NEW SCOTLAND — Republicans are making a run for town council this fall, after a break during the last election cycle and shut-out losses in the cycle before.

Craig A. Shufelt is running for an unexpired term that ends in 2017, and Christopher Frueh is running for one of two open seats, both with four-year terms.

Democrats are hoping that incumbents William C. Hennessy and Patricia Snyder can keep their seats, and that a third seat can be taken by Democrat Adam Greenberg, who previously served as planning board chairman before he reached his term limit this year.

The 2014 annual salary for council members was $8,093.44, and most council members serve four-year terms.

Mid-term seat

Craig A. Shufelt is running for the seat vacated by Councilman Daniel Mackay, who resigned in June to move to Connecticut. Mackay’s term ends in 2017.

Shufelt is a Voorheesville graduate who went on to study graphic design at Sage College of Albany and Rochester Institute of Technology. He runs a marketing and media firm, Shufelt Group, LLC., in Voorheesville, which is “one of the few small businesses” in the town of New Scotland, he said. He lives between Voorheesville and New Salem, and is a member of the New Salem Volunteer Fire Department.

His father, Craig Shufelt, served on the town board in the late 1980s.

“Town officials need to be held accountable…to be responsible for their own actions,” Shufelt said. “When someone decides to resign for their family, they should not be asked to walk the fine line…that runs against an open [process, so that town officials can] appoint some of their own,” he said, without mentioning Mackay’s name.

Deadlines to run for the town board would have passed by August, Shufelt said, allowing officials to appoint someone rather than leave the board vacancy open for public election, had Mackay resigned later this year.

Dolin said last week that he knew nothing of officials asking Mackay to stay.

“Daniel had to start his job June 15. It doesn’t sound realistic, because he would have had to stay here until sometime in late August,” Dolin said. “He did what he should do. He’s physically in Connecticut.”

Mackay did not return a call before press time.

“I love this town”

Republican candidate Shufelt has invested in five properties in New Scotland, he said.

“I keep myself pretty busy,” he said. “My line is, ‘I love this town.’ ”

Shufelt is single with no children.

“I work a lot. I like to go do things. I was a Boy Scout, a life Scout from Voorheesville. I’m sports-minded. I’m a sergeant-at-arms with Albany Barn,” Shufelt said.

Albany Barn, an organization that supports the arts, and the Albany Housing Authority have turned an abandoned school in Arbor Hill into performance space and low-cost lofts for artists to live and work in, Shufelt said.

He worked in graphic design in New York City until after 9/11, when he returned to the area.

“I want to see things stay the same, but evolve from a tax base perspective,” Shufelt said. He is running for town board because he “wanted somebody to speak for me and for others.”

Many have left the town, he said, but those who remain must “think proactively for the future.”

“We need to be mindful that our expenditures are diversified throughout the town, and [about] where we can be more creative internally and externally,” Shufelt said.

He used the improved rail trail as an example of a mixed-use, green concept that has taken a long time to be developed.

“We can keep the town the way we want it, and also have mixed-use development,” he said. “I’m 43 years old. At some point, I really would like a restaurant” in town, he said.

“We’re missing the boat here on self-development with creative results,” Shufelt said. He said that many New Scotland families go to the Crossings in Colonie, which offers a family environment, walkable space, and nature.

“We have all those things. Other than Thacher Park and the rail trail, there is not enough promotion of that,” he said.

“I want to encourage people to be more town-minded,” Shufelt said. “We’re too small of a town to have two parties. Let’s work as a team and move the town forward.”

Shufelt said that the “lower- and middle- classes need to enjoy the town as much as the upper class. Taxes going up is driving out the people who want to stay here.”

He, again, referred to the Crossings, saying the area is both residential and full of “things we all would enjoy.” Mixed-use development, he said, “doesn’t have to be an eyesore.”

“With Thacher Park and the Cornell Cooperative Extension in our backyard,” Shufelt said, “maybe we can all work together?”

