Voters in the Town of Parma made it clear this week that they want their Highway Superintendent and they want to have a say in who gets the job.
By a vote of 4,268 No to 2,564 Yes, Proposition #1 was defeated. The proposition would have adopted Town Law 1-2016 and changed the highway superintendent to a position appointed by the town board.
“Obviously, the town board is very disappointed,” Supervisor Jim Smith told the Suburban News via email after results came in election night. “We believe that the change would have been in the town’s long term best interest. The highway superintendent remains a very popular person.”
Highway Superintendent Brian Speer’s term ends at the end of 2017. If the proposition had passed, the town board would have appointed a highway superintendent/public works superintendent in 2018.
Town leaders argued that the highway superintendent is the most important position in the town and with increasing demands on the position both budgetary and from state and federal requirements, “the town needs the authority to direct the superintendent to meet these requirements,” town board members said in a statement before the election.
Residents repeatedly said during a public hearing on the law that they did not want to lose the ability to vote for the person who serves in the highway superintendent position.
Daniel Barlow was elected to a one year term on the Parma Town Council. Barlow had the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines and received 5,978 votes.
In the Town of Gates, Republican David DiCaro was elected to a one year term. DiCaro received 7,029 votes to 4,681 votes for Democrat Silvano Orsi. DiCaro also had the Conservative and Independence lines.
In the Town of Bergen, Republican Mark Anderson was elected to fill an unexpired seat on the town council. Anderson defeated Anne M. Sapienza by a vote of 757 to 616. Sapienza had the Democratic, Conservative, Independence and Working Families lines. Town Justice Robert Swapceinski was re-elected with 1,102 votes.
