Incumbent Albert Thiem was first appointed to the Berne Town Board in 2022 to fill a vacancy, while Joseph Martin is making his first run during a stint as planning board chairman. Both are uncontested, as is justice candidate Jeffrey Harvey.

Incumbent Westerlo Clerk Karla Weaver is seeking re-election on the Democratic, Republican, and Conservative party lines, as is incumbent highway superintendent Jody Ostrander. Ostrander’s son, Joshua Ostrander, is running for town justice on the same lines. All three are uncontested.

The Rensselaerville Water and Sewer Advisory Committee’s request for proposals is seeking a firm that will evaluate the town’s water system and conduct a preliminary engineering report, which will allow the town to apply for much-needed federal grant money.

Three town board seats are open in Westerlo, including the supervisor’s, resulting in the most contested Hilltown race this year. Seven candidates are running for the seats, and spoke with The Enterprise this week about their views. 

Rensselaerville had not had a contested town board election since 2017, until this year, when Democrats endorsed sociologist Patricia Byrnes against the Republican Party’s Randall Bates, who has previously served on the town board as well as highway superintendent. Both parties endorsed incumbent Brian Wood. 

The proposal from Guilderland to essentially take over Knox’s Section 8 housing slots — many of which are unfilled — failed to get enough support among the Knox Town Board to even make it to a vote.

Several residents at Altamont’s Oct. 3 public hearing for its proposed chicken law were in favor of allowing chickens in the village, advising the board on specific changes they thought would be beneficial. Mayor Kerry Dineen said that the public hearing would remain open, in part because the board learned that a legal notice was not printed in the paper. 

Heavy flooding this weekend washed out a portion of County Route 353 near the Rensselaerville hamlet, damaging a pipe there and causing the county to close the road for repairs, which are expected to be carried out this week, Albany County spokeswoman Mary Rozak told The Enterprise on Monday.  

The dire state of the restaurant industry, with costs and the availability of quality labor going in opposite directions, have led the Voorheesville restaurateur to the difficult decision to close Gracie’s Kitchen. But news of the closure have turned the final days of the eatery into a celebration of the service it brought to the community. 

A jury delivered a guilty verdict Thursday morning in the case of Jacob Klein, who murdered his ex-girlfriend’s husband at the couple’s home in New Scotland last spring. He had been charged with second-degree murder.