Election Results Do Not Calm Grafton

by Alex Brooks
A last minute write-in campaign by Ingrid Gundrum turned the election for Supervisor into a competitive race. She circulated a letter announcing her candidacy and urging voters to write her name in. [private]There were 301 write-in votes, which is over 41% of the votes cast for Supervisor. But incumbent Supervisor Frank Higgins received 427 votes, or 58.6% of the votes cast, to win the election for the unexpired term of Ray Darling, which runs through the end of 2015.
Incumbent Republican Town Council Candidates Mike Crandall and Marie Claus were the top vote-getters for the two council seats up for election, with 423 and 407 votes, respectively. Democrat Eric Buckley received 359 votes, and Democrat Stacy Reinhard 353.
Republican candidate for Town Justice Ed Bly defeated Democratic candidate John Pagano 396 to 319, even though Bly had said publicly before the election that he would be unable to accept the position since he is now Chief of Rensselaer County Correctional Facilities, a job he started at the end of September. Supervisor Higgins said he is not sure yet how the Town will handle this, but he thinks the Town Board will make an appointment to fill the position.
Meeting Aborted
The election does not seem to have settled the turmoil in Grafton government. A budget workshop scheduled for Wednesday, November 6, the day after the election, became a confrontation between two factions on the Board after notice of the meeting did not appear in this newspaper, the official paper of the Town. Supervisor Higgins and Councilwoman Barbara Messenger were seated at the Council table while Councilpersons Rick Ungaro, Claus and Crandall were out in the audience. Councilman Ungaro said they should not hold the meeting because it was not properly noticed and was handing out documents to support his point.
Supervisor Higgins said, “Works for me,” and walked out of the room.
Councilman Mike Crandall then pulled out his calendar and started trying to reschedule the meeting, with some difficulty because people were upset and some were walking in and out of the room. They finally settled on Tuesday, November 12, at 6 pm, but because the Town Court is held in the Town Hall that night, the meeting will be at the VFW/Fire Hall on South Road.
Town Clerk Sue Putnam said she had posted notice of the meeting in the Town Hall, and it would have been fine to go ahead with the meeting. The room was more than half full, with perhaps two dozen residents who came to attend the meeting, so the word had gotten out somehow.[/private]