2017 Berne election: Kevin Crosier for supervisor

Kevin Crosier

BERNE — Kevin Crosier, a Democrat heading on an all-Democrat slate, is making his fifth run for town supervisor.

He said wants to help preserve the town’s rural character and boost its economy. Crosier also noted that he has experience with decreasing taxes over the past five years and promoting town services such as for seniors.

Crosier, 59, has lived in Berne his entire life, and served as a firefighter and paramedic for 23 years for the city of Albany, as well as a paramedic for the Albany County Sheriff’s Emergency Medical Services program in its beginning stages. He also is a life member of the East Berne Volunteer Fire Company and volunteered with Helderberg Ambulance.

Crosier said he became involved in town government after his wife informed him that a maple-syrup business he was operating out of a barn could be eligible for a historic-building tax rebate, and he learned that the town had not enacted this state program. He then went to the town board to ask to have this program put into place.

“From there, I just got into town government,” he said.

Crosier said that, should he be elected, he would like to continue working to to implement wireless internet in town. The county had announced in March that it would be offering wireless internet to the Hilltowns. Crosier said he was not sure what the timeline for setting up wireless internet would be in Berne, but that some towers were ready to be equipped with dishes that transmit signals.

Another goal is to make Berne an attractive community for people to visit, such as other rural counties like Columbia, Schoharie, and Washington.

Crosier said that sharing services between the town and Albany County would make things run more efficiently and save the town money, particularly if the town highway department consolidated with the county’s.

Sharing a maintenance facility would save less money than consolidation, but it could lead to the two departments working alongside each other and realizing the benefits of working together.

“You can go the long way around … ,” he said. “The next natural progression will be to consolidate the workforce, so I’m totally for that.”

Crosier noted that the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District, with its campus in Berne, also intends to share a facility, as its current bus garage does not have enough space. A shared space among the three town, the county, and the school district, would save the town even more money, he said.

Crosier said that he expects savings in consolidating the departments would come from areas such as fuel and insurance.

“That’s what the study will flesh out,” he said. He added that consolidation would also allow town employees to plow state and county roads as they made their way to town roads.

“Can you imagine how clean our roads will be?” he asked.

Crosier noted that, should consolidation take place, former town employees would remain in the town.

“There is no need for them to leave,” he said.

He added that the decision will ultimately be up to the voters.

Regarding the autonomy of the highway garage, Crosier said that the highway superintendent — Republican Randy Bashwinger, with whom Crosier has clashed — had submitted a letter to the town attorney, asking who had authority to conduct certain actions in the highway department.

“The legal opinion was clear — we had the authority to do it,” Crosier said.

Crosier said the biometric time clock had been installed before the Bashwinger was in office. The reason it had been installed was to prevent “buddy punching,” in which one employee writes on another’s time card that he or she clocked in, he said.

“That’s stealing,” said Crosier.

He added that security cameras at the highway garage had been requested by the highway superintendent, and that they are commonly installed in municipal buildings.

Crosier said that the highway department’s Facebook page is an “illegal page,” that it is not authorized by the town. He added that it uses vulgar language and is politicized.

“Anytime you use vulgar language with the town’s name, you tarnish the entire community,” he said. He noted that an audio recording of a town resident who had a dispute with the highway superintendent had been published on the page. He interprets posts by both Bashwinger and Sean Lyons, Crosier’s opponent, on their personal Facebook profiles as threats, such as Lyons suggesting that “T” for Tory be painted on Crosier’s home.

Of the solid-waste issues facing Berne, Crosier said, “It’s going to be a multi-pronged approach, for sure.”

He said that, of Berne’s household waste, about 20 percent is food scraps, and that the town should reduce what goes into the landfill by composting.

“Residents in Berne do a great job of recycling,” he added, another method of reducing the waste stream.

Crosier said it will be necessary to work with the county and state government to find a way to manage waste. One option, he said, is to develop a municipal or private partnership that will transfer the trash by rail from a tipping station at the Port of Albany to the Seneca Meadows Landfill at Seneca Falls in Seneca County. It’s cheaper to transport by rail than by tractor trailer, he said, and rail cars also allow more to be shipped.

Crosier said that the town had looked at the possibility of either a joint municipal or town-owned waste-to-energy plant, but that all of the Hilltowns combined do not produce enough waste to create energy for the town to use.

“And again, at the end of the day, our tipping fees would be the same,” Crosier said, although he added a waste-to-energy plant could still be an option to continue.

On insurance, Crosier said that, when the town was creating its policy in 2004, it  decided not to offer insurance to domestic-partner dependents.

“It was a budgetary decision by the town because, back then, we had a lot of guys who had girlfriends,” he said. “And we just knew that a domestic partner [insurance plan] would cost the town a lot of money.”

Crosier said that health insurance is one of the most expensive items for the town, which currently offers single, spouse, and family plans.

“And now you have the Marriage Equality Act, so it really is a moot point,” he added, referencing the 2011 state law that legalized same-sex marriage.

Crosier said that the state-mandated tax-levy limit is not a concern, because Berne’s budget has had tax cuts over the past five years.

“Obviously, we are nowhere near the tax cap,” he said.

He added that the state rebate in addition to lower taxes is an incentive to keep taxes below the cap, in order to benefit residents.

“I don’t believe we’ll ever need to go over the property tax cap,”Crosier said. “And I want to make sure that we don’t, because residents lose out on that extra money as well.”

Crosier said that he is always being proactive to encourage businesses and agriculture in Berne. He noted that the town currently has a restaurant, a hardware stores, a market, and other small businesses.

“We’re really doing well,” he said. “Our economy is really doing well.”

He noted that, with the town’s comprehensive plan completed, it is clear from residents’ feedback used to form the plan that large “big-box” stores are not welcome and cannot possibly move to Berne. Rather, the town should promote its small businesses.

The next step, following the town’s comprehensive plan, is to change Berne’s zoning. According to Crosier, small businesses are stifled by one business district, because property values increase and can make it difficult to buy or rent a venue. Rather, businesses out of homes or barns should be encouraged by the zoning.

“Promoting small, rural-type businesses is where we’re going,” he said.

The zoning has been and should be determined by public input, said Crosier. The historic district, for example, does not allow for uses compatible for the more densely populated hamlet.

Crosier said his goal is to find funding, such as grants, to create an “I Love Berne” campaign akin to the state’s “I Love New York” campaign,” which promotes its local businesses.

“We need to make Berne a place to come,” he said.

The town’s natural resources are something to draw people to the town, said Crosier. He noted that Berne has state forests; a boat launch; the town-owned preserve, Switzkill Farm; and farmland growing crops like hops, leading to a microbrewery being set up in town.

Crosier concluded that he has been honored to serve as supervisor for the last 15 years, and that he is committed to such goals as preserving rural character, improving town services, and decreasing taxes.

 

More Hilltowns News

  • As Berne-Knox-Westerlo Superintendent Timothy Mundell laid out the district’s progress toward its next budget while the district waits on lawmakers to finalize a state budget, conversation centered around one of the few things the district can control at this point — whether or not to go ahead with its annual bus purchase.

  • On Wednesday, March 27, the state’s Department of Public Service will hold two public hearings — in addition to an ongoing survey — on broadband that will be an important opportunity for state residents to correct previous maps and analyses that determine broadband availability. 

  • A driver crashed into a Rensselaerville home early Sunday morning, causing it to go up in flames. The driver and an off-duty paramedic who assisted in the rescue both suffered only minor injuries while the occupants of the home were uninjured. 

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.