He said that minor commercial development could offset rising school taxes.

“There have got to be ways to plateau that, instead of having them increasing and increasing,” Shufelt said.

Shufelt, as a fire department member, said that he would like to know more about the disputes in emergency coverage that have plagued the town and the village of Voorheesville with the Voorheesville Area Ambulance Service, saying that there are “creative ways to help out the rescue folks.”

Environmentally, he said, “I’m a big recycler. There are creative ways we could engage the high school students…and get students more involved to help. We cultivate things a little more.”

He said that there is more commercial activity in town now compared to when he left after high school, which offers more opportunities for those who stay.

“There are special-needs folks in our town. Let’s reach out and get some of them employed when there is a need,” he said.

Finally, Shufelt said that he has been mulling over running for the town council for some time, and he decided to act.

“Sitting on the sidelines doesn’t get it done,” he said. Shufelt urged town residents to “keep an open mind. There are a lot of possibilities. There are a lot of good people in town. They want good change, moving forward. It doesn’t have to be commercial, it can be ‘town’ and greenery.”

Greenberg steps in

The Democratic Party is backing former planning board Chairman Adam Greenberg to fill Mackay’s incomplete term.

Greenberg, a farmer and lifelong town resident, left the planning board in January due to town term limits when his planning board term expired in December. Soon after, the town board appointed Greenberg to the study advisory committee for the zoning plan being prepared for the hamlet of New Scotland.

“Since I had been working with Dan on wrapping up the town's long-term plan for the commercial district, and finalizing the language in our zoning law barring big box development in that area, filling his vacancy seemed like a natural extension of those efforts,” Greenberg wrote to The Enterprise in an e-mail. 

“In a general sense, I support open government and transparency,” he wrote. “The public deserves to know why their representatives are making the decisions they're making. Residents also deserve to have their voices heard. I think one of the main issues many residents had during the big box era was that their voices were ignored. That should not happen. I believe in the ‘represent’ part of representative.”

Greenberg wrote that he ran public meetings in a way that was inclusive, welcoming public comments.

“Like most residents,” his e-mail continued, “I'd like to preserve the rural character of the town. That's what all the candidates say, of course. But how do you do that? What does that mean in terms of planning and zoning? What changes do we want to promote, and what changes do we absolutely oppose? If there is one thing we have learned from the big-box fiasco, ‘letting the chips fall where they may’ will not work. We need a town board that plans for the future, not one that hopes for the best.”

The town was in upheaval in 2010 after a citizens’ uprising against plans for a big-box mall in the hamlet of New Scotland. After two election cycles, the town board had enough votes to pass zoning limiting the size of a commercial building, which led to the establishment of the advisory committee on which Greenberg now serves.

“Answering these questions,” Greenberg continued, “while also doing the day-to-day work of running the town, is a tremendous challenge. To meet that challenge, I bring my expertise and experience in zoning issues from almost 15 years on the zoning board; my commitment to New Scotland as a lifelong resident; my knowledge of land and tax issues as a farmer, builder, and property manager; and my hopes for the future as a father of three.” 

Time to serve

Christopher P. Frueh, who is not a registered Republican, is running for an open seat on the board, either Snyder’s or Hennessy’s. He is a native of Feura Bush, and has been married to his wife, Melanie, for 31 years.

“I’ve lived in New Scotland since I was a little boy,” he said. “My kids are all graduated from college. I was asked by the town Republicans if I would run for town board, as someone who cares about the town and understands what would help the town.

“I thought about it,” he continued, “and I thought, ‘I can run. I can commit to a four-year term.’ I want to represent real people. I encourage people who want to run businesses, and I’m all for it.”

He said that the Persico shop in Feura Bush is an example of what can happen in New Scotland; the empty store has been purchased and reopened by newcomers to the town, Frueh said.

“I think that’s great. It’s what the community needs — young blood with new ideas. We should encourage that in the town, not to develop the town, but to keep up older” sites and welcome newcomers, Frueh said.

