Pecylak beats Brush for Westerlo highway super

WESTERLO — By a wide margin, Westerlo voters affirmed Westerlo Acting Highway Superintendent Dave Pecylak as their pick to run the town’s highway department, according to the Albany County Board of Elections’s unofficial results. 

Pecylak, who has been with the town for eight years before he stepped up to acting highway superintendent after Jody Ostrander retired, was challenged by James Brush, whose background was in the private sector. Both men brought decades of highway experience to their campaigns. 

Pecylak received 1,098 to Brush’s 706, making for a 61-39 split. 

Pecylak told The Enterprise last month in a candidate interview that he doesn’t plan to make any major overhauls to the department, opting instead to improve operations on the margins and focusing on replacing aging equipment and cleaning up the garage. 

“There’s a lot of stuff sitting around and I just wanted to clean it up, get rid of stuff,” he said. “We get a lot of parts and stuff that we don’t have the trucks for anymore.” 

More Hilltowns News

  • Republican Assemblyman Chris Tague’s re-election grants him another two years in an office he’s held since 2018. A dairy farmer with experience in local government and the private sector, Tague has promised to continue promoting rural causes in the state legislature.

  • In the final week of budget season, residents will have a clearer idea of what to expect now that towns have either adopted their 2025 budget or are awaiting a final vote. 

  • Following a meeting he had with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, Berne Supervisor Dennis Palow told The Enterprise that the county will provide the same level of EMS as it had in years prior, but neither he nor the sheriff could be reached for more information on how the service will be funded. 

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.