WESTERLO — Westerlo celebrated its bicentennial in 2015 and made some history as well. A full slate of Republicans challenged the Democratic incumbents on the town board and one of the GOP newcomers won a seat.

Richard Rapp, the long-time supervisor, led the bicentennial parade, sharing the honor with the mayor of Westerlo’s sister city in Belgium with the same name.

The New York town was founded in 1815, named after an Albany minister, Elardus Westerlo, who had never been to the Helderbergs. Westerlo was largely agrarian when it was founded. “There were some sawmills and gristmills,” said Dennis Fancher, Westerlo’s historian. “There was a potash plant for soap and lye. That’s where all the trees went; the forests were leveled. There was also a tannery.”

Just before the Civil War, Westerlo — with a three-story hotel, four stores, three blacksmiths, two wheelwrights, an undertaker, a shoe shop, a paint shop, and a millinery and dressmaking shop — reached its peak population, after which the westward migration began.

Mary-Jane Araldi headed the committee that planned the three-day festival. Her parents were instrumental in making the Belgian connection after a trio of young men showed up at Town Hall three decades ago, saying they were from Westerlo in Belgium and wanting to see the town of the same name in America. Her father, the superintendent of highways, invited them to dinner, and the rest is history.

The town of Westerlo Heritage Museum — a 20-year effort — opened in the midst of the celebration. The Percy House, reputed to be the town’s oldest, was remodeled and now houses collections included old post office slots, an original uniform from the town’s coronet band, quilts, and a dress from the early 1900s.

Comprehensive plan

In the year of its bicentennial, Westerlo also looked ahead to shape its future.  In January, Westerlo became the last town in Albany County to adopt a written comprehensive plan, which, based on public comments, gives a broad outline of the town and its future. The plan’s main conclusion was that residents want to preserve the rural and agricultural uses of the land.

In April, the town board received a 232-page report from a zoning review committee that detailed the risks and history of drilling for natural gas. The committee recommended creating an economic development committee and passing an amendment to the town’s zoning code that would clamp down on impacts of high-volume hydraulic fracturing not specifically covered by the state’s ban.

The report stated that the statewide ban didn’t protect Westerlo from the risks of waste management, compressor stations, pipelines, and storage facilities associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing.

The comprehensive plan focuses on natural resources n Westerlo and directs the town to be mindful of growth using zoning; to encourage more telecommunication infrastructure; and to maintain the “character and beauty of the rural landscape.”

Building project defeated

For years, the town’s highway garage, which Rapp said was built in the 1960s, has been deteriorating and the issue came to a head in 2015. Town Court is held in the same building, and the judges have said, if it rains when court is in session, they have to place buckets to catch the water leaking in.

In May, the town board announced it planned to borrow up to $2.8 million to build a new garage and upgrade the town hall, formerly a school. Frederick Grober of Delaware Engineering said that figure was based on a $100 cap the town board wanted on the annual cost to the average taxpayers.

Westerlo’s purchase of the former school was controversial and a public vote was overwhelming in favor; state grants were secured to cover the purchase price and some renovations.

In June, the town’s attorney, Aline Galgay, said the town board met to talk with engineers about the project without public notice and directed the town clerk to withhold documents related to the project — both in violation of state laws meant to ensure public access to government business.

Enough residents subsequently signed a petition to force a referendum on the project, which was soundly defeated at the polls. The board has since met to discuss what direction to take next although no consensus has been reached.

Elections

Discontent with the way the building project was handled helped to fuel the Republicans in their bid for town offices.

“This is the first time for all three of us,” said George Langdon, candidate for supervisor, of the Republicans seeking public office. “This is a bold undertaking; we’re outnumbered, 4 to 1.”

In the last town election, two years ago, the Republicans had no one running. Clinton “Jack” Milner was elected to fill out a term on the town board in 2009, but was defeated in his re-election bid in 2011.

That election, the last of the Republicans’ brief foray into backing alternative candidates, saw both council seats go to Democrats, as well as the uncontested posts for supervisor and town clerk.

