Update on Tied Board Seat via Post Star

After tie, Thurman board will fill seat

AMANDA MAY METZGER ametzger@poststar.com

THURMAN  Because two candidates tied for a seat on the Town Board, the seat will become an open vacancy in 2016.
That means it will be up to the Town Board to appoint someone to fill the seat after the oaths of office in January.
Two of the four Town Board seats were up for a vote. Incumbent Gail Seaman and Joan Harris were tied with 241 votes after absentee ballots were counted Tuesday.
The Town Board can choose to appoint one of those candidates or someone else to serve in the position in 2016.
Retired Psychologist John Youngblood won a seat. The other candidate, Debra Runyon, finished out of the running.
Initially, Warren County Board of Elections thought the candidates would be headed to a state Supreme Court judge to determine a fair way to break the tie.
When election officials heard back from the state, they learned that a tie in a village goes to a judge but not in a tie in a town election.
“The only time it goes to a state Supreme Court justice is if it’s in a village,” said Warren County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Mary Beth Casey.
“With a tie, no one can take the oath of office, so come Jan. 1, there will be a vacancy. The town will appoint someone to fill that term until Dec. 31, 2016,” Casey said.
Voters will determine in November 2016 who will fill the remainder of that term.
Casey said the legal term for what happened was a “failure to elect,” which means the town has an open vacancy and the board can appoint whomever it chooses.

“I’ve never had this happen before, so this was a wonderful learning experience for me,” Casey said. “No two election years are ever the same.”

Absentee ballots (Unofficial results)

Today a little over half of the Absentee ballots were counted; here are the unofficial results

Supervisor 

Hyde - 239

Wood - 243

Town Board

Harris - 235

Runyon - 124

Seaman - 232

Youngblood - 244

Clerk 

Sprague - 254

Templeton - 170

Highway Superintendent

Wood - 352

write in - 22

The final Absentee ballots for Thurman will be tallied on Tuesday, November 10 at the Warren County Board of Elections office located at 1340 State Route 28, Lake George, NY 12845

Diversity

I do not often editorialize on this blog, today’s entry is the exception to that rule; with the General Election just a week away I feel it is important that a few things be brought to light.

It is important to have a diverse town board; not only to create a realistic setting for discussion, but also to encourage the growth of a town while stepping outside the boundaries to entertain exploring new ideas.

A town board that always agrees is not necessarily a good thing if it means it keeps the town at a standstill and does not move towards the future. It is the obligation and sworn duty of each elected official to make decisions for the whole towns future, not simply to agree and go with the flow.

Furthermore, is having a board that always agrees and does not discuss issues of the town a wise way to approach the situation….  This strategy would be a great detriment to the town. At some point the issues that had been avoided would wait no longer and need to be addressed. What then?

Thurman has some concerns in a couple areas and we need elected officials who will work for the whole town, not a select few. Our town needs board members that can agree to disagree and still maintain to see it through for the betterment of the voting public.

Bio's and Platforms welcome

The following is an open invitation to all Thurman Candidates seeking election to present themselves to the voting public with Bios and Platforms.

The purpose is to make a level playing field for all Candidates to present themselves.

To inquire further or submit a Bio or Platform please email andytemp55@gmail.com or kathy.templeton37@gmail.com

Below please find Bio and/or Platform links of some of the Candidates and we look forward to more.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1wkysqpjovb9rg9/Evelyn%20M%20Wood%20Resume.pdf?dl=0


https://www.dropbox.com/s/4w1grndep73qk1g/John%20Youngblood%20Revised%20Letter%20of%20candidacy.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qyel1o82v0kaf10/Kathy%27s%20Bio%20in%20Word.docx?dl=0

Defining Values

     This blog has been up for a little over two years.
     Recently, we were offered the opportunity to receive three cents per pageview.
     We have had, so far, about 11,000 pageviews.
     We will not enroll in that program. We believe folks should be able to get good, factual information without it being commercialized or having to deal with distractions.
     We are going to continue to do our best to give the voters the information they need to make an informed decision when voting.

Written by Andrew Templeton

What is a Debate

   This post is about Debate/Rational Arguments.
   In a debate speakers must justify their claims.
An argument or debate is not a fight or a quarrel.
Debating/arguing is a creative and productive activity.
   Think not of a shouting match, but of a group of people seeking the best solution to a problem.  It is a creative and productive activity that stimulates critical thinking.
   Although, formal debate can develop critical thinking, its weakness is that it can turn argument into a game of winners and losers rather than a process of cooperative inquiry.
   Argument/debate entails a desire for truth; it aims to find the best solutions to complex problems.
   It will be beneficial to the voters to see and hear all the candidates at the debate on Oct 21.


Written by Andrew Templeton

Videoing vs. Security Cameras

There seems to be some confusion about the videos of the Board Meetings. There are two different recordings at Town Board Meetings. There are security cameras, yes. At the recommendation of the Sheriff’s Office, but they are not used for anything other than security footage of the meetings. Anyone who has ever seen security camera footage knows it would not be suitable for high quality video like the videos of the meetings that are posted online.

 

The videos posted online are taken using Evelyn’s personal video camera. She does this at her own initiative, and it is not town related. She is not using town equipment, funds, or time to supply the town with the videos. She posts them on her own YouTube channel and it is has nothing to do with the town website. And she started videoing the meetings before the security cameras were even installed. Even before Warren County started videoing their meetings. The security cameras and the video of meetings provided to the public are two different things entirely.

 

The Board cannot stop anyone from videotaping their meetings. News crews, cable TV, or people with cell phones or tablets could all videotape meetings. There was a court case about it and in 1994 the court ruled that videotaping could not be banned at public meetings just because the board didn’t want to be recorded. A lot of opinions from the Committee on Open Government also talk about videotaping being permitted at meetings, especially now that the cameras are so small they can record video without disruption.

 

Bottom line, Evelyn spends her time and effort to give us better access to our government, and that has nothing to do with the security cameras.

 

 

Court Case: Mtr. of Peloquin v. Arsenault, 162 Misc. 2d 306 - NY: Supreme Court, Franklin 1994


Written by Andrew Templeton