To the Editor:

With Albany County voters having rejected a proposed new county charter in November, we have an opportunity to consider additional changes.

It is vital that people who hold elective positions be elected to them.  With the existing charter, if vacancies occur in the posts for county executive, comptroller, or sheriff, the legislature appoints a successor.  

A better alternative would be that, when the county executive, comptroller, and sheriff are elected, voters also elect a deputy to each of these positions who would immediately take over when a vacancy occurs.  This would be similar to having a lieutenant governor or vice president.  The candidates could run as a team or separately and the legislature could assign specific job duties to the deputies. 

Among the advantages of this approach are that a struggle for succession (power) would be averted, the deputy would likely be qualified, nepotism and family connections would not be a factor in the replacement process, and the successor would be a person who was elected to hold the job.

A final advantage is that, if a vacancy were to occur early in the term, a successor would not be able to serve three or more years in a job that he or she was not elected to.

Tom Ellis

Albany