In 2015, the two Democratic incumbent councilmen, Alfred Field and Anthony Sherman, faced Amie Burnside and Kevin Flensted. Burnside, like her running mates, a newcomer to politics, garnered the most votes with Sherman a very close second.

“I didn’t expect to be the top vote-getter,” said Burnside the day after the elections, “first of all because I’m Republican and second of all because I’m female.”

Burnside, 44, a systems configuration analyst for FedelisCare who has served on Westerlo’s zoning board for two years, said her biggest goal is to “be transparent” — a goal her running mates had also espoused.

“I hope I can get other board members to lay things out.” This, she said, will quell rumors and let residents understand what they’re government is doing.

For his part, Rapp, long retired from his post as the department of public works superintendent, said of his goals in the coming term, “We definitely need a highway garage...We’ll come back with another plan. It’s got to be done.”

Asked about other goals, he said, “To keep going the way we are. I think we’re doing fine. We handle things as they come up.”

Rapp got 55 percent of the vote and one-term councilman Sherman got 27 percent in the four-way race for two board seats. Republican Flensted got 25 percent of the vote, and Democratic incumbent Field got 21 percent, thereby losing his seat on the board.

Sherman, 35, works in the manufacturing facility at Hannay Hose Reels. He said, during the campaign, that, when he was called to a meeting with the engineers on the controversial proposed building project, “The moment I realized it wasn’t advertised, I refused to attend and consulted with the town attorney.” Field, on the other hand, had said there was nothing wrong with councilmen meeting at the garage to help the engineers get measurements.

Two incumbent Democrats were unopposed: town Clerk Kathleen Spinnato and Highway Superintendent Keith Wright. For town justice, incumbent Democrat Robert Carl bested Republican Richard Bontempo.

Services

After a congregate-meals site was closed in Westerlo and then re-established at another place in Berne, church members and concerned citizens in January started a luncheon program for the elderly in Westerlo. “People up here don’t seem to go out,” said Marion Cooper, in her eighties, as she enjoyed a meal at the Westerlo Reformed Church in January.

Westerlo ambulance squad volunteers felt pushed out with a proposed county plan that relied on three Hilltowns to agree to paid help from the sheriff’s office; the plan was meant to relieve local volunteers who are aging and fewer in number. When the Westerlo squad objected, the plan was scrapped for this budget year.

Another problem arose when the service contract with Westerlo’s volunteer fire company was approved months after schedule as the town board required a new format and more detailed information for its budget allocation.

For the past several years, Richard Stark had done the lion’s share of work along with a man who cut the grass, maintaining the Westerlo Rural Cemetery. Last spring, at the age of 70, Stark was concerned he may have to close the corporation of which he has been a member since 1975.

“I guess I’m the last one standing,” Stark said. “The rest of them died off and there aren’t any more volunteers at the moment. So I’ve come to the point where my age is starting to limit me.”

Three people in their 40s and 50s then stepped up to be trustees.

Crime

In May, during a rare jury trial in Westerlo, Karen Boas, 40, was found guilty of drugged driving. She maintained she had not crossed the double yellow line as the arresting officer, Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Philip Milano, claimed. Boas believes she was targeted by Milano. Milano, later in the year, was taken off patrol because of a complaint lodged against him.

Boas also said she refused a blood test because she passes out at the sight of blood and needles. She did submit to a breath test, which indicated here blood alcohol content was 0.

The morning before her arrest, Boas said, she took a fraction of her daily dosage of a depressant prescribed to treat her panic attacks.

After the verdict was read, outside of the court, Boas told The Enterprise she would have allowed her blood to be drawn if she had known about the inference of guilt.

In September, Benjamin Rauf, the grandson of a Westerlo dairy farmer, was accused of murdering a classmate from the Temple University law school in Pennsylvania.

Rauf, 25, of Westerlo was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, according to the New Castle County Police Department in Delaware.

Police said Rauf’s classmate was found dead in his car parked near his home with several gunshot wounds to his upper torso. “Investigators concluded the death was not a random act of violence as a substantial amount of marijuana was recovered from inside the vehicle...” police said.

Rauf’s grandmother, the wife of dairy farmer George Rauf of Medusa, said just after the arrest, “All I can do is say my prayers and hope we come out of this somehow.”