Power shifts to Dems


RENSSELAERVILLE - "We lost," said Republican Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg early Wednesday morning, after the polls had closed.

The GOP had held a majority on the five-member town board, but, starting Jan. 1, the Democrats will dominate with three board members. The Democrats are already planning changes. A Republican incumbent was ousted, receiving the least votes.

Unofficial results show Democrat Marie Dermody, in her first run for office, was the top vote-getter with 469 votes in the four-way race for two town board seats.
During her campaign, Dermody, a retired school teacher and member of the town's board of assessment review, criticized the current administration. She began coming to town board meetings regularly after the assessment board's stipend was "unilaterally and arbitrarily" removed from the budget "without any negotiation," she said. Dermody said she saw "the way townspeople are treated and dismissed" and, she said, "They deserve more respect than that."
Nickelsberg, who has been at odds with Dermody since the funds for the assessment board's stipend were eliminated a year ago, said he is "cautiously optimistic" about serving on the town board with Dermody.
Three weeks ago, Nickelsberg said, he and Dermody shook hands and "both professed to be town-first."
"She was a very strong candidate to run with me," said Dermody's running mate, Democratic incumbent Gary Chase, a corrections officer, who got 433 votes in his run for a third term.
"We went out in the community, and the community decided to take the town back," Chase said.

Republican newcomer Allyn Wright, a private consulting forester, garnered 388 votes, and Republican incumbent Myra Dorman, a professor, came in last with 348 votes.

Absentee ballots have not yet been counted. The Albany County Board of Elections issued 69 absentee ballots to Rensselaerville voters. This means there's a slight chance Chase could be bested by Wright, but Dermody's seat is secure. The ballots will be counted at the board of elections office on Russell Road in Albany on Thursday, Nov. 15, starting at 9 a.m.
Nickelsberg said a victory for Wright, whom the supervisor called "as fine of an individual as I've ever met," is unlikely.

The supervisor is serving a four-year term, so was not up for re-election. The two GOP board members have consistently voted with him since he was sworn in nearly two years ago. Nickelsberg and the Democratic highway superintendent, G. Jon Chase, the father of Councilman Chase, have disagreed over a number of issues, including the town's procurement policy and the way roads are maintained.

Tuesday night, at the Democratic headquarters, Councilman Chase and Councilwoman Sherri Pine, who was elected two years ago, talked about the board's dynamics and communication.

The first thing the Democratic majority is going to do is have the highway superintendent sit with the town board at meetings to answer the residents' questions, said Councilman Chase.

G. Jon Chase once sat next to his son on the dais, said Councilman Chase; the highway superintendent has not attended a regular town board meeting since January, although Nickelsberg had requested it in the past.

The Democrats, Chase said, are also going to put a procurement policy in place that is going to work for all of the town's departments.
"We're going to get some unity back in the community," said Chase. "Our goal is to keep taxes low. We all want to live here and our kids to live here. We've got to keep the community together. I think the vote shows that."

Chase and Pine said that, at town board meetings, they do not know beforehand what is going to be discussed.
"We don't know what's going on at board meetings until we get there," said Chase. "That's going to change."
Councilwoman Pine said, "I see more unity because we'll talk openly."
Another hot-button issue has been nepotism. Nickelsberg would not appoint G. Jon Chase's wife as the superintendent's clerk, a function she had served in the past. Councilman Chase said in his campaign, "I have no problem with nepotism. It's what the town was founded on." Dermody said during her campaign that a town policy should be established rather than the supervisor "arbitrarily" applying "a personal policy."
"Maybe the town doesn't care about nepotism," said Nickelsberg yesterday, "but I don't know that."
Asked what issues played a part in the election's outcome, Nickelsberg said, "We did not come up with one deciding factor"If there was, I just don't know it."

In the assessor's race, Democratic incumbent Jeff Pine, making his third run for the post, defeated Stephen Wood, who waged a write-in campaign. Wood, a Conservative, was bested by Pine in the Conservative Party primary. According to unofficial results, Pine received 517 votes and Wood garnered 126.

Victor La Plante, who has been a town judge for 20 years, was endorsed by all parties and received 761 votes.