town contested for the first time since 2017. 

Voters will fill two town board seats and a justice post, with the two major parties endorsing different candidates for all but one of the positions. 

Democrats have endorsed Patricia Byrnes for town board and incumbent Gregory Bischoff for justice, while Republicans have endorsed Randall Bates for town council and Richard Tollner for justice, according to an Albany County Board of Elections list of candidates as of July 11.

Both parties endorsed incumbent town board member Brian Wood for re-election.

Bischoff was first elected as town justice in 2012, ending his term in 2016 before being appointed to the position in 2019 following the death of Justice Ronald Bates. Bischoff ran for election that year and was endorsed by both parties. 

Tollner meanwhile has been the leader of the Republican party and formerly was the town’s assessor and deputy supervisor. 

Randall Bates — who is the uncle of the late Ronald Bates — was previously the town’s highway superintendent, taking that position in 2011 and stepping down at the end of 2020, after deciding not to seek re-election that year. 

Wood, who is a Democrat, was first appointed to the town board in 2019 and ran for a full four-year term that year, with no challengers. He is the director of emergency management for the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.

Byrnes, a political newcomer, could not immediately be reached.