Candidates for Malta supervisor and Town Board laid their cards on the table at a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters, The Spotlight and the Chamber of Southern Saratoga on Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the Hyatt Place in Malta.
Current Supervisor Paul Sausville (R) and his opponent Cynthia Young (D) sparred over audience-submitted questions and the four Town Board hopefuls (newcomers Ryan Gregoire and Carol Henry and incumbents Peter Klotz and Tara Thomas) battling for two available seats also fielded audience questions.
Opening statements gave the audience a feel for what each candidate stood for.
In Sausville’s case, the candidate said he represented multiple things.
“I feel like a cat with a whole number of nine lives,” said Sausville. “I’ve lived here well over 30 years, raised a family here, that’s one of the lives that I have. The other life is the life I have spent in the classroom. …I’m a professional engineer.”
Sausville listed some of his accomplishment during his tenure of supervisor, which included having no town tax, bringing GlobalFoundries to town and zoning the area to accommodate it.
Young is a 45-year Malta resident and said it is time for a fresh approach to the town’s growth.
“We are no longer the small Town of Malta. We need leadership that has a realistic vision of the future,” said Young. “Commercial development helps ease the burden of taxes on homeowners and will increase our share of sales tax from the county. We can’t continue to take money from our fund balance year after year.”
Gregoire is running on the Democratic line and said while he might be young (he’s 21), that’s what makes him an attractive “alternative” choice for Town Board.
“I saw this as a chance to continue to make Malta a great place to live, work and play,” said Gregoire, who listed responsible economic growth and government transparency as critical issues. “I hope everyone will make their decision not based on political party identification but rather who’s best fit for the job.”
Henry is running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines and said she’s already had an active voice in the town.
“I’ve served on numerous town committees and regularly attend Town Board meetings. I fought to have town meetings more accessible,” said Henry.
Klotz and Thomas, both running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines, said they’ve been dedicated board members.
“[I] am an outspoken advocate for Malta’s hardworking taxpayer. I made it a top priority to make Malta government accessible to the community with a future designed by all of us,” said Thomas. “I’ve been to 484 meetings in less than four years. That measures my commitment to the town.”
The night started off with light questions, with supervisor candidates asked to explain their management style and plan.
Young said leaving a bulk of the work to “professional” department heads is key.
“We have hired good, quality department heads, professionals, and I think as supervisor we need to let those professionals do their jobs,” said Young. “I see a part of this Town Board quite often micromanaging what the professionals recommend or do and I think that’s part of it; when you’re managing, it’s not managing a lot of individuals.”
Sausville disagreed with Young’s approach to leadership.
“You’re ultimately responsible, along with the Town Board and other department heads, in leading. If you simply leave it up to department heads to provide leadership I think you haven’t done your full job,” said Sausville.
But soon, a question looming on the minds of several audience members about the “vision” for Malta over the next five to 10 years came up.
Sausville, who spent six years as a councilman before clocking the last five as supervisor, said concerns over excessive population growth within the town shouldn’t prevail.
“We have brought GlobalFoundries to our town and it will be a substantial change for us. Bear in mind, only 2,000 people will be employed here and that will be shared throughout the Capital District area,” said Sausville. “In terms of population growth, you have to look at things regionally.”
Young said it’s “tough to decide what the future will bring” but was hopeful for growth within the town.
“I think we will see some population growth. Malta is a fabulous place to live. We are building homes, there’s new approved housing developments,” said Young. “Hopefully we’ll see some growth because I think it’s good for all of us.”
For Klotz, population growth via ancillary businesses that will pop up around town to support GlobalFoundries and the fluctuating economy hold more weight.
“As gas prices continue to rise, people will want to live closer to work,” said Klotz. “Housing in Malta will be needed and will continue to be a market for housing.”
Another hot topic was the proposed downtown district. Many audience members were curious to know candidates’ stances on a moratorium on building height and efforts to prevent sprawl.
Henry, a Malta resident for 20 years, said a big reason she’s running for Town Council is because she’s “concerned about the direction and current vision” on the board, including plans for a downtown center.
“I don’t necessarily support the moratorium the town has imposed. The town has developed a new downtown standard which reduces the height and condenses the downtown from the previous plan,” said Henry.
Klotz pointed out the moratorium was only a partial moratorium and was enacted by a committee specifically formed to tweak the downtown plan.
“The only thing this does is reduce building heights by 9 feet, so the maximum is only 45 instead of 54 in that part of town,” said Klotz.
Thomas said the efforts of the downtown planning committee were an example of how she’s been “successful in bringing people together” to work toward a common goal.
