Voters in the Saratoga County Village of Ballston Spa will elect a mayor in Tuesday’s special election.
Last fall, former Ballston Spa Village Mayor Larry Woolbright abruptly announced his resignation.
Woolbright was the lone Republican on the village board and it surprised village trustees.
Elected on the promise to straighten out years of financial issues in the small community, Woolbright cited an “unproductive relationship” with the board. He told WAMC he worried that the village was being “sidetracked” by less urgent issues.
The former mayor, however, also expressed his “full confidence” in Deputy Mayor Christine Fitzpatrick, the now interim mayor seeking to fill the remaining year of Woolbright’s term.
Fitzpatrick says she’s “absolutely committed” to maintaining the village’s fiscal integrity, and says she has the temperament to lead a village with diverse opinions.
“I’ve led teams, I’ve been part of a team. I know that when you are, when you have strong personalities with opposing points of view, you have to allow for that, you have to work with it, you have to have patience for other people’s process, and I have that. And I think that will serve us all well as we go forward,” said Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick faces a challenge from Frank Rossi Jr., an attorney who comes from a family of local developers and is a member of the Milton Republican Committee.
Rossi touted his experience in development, the challenging water and infrastructure issues facing the village, and cited Woolbright’s criticisms of the village board’s priorities. Rossi also recently earned Woolbright’s endorsement.
“I can do this job. I can at least stop the agenda that’s taking us in the wrong direction for now, and give the ideas and give a voice back to the people. That’s the most important thing, when you’re in the minority – because there’s only two out of five positions that are up for grabs right now – you still can get the public’s voice out there enough that somebody might sway to make the minority a majority situation,” said Rossi.
Fitzpatrick, who joined the village board in 2019, said for many years the village was not operating proactively. From 1995 to 2019, the village was led by former Mayor John Romano, a Republican.
Fitzpatrick pointed to planning efforts now underway to revise the comprehensive plan, the development of a bicycle and pedestrian master plan, the search for a new location for public works facilities, and the need to address water and sewer issues.
“This is a board that can walk and chew gum at the same time. So we have a lot of things going on and we are focused on the big issues. Not just on a bicycle plan. But one of the things that that got us – and that was through a grant – is it allowed us to assess all of our sidewalks, which are very problematic, that’s part of infrastructure. And this is one of the many things that we’re looking at,” said Fitzpatrick.
Rossi pointed to outdated Public Works equipment, and needed upgrades at the fire and police stations that he says the village has been reluctant to address. He said the village needs to prioritize.
“If you can’t take care of your own buildings, then why do you expect your business owners and your homeowners to take care of their buildings, ultimately? So we did well financially but then we sort of fumbled what we needed to do next, and we’re in a situation where there’s going to have to be a lot of spending at a certain point here,” said Rossi. “How we accomplish it and who gets what when is going to be a big question. And then when you got the inflation situation that we’ve got in this country right now, it’s hitting this area, it’s going to affect things too. So it’s a balancing act, Lucas.”
Also on the ballot Tuesday are village trustee candidates Kamran Parwana, a Democrat, and Bernadette VanDeinse-Perez, a Republican.
Polls in the Village of Ballston Spa special election are open Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