Frueh, 52, said that he is not running for a particular issue. His family runs the Peter K. Frueh Inc., an excavation business and a stone quarry.

“Things always pop up and you need people in place to have good judgment and keep the town making cost-effective decisions that don’t burden taxpayers,” he said. “I can add some wisdom to areas people aren’t educated on with doing the kind of work that I do.

“I feel that I would represent this end of town and rural landowners in the area,” Frueh continued. “I am a land-rights-type person. I love the outdoors. I’m a conservation-type person with a sensitivity to the outdoors — it’s something that I do respect.”

Frueh appreciates new businesses, he said.

“I love to see people who have good ideas pursue them, take a leap of faith, and spend their money,” he said. “It’s not easy, I understand that.

“People with jobs with government don’t understand as well as farmers and others who have to go out and find their work every day,” Frueh said. “It’s like being unemployed every day.”

Democratic incumbents

Incumbents Patricia Snyder and William C. Hennessy Jr. are both seeking re-election.

Serving on the board “has been great,” Hennessy told The Enterprise. “It’s been an eye-opener about what we can, and can’t, do as a town of our size.”

Hennessy, 54, is a consulting engineer. He and his wife have four children; two have graduated from Voorheesville, and two are still in the school system, he said.

“I enjoy the types of work involved with municipal government — planning, zoning, and improvements…maintaining what New Scotland is,” he said. “The residential and agricultural uses in the town are important for us to maintain.”

He wants the town “to bring in appropriate commercial business to supplement” taxes, he said.

“Not ‘destination’ commercial,” he said, referring to businesses like the big-box development stopped by the town in 2010.

Hennessy is involved with the New Scotland hamlet study. He is creating grant applications for improvements to the two town parks, and is working with Mackay and LaGrange on the grant application for Clarksville sidewalks.

He is doing the application on an in-kind basis, and not for a fee, he said. If the grants come through, he would not do the work professionally, he said.

“Board members cannot do work, under our town ethics code,” Hennessy said.

Snyder is energized

“I am running,” Snyder said about keeping her seat on the town council. “I enjoy the public-service aspect of this. I can contribute expertise when it comes to financing. I’m energized by that.”

Snyder, 59, has a master of business administration degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She and her husband, Michael, live in Voorheesville and have two grown children.

 “I have a finance background. The town has done a good job maintaining the budget within the state-mandated tax cap,” Snyder said, adding that the town still offers services that residents need and want. “I like to be able to contribute in that arena.”

Snyder supports the sharing of resources between municipalities, she said.

“We’ve been good at finding resources,” she said. “We’ve been able to partner with the town of Bethlehem on public works projects.”

When Voorheesville closed its court last year, Snyder said, the town court absorbed the cases, and the work involved for them.

“It’s a good way to partner,” she said. “It’s important to continue working on partnering with other communities. There are always opportunities.”

The Albany County rail trail that runs through New Scotland and ends in Voorheesville is an example of municipalities working together, and she wants to see it fully completed, she said.

“Planning is always an ongoing process,” she said.

Snyder attends most planning board meetings and town board meetings, she said.

“It’s a way to stay informed,” she said. “I like to be informed with what goes on with those meetings. We like to be able to make things happen for people, in a way that is orderly.”

 “We have a long road ahead of us,” she said of planning and development within the town.

The town board must “keep up to date and guide development in a way that suits everybody,” Snyder said. “The work we do as a town board — we work really well as a team. We don’t usually walk in lock-step with one another…but we come to a consensus, which is a testament to our leadership. Tom [Dolin] has been a good leader.”

Town planning energizes her, she said.

“I will stay involved with that, one way or another,” Snyder said.

Snyder also works with a committee in the public schools to help teens make healthy choices.

“My kids are a little older, so I have time to help other kids,” she said. “I try to be the community liaison, if you will, with school functions. I use my time to give back to the community.”