GUILDERLAND — Two years after their first race for Guilderland Town Supervisor ended with Barber edging past him, Republican Brian Forte is running for the same post, this time with Barber as the incumbent.

Forte served on the town board for the three years before his run for supervisor, from 2012 to 2015.

He was a Guilderland Police officer for almost 25 years, with some of that time as director of community service, a school resource officer, and a fire investigator. He started the Explorer Post, he said, working with young people interested in law-enforcement careers.

Forte has also been a volunteer firefighter for 34 years, and is still active. He was Guilderland Fire Chief for three years, a fire commissioner for 10 years, and chairman of the board of fire commissioners, an elected post, for three years.

Forte grew up in Princeton, but his backyard was in the town of Guilderland, he said, “So I’ve been in Guilderland my whole life.” His family moved to Carman Road when he was 18, and he has spent his entire adult life in the town.

About his ties to Guilderland, Forte said that Johnston Road was named for his great-grandfather, James Johnston, who he understands was a judge in the town for 35 years.

About property revaluation, Forte said, “First of all, the evaluation of those properties by using commercial against residential is an issue. My understanding is that the town itself could have filed a motion to get that changed, which wasn’t done in a timely manner.”

Assessor Karen VanWagenen responded, “There’s nothing about that that’s true.” The state sets the equalization rate, she said, which it does by taking the town’s commercial and residential rates, putting them together, and coming up with an equalization rate. The state decides the residential rate, she said, by analyzing home sales and comparing them to assessments; there is no motion that the town could have filed. There is an appeal process, and it filed an appeal.

“We’ve been lax for a long time in evaluation and reassessment,” Forte said. “So the town has to take some responsibility for what’s going on.”

When he was a councilman, Forte said, the board passed a property ordinance “where the town can mandate up to $5,000 in bond levy to take care of all those blighted properties — clean them up to make sure that they’re not a hazard, maintain them, make sure they’re safe.”

Forte said that the law, which was already in place in Massachusetts, was brought to the board’s attention by resident and retired real-estate appraiser John Haluska.

Haluska has acted for years as a watchdog on this issue, urging the town to act on zombie properties.

Forte said that, to the best of his knowledge, the town hasn’t taken any action to enforce that ordinance.

“There is something in place; it’s just that the town’s not acting on it at all,” he said.

In fact, the law he is referring to, Local Law 2 of 2015, was amended in 2017 to include guidelines for determining if a building is abandoned and steps the town can take to try to address the issue.

Haluska said this week, ‘They’re working hard; the places at least are getting cleaned up. I’m pleased that they got the law; they did some revisions on it. You can only do so much with these properties, based on the laws of the state and the U.S. Constitution, for that matter. We’re making progress.”

About sidewalks, Forte said that blacktopping could be a possible option in some areas. He said that he thought concrete sidewalks are probably safer and meet standards. He suggested that any sidewalks on major thoroughfares should be traditional sidewalks, and that perhaps paving could be used in other areas.

“My questions would be how to maintain them, and how that’s going to be funded,” he said.

Forte called the current status of sidewalks in Guilderland “haphazard” and said, “There are sidewalks that go nowhere.” Sidewalks should have a master plan, he said, adding that this is “part of the comprehensive plan that really hasn’t been reviewed in quite some time.”

Forte does not think Guilderland needs to declare itself a sanctuary town.

Having been a police officer for 25 years, he said, “I know we’re fair and follow the law as it stands.”

As for hospitals, he said, there aren’t any in Guilderland. He does not think anyone would fear using the town’s emergency medical services if they needed it.

Forte is not sure if a sanctuary designation is warranted because “we have a great town and fair police department, and I don’t see where anybody would fear using any of our town services.”

He said that he would need to do more research on the town of Bethlehem composting system, but that it sounded like a viable option. “Anything we can do to reduce the harm we’re doing to our Earth is all good,” he said.

Forte, who is 53, is divorced and has three grown children. He currently works at part-time jobs at not-for-profit organizations, he said, including as the executive director of the State of New York Police Juvenile Officers Association.

In 2014, while he was a town board member, Forte was arrested in the town of Webb in Herkimer County and charged with driving a snowmobile while intoxicated. The town’s court clerk, Amber Lafountain, said this week that Forte pleaded guilty to snowmobile driving while ability impaired and paid a fine of $350 and surcharge of $15.

Asked about his arrest and plea, Forte said this week that it was a “one-time event.” He said he had “gone up there with some friends, made a mistake, and answered for my mistake.” It hasn’t happened since, and it won’t happen again, he said.

“We learn from our mistakes and move on, and that’s what I’ve done,” he said.