The superintendent of highways in the Town of Bethlehem will remain an elected position after residents voted against a new local law that would have abolished the office.
The final count for the referendum on the local law was 3,086 votes against to 1,969 votes for the abolishment of the office of highway superintendent as as elected position. The vote took place on Tuesday, April 30, the same day former Highway Superintendent Gregg Sagendorph chose to retire.
“The voters have spoken and while I’m disappointed that local law number one wasn’t affirmed, we have an agenda to fulfill given the verdict,” said Town Supervisor John Clarkson.
The supervisor said the next step is to spend the remainder of this year working with the highway department to “ensure the shared service savings already achieved with the cooperation of Gregg Sagendorph are preserved.” The town will also be preparing the department for the arrival of a new highway superintendent in January. Voters will select one in November.
Commissioner of Public Works Erik Deyoe has been selected to fill the position on an interim basis. Deyoe has also been working for several months with Sagendorph to learn highway procedures and make sure the transition is smooth.
The proposal to abolish the highway superintendent position was first put forward by Clarkson during this year’s State of the Town address, shortly after Sagendorph announced plans to retire after holding the position for 22 years. If the referendum had passed, a civil servant would then have been hired to help manage the highway department under the public works umbrella.
Citizen advisory committees have studied the idea since 2006 under the administration of former Town Supervisor Terry Egan. The town’s Governance Committee found 59 other towns in New York, mostly larger suburbs, no longer elect their highway superintendents. Estimates were the town could conservatively save between $180,000 to $375,000 annually through the consolidation of departments.
Clarkson was in favor of making the change since it was first proposed, and was the driving force behind a the “Modernize and Economize” campaign to drive voter participation. The supervisor said he was glad the issue was finally put to a vote and the town’s residents were able to make a decision after so many years of talk.
“I Think the Town Board and I did the right thing by bringing it to the voters and I regret nothing,” he said. “It can be hard to convince people to make fundamental changes in government, no doubt. But a lot of people did support that change. We’ll see what we can do without it and move forward.”
In response to the referendum, a group called Keep the Vote Bethlehem emerged with the goal of urging voter to not give up their ability to choose who would fill the highway position.
Keep the Vote Bethlehem was formed by Bethlehem Republican Committee Chairman Fred DiMaggio, Republican committee member Mike Kelly Sr. and Democrat town resident Dan Cunningham, after the Town Board set a public hearing on the topic in February. Cunningham said the group was a non-partisan coalition that was formed because they felt the reasons for the change were “questionable.”
The group purchased lawn signs and leaflets after fundraising at meetings. There was also a Keep the Vote Bethlehem website and Facebook page. The group was supported by all four of the county’s political committee chairpersons. Some committee members have also given funds to the cause.
DiMaggio said he was very happy with the large turnout and especially thanked the people of South Bethlehem for driving to Town Hall to vote.
“No question that when you take away people’s right to vote there are strong feelings about that, and this is something that will be brought to bear as we move forward,” he said. “We’re pleased with the victory tonight because it demonstrates the peoples desire to have a choice. This was an important issue that transcended party lines.”
Members of Keep the Vote Bethlehem, along with some other in the town, were unhappy the decision was made to only use one polling place because of the possibility of disenfranchising voters. They also did not agree with how soon the vote took place and felt it should have been held in November during the general election.
Preparations for the referendum were often complicated due to state law and fueled the decision to have a single polling place.
In order for the town to offer absentee ballots for the vote, each polling place had to establish their own Board of Registration and Board of Inspectors. This was so those who are not already registered to vote with the Albany County Board of Elections may vote in this special election.
Clarkson said for multiple polling places to be used, mailers would have needed to be sent out notifying each resident of where they would be voting in the special election, since the location might not be the same as where one would typically vote. Those needing to register would need to do so at that polling location during designated times and those times would have to be published in two newspapers.
Given the outcome, DiMaggio said the Republican Committee plans to put forth a strong candidate to run for the position of highway superintendent in November.
Clarkson said he hopes that’s the case.
“My hope is that the political parties will put forth quality and experienced managers as candidates and that we will have a vigorous competition,” he said.