After Bethlehem residents voted down a referendum that would have abolished the office of highway superintendent, four candidates have come forward with hopes of filling the position next year. The position has been vacant since former Super-intendent of High-ways Gregg Sagendorph announced he would be retiring in April. The Bethlehem Town Board appointed Public Works Commissioner Erik Deyoe to act as interim highway superintendent until January. Both the Bethlehem Democratic Committee and the Albany County Independence Party have endorsed Democrat and City of Albany Director of Recycling Frank Zeoli. Resident Brent Meredith, an engineer, intends to primary Zeoli on the Democratic line. “I’ve got a few years of proven leadership and hands-on experience,” Zeoli said. “There’s a lot of things the Highway Department does now that I’ve had experience doing while I worked with the Department of General Services. I can bring these things to the table and hit the ground running.” Zeoli has worked for the City of Albany for the past 15 years in a number of positions. The last four years, he has been the city’s director of recycling. Zeoli said he has kept up-to-date on trends in paving, stormwater management and solid waste management. He also would to implement some ideas at the compost facility that would allow it to make a profit and become more sustainable, he said. “Good service and safety is my mantra,” he said.
Zeoli said he would want to make sure paving stays on a routine schedule and pledged to work closely with Deyoe in an attempt to share employees and equipment. “I heard some equipment is sitting there unused, so that is something I would like to evaluate,” he said. Meredith has a degree in engineering from Clarkson University. He was a civil and environmental engineer with the federal government for 13 years before moving to Delmar in 2000. Since that time, he has been a stay-at-home dad. “I wanted to do something to help the community I lived in and the superintendent of highways remains an important job, no matter what your views on how the vote should have gone,” he said. “I have the experience and the background needed.” Meredith said he has yet to speak with anyone within the department about what they would like to see changed, but would like to try achieve some of the same efficiencies that were talked about by Town Board members when there was talk of consolidation with the DPW. So far, he is paying for his campaign himself and petitions are being circulated on his behalf through the work of family and friends. “I think my experience and work with the Navy makes me the most qualified guy in the Democratic race,” he said. “People care about this and I don’t think we can rely on someone the party picks who may or may not be qualified.” Meredith interviewed for the endorsement of the Democrats, but was neither nominated nor selected. Meanwhile, Bethlehem Republicans and county Conservatives have endorsed the town’s Coordinator of the Development Planning Committee Terry Ritz. Howard Hyer, a manager within the town’s Highway Department, said he plans to primary Ritz on the Republican line. Ritz, a member of the Independence Party, has worked with the engineering division of the town for the past 27 years and was the previous executive director of the Bethlehem Industrial Development Agency. He has been attending highway superintendent training and finished up with classes in October, he said. For the past four years, he has also been working with highway employees to see where he could improve the department. “Most of my goals came from current highway staff, and I’m already a familiar face,” he said. Ritz said he would also like to evaluate the department’s equipment to see what could be consolidated with other departments. He would also like to eliminate a policy that stipulates when employees have to take their mandatory two-week vacation. “There’s almost a month when the department is at half staff because of the policy,” he said. “It causes paving to be off schedule and pushes back leaf pickup. It’s also inconvenient for employees because their scheduled time off might not coincide with when their family and children have off.” Hyer is also a familiar face with highway employees. He has been working with the town’s Highway Department for 21 years and has been a foreman for 10. He is now the director of administrative services and fleet management. Hyer said he already works closely with the supervisor and Deyoe, and would also want to create efficiencies between the two departments. “I’ve worked with the town on consolidation from the beginning,” he said. “I integrated management between the office staff for highway and DPW and I think it’s a good goal if it can be done where it works and where it fits.” Hyer said he’s looking to make the department more environmentally friendly by cutting back on the use of road salt. He’s also interested in looking into bringing some new technology into the department, such as using liquid de-icers. “I feel like I’m the most experienced,” he said. “I believe I have the support of the employees and the former superintendent. He worked with the Town Board for years and I feel I would follow in that mold as well.” Candidates will be collecting petition signatures into July. This year’s primary falls on Sept. 10.