For the first time in more than three decades, Democrats now control the Clifton Park Town Board.
The New Year’s Day swearing-in ceremony marked a historic changing of the guard in the suburban Saratoga County community.
For the first time in 34 years, Democrats now have a majority on the town’s five-member board.
Democrats Nancy Bellamy and Mario Fantini were both sworn in after beating Republican candidates Chad Gregory and incumbent Anthony Morelli in November. They join Zabed Manir, a Democrat elected to the board in 2023.
Bellamy has previous experience on the Town Board – she was in office from 1988-1991.
“It’s very important that we’re trying to get water on our street. Because so many people use the lake water or they have a well that has sulfur. So, the committees are all saying to me, ‘what can we do?’ and when they asked me to run I thought ‘what a perfect opportunity to speak to people about bringing town water to our street. I live over on Ballston Lake right on the water,” said Bellamy.
Apart from infrastructure concerns, Bellamy also has her sights set on changing the format of town meetings.
“We’d like to have people have more time to talk to the board. And a lot of times you have to stay to the very end of the meeting after executive session to say something and go home not stay for all the resolutions and so forth. We’re trying to have more transparency,” said Bellamy.
Fantini says he’s looking forward to representing his constituents with the new majority.
“Well, I’m here to support the communities, there’s been a lot of recent developments where the concerns of the community have been ignored. Another concern I have is are sidewalks, there’s a lot of sidewalks to nowhere so I think we need a comprehensive trails plan so that people can walk and commute and get around. Trails improve the health of people and are fun and help improve the walkability,” said Fantini.
Democrat Ram Lalukota beat Republican Julian Febo for a seat representing Clifton Park on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.
While Lalukota does not sit on the Town Board, he’s part of a growing number of Democratic supervisors serving at the county level. He is also the Clifton Park Democratic Committee’s chair and hopes town leadership will be able to move past partisan disagreements.
“I strongly believe once the election is done, we don’t want to go on the party lines. The results matter. But once the election comes the party matters, after that I don’t like the party coming in between. I think there is a hope that we can work together. The reason is maybe Phil [Barrett] needs some time to digest what is happening and probably after that he will realize and work with everybody. Every town board and supervisor have to work together. Because people voted for them to work together,” said Lalukota.
Republican town supervisor Phil Barrett who was re-elected in November has been on the Board since 2001 and has led the County Board of Supervisors since 2024. Barrett did not immediately respond to WAMC’s request for comment Friday.
Agatha Reid is the only other Republican on the Clifton Park town board. Neither Barrett or Reid were in attendance for Thursday’s swearing in.
Saratoga County Republican Committee Chair Joe Suhrada says the Democrat wins in Clifton Park aren’t that surprising.
“The town has been voting consistently Democrat on up-ballot races like President, including for Harris, okay? And you're not going to reverse people's mindsets on Donald Trump. There's one big elephant in the room named Donald Trump that everybody in America knows. They all know his name, there's nobody else this is a referendum on,” said Suhrada.
Clifton Park Republican Committee Chair Kevin Goggins did not immediately respond to WAMC’s request for comment Friday.
