Republicans and Democrats from across Clinton County gathered at their respective watch parties Tuesday evening to await election results. While many races were uncontested, a few were competitive.
Clinton County Republicans gathered at the American Legion in Morrisonville to await results.
Five of the 10 seats on the county legislature were up for election this year. Four were unopposed. In the contested Area 5 race Republican Kevin Randall beat Democrat Rick Hazen 56 to 42 percent.
Randall said he had a lot of support in the race in part because he has spent the last four years serving as supervisor of the Town of Schuyler Falls.
“Now that I’ve been Town Supervisor I realize how important it is for our legislators to work with the town supervisors," Randall noted. "There’s no one more uniquely qualified to know what’s going on in their towns. And working together I don’t think there’s anything that we couldn’t do. I don’t know if I could help at the state or federal level, but I will do my best at the county level to do whatever I can to help the residents of Clinton County.”
With Randall winning, the legislature will retain an even Republican/Democrat split. Chair Republican Mark Henry, who was unopposed in his Area 3 race, says the board works on a bipartisan basis.
“We work together. We know what the issues are," Henry said. "We do a lot of committee work. And we always seem to get to where we need to go for the best of the folks of the county.”
Democrats from across the county crowded a bar in the city of Plattsburgh to wait for results.
There were two ward common council races in the city. Ward 2 Democrat Jacob Avery ran opposed and will replace retiring Democrat Mike Kelly.
In Ward 5 incumbent Democrat Caitlin Bopp also decided not to run for reelection. The contested race shows Democrat David Monette winning with 66 percent of the vote to Republican Barrie Finnegan’s 33 percent. While waiting for results Tuesday evening, Monette said his focus would be assuring the city stays fiscally sound.
"For me the budget is one of the biggest things," asserts Monette. "I always thought, like, it’s one of the biggest things that you can have is your neighbors putting trust in you with their money. So I think that making sure that the city stays sound is probably one of the top issues for me.
"At the last city council meeting," notes Pat Bradley, "some of the downtown businesses asked the council to reconsider the downtown hotel development project."
"Right," observes Monette.
"Would you want to reconsider that project?" asks Bradley.
"Definitely," replies Monette. "Would it be great to have a hotel downtown? Yes. It would be a boon for the businesses and that’s probably why they brought that up. We just have to make sure that however it’s negotiated is something that’s favorable for the city as far as the terms."
Finnegan said there were a few issues that motivated him to run his first campaign.
“Mainly the Crete Center really grabbed my attention," recalls Finnegan. "That hurt my feelings when that building came down. Such a rich history. There’s no way in the world you’ll ever convince me that it was going to cost more to fix it than it is to tear it down and that building should still be there. And what most people talked to me about is the waterfront property downtown, whether there’s going to be a hotel or not there. That whole deal should be revisited and there can be something with a great conclusion for the people of Plattsburgh.”
In the County Clerk’s race Republican John Zurlo, who ran for re-election after holding the post for 28 years, was challenged by Democrat Brandi Lloyd. Unofficial results show Zurlo won 47 to 40 percent.
