RENSSELAERVILLE — The chairman of the Rensselaerville Democratic Committee will take on the chairman of the Republican Committee in November’s election for town supervisor. It’s a battle between a political veteran and a first-time office seeker.

David Bryan has received the Democratic party’s nomination for supervisor. He was supervisor from 1986 to 1992. Bryan’s Republican opponent will be Jost Nickelsberg. (See related story.)

The current supervisor, Republican J. Robert Lansing, has decided not to run for re-election, and is seeking a town board seat instead.

Bryan said he was motivated to run because of the inactivity of the current town board, which has a Republican majority.
"There’s so much that needs to be done," Bryan said. "They haven’t done anything really."

Bryan said the town needs to work on a comprehensive land-use plan. And, although the board has started a town-wide revaluation to correct assessments that have dropped below 70 percent of real value, Bryan said it is too late; it should have been done already.

Also, Bryan said, repairs are badly needed on some town buildings and roads.

Bryan, a Rensselaerville native, is a house principal at Albany High School. He’s the president of the Rensselaerville library board and historical society.

Joining Bryan on the Democratic ticket will be incumbent Steven Ryder and Sherri Pine, of Preston Hollow, both running for seats on the town board.

Incumbent Democrats G. Jon Chase and Kathleen Hallenbeck will run for re-election as highway superintendent and town clerk, respectively. Hallenbeck is unopposed. She has been clerk since 1974.

For the two open positions on the three-member board of assessors, the Democrats are sponsoring incumbent Peter Hotaling and Sean McCormick, who had to step down as an assessor in May because he was unable to complete the required training courses in three years. Republican Eric Sutton was appointed to take his place and will be running for a full term in November.

If elected, Bryan said, McCormick will complete his training.

Platform

The Democrats will be running on a platform of open communication in town government, Bryan said.

Currently, members of the planning and zoning boards don’t know what’s going on in the town board, and vice versa, Bryan said. It was not this way when he was supervisor, he said.

The lack of communication causes short and ineffective meetings, Bryan said.
"I went to the last meeting and it was over in 35 minutes," Bryan said. "How can you meet once a month and have such a short agenda""
For example, Bryan said, the town employees’ contract has expired, and, as far as he can tell, "No one knew what was going on."
"Nothing is talked over," Bryan said.