Sausville has been pushing for a downtown center with a “small town, hamlet” feel and said creating a high-density core in town would promote urban sprawl.
“We have compact urban cores throughout Saratoga County—Mechanicville, Ballston Spa, Saratoga Springs—to recreate that in Malta is absolutely ridiculous,” said Sausville, who said he conducted a survey that found 76 percent of people wanted a hamlet-like downtown.
Sausville cited safety and financial concerns as driving forces behind his vision.
“To have urban sprawl creates safety problems on Route 9. There are financial impacts associated with the cost of government; have you ever seen a city that didn’t have a tax?” said Sausville.
Young disagreed with Sausville’s claims that a high density commercial downtown would turn Malta into “another Schenectady or Troy” and also took issue with the moratorium.
“We’re trying to make Malta a special place and I think it can be a special place,” said Young. “The thing I don’t like about the moratorium is it creates confusion among developers.”
A commercial district encompassing downtown Malta would benefit the town from a fiscal and cultural standpoint, said Gregoire.
“It would help us on our school taxes. Commercial development allows commercial properties to pay into that system,” said Gregoire. “It will create a walkable community that everyone can enjoy. My parents moved here because they liked the rural character of this town. … Shorter building heights, larger setbacks, that creates the ability for stripmalls to be created in Malta.”
Henry used a red card to buy extra time and add to Gregoire’s notion of building a new Malta still entrenched in its past.
“We’re not building for the current residents, we’re building for the 21st Century, future generations that have different wants and needs than those who grew up in the Baby Boomer era or World War II,” said Henry. “What that kind of community wants is walkable; they’re not just looking for work, they’re looking for living.”
As the downtown plan continues to move forward and development projects are completed, potential opportunities for art, recreation and cultural events in town arise. Candidates were challenged to spell out how they would promote those community activities.
Klotz said a walkable downtown would make festivals and other street displays or gatherings possible.
“I’d like to see businesses and community groups sponsor and support those kinds of programs,” said Klotz.
Thomas is a founding member of the nonprofit group Malta League of Arts, Inc. and said she’s made significant progress in bringing more arts and culture to the town.
“It’s important we have an arts and cultural presence here in town. …I felt the time was right, with all the growth here in Malta, that we have an arts presence here,” said Thomas. “We need to do more in terms of funding. I believe local government can do more as far as providing arts projects as part of site plan review.”
Sausville commended Thomas’ efforts and also highlighted the town’s consistent funding of a theater group.
“I encourage everybody here in the room to follow those [performances] and take advantage of them,” said Sausville.
The community center is another commonly overlooked resource for art, said Sausville.
“The community center is another resource that has been financed by your town and contains a number of opportunities for all kinds of classes and other forms of entertainment,” said Sausville.
As a substitute teacher in the Ballston Spa Central School District, Gregoire said he’s seen firsthand the benefits of art in Malta’s youth.
“I have kids coming up to me showing me all their art projects and that’s just one avenue we can explore to incorporate different members of our community,” said Gregoire.
With the village of Round Lake a close neighbor of Malta, citizens implored candidates to discuss how they could work with the village to share services or operate government more efficiently.
The town already works closely with the village on a number of efforts like sharing fire services and collaborating on recreation opportunities.
“An opportunity presented itself to make renovations to those baseball fields and we worked with the village to move that forward,” said Thomas. “We’ve been working with key town, state and local officials on the Round Lake Preserve Project. …I’m proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish with village trustees.”
Young brought up a sentiment she said exists in Round Lake, which is that the town wants to strip the village of its self-sufficiency, and said a careful approach to working together was necessary.
“I know there are some in the village that feel the big bad town will try to take over some of the village’s autonomy and I think it’s important we make sure that we don’t do that,” said Young. “If we can combine services certainly we’re all better off but there’s a little bit of paranoia so I think the first step is to make sure the town and the village have a solid relationship and relationships based on trust and understanding.”
Henry, who cited good communication as a major part of efficient government, said she could attest to some of the paranoia Young mentioned.
“The village is very proud of their village and likes their autonomy. I think we’ve come a long way in breaking down that paranoia but it comes down to communication and keeping those lines of communication possible,” said Henry.
One way to ensure communication is open would be to hold more joint meetings with the village, said Gregoire.
“One way to provide better services to both residents of Round Lake and Malta is to hold more joint meetings between our two communities to make one strong community,” said Gregoire.
The League’s next candidate forum highlights Saratoga Springs mayoral and City Council candidates on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in the Saratoga Springs High School Auditorium. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8.