How to succeed the supervisor: A primer

When Neil Bettez resigned as supervisor for New Paltz on May 3, that decision triggered provisions in both town law and election law.

Five candidates were supposed to be interviewed to fill that interim position during a town board meeting on May 16: Alex Baer, who as the appointed deputy supervisor has been filling in with supervisory duties on an interim basis without pay since May 3, but she officially resigned from the board last week; Amanda Gotto, who last month was appointed to fill Dan Torres’ seat several months after it was vacated; William Wheeler Murray, currently a trustee in village government; Jane Schanberg; and Dylan Moscoso. That meeting was cancelled, however, due to lack of quorum. There was no quorum because Esi Lewis was unable to attend, and Amanda Gotto submitted a resignation from the board a day earlier. Gotto said that this resignation was required by law in order to be considered for supervisory role. It’s not entirely clear if the law actually required Gotto’s resignation at this juncture.

 The timing of Bettez’s exit complicated the process of finding a replacement over the short and long terms. Town council members have an attorney that they can ask into executive session as often as they please to ensure that they all get the same legal advice at the same time, but ordinary citizens have no such recourse. That’s why one of the county’s election commissioners was asked to help demystify everything that will unfold from now through the election in November. Either of the current commissioners would have been able to provide this expert opinion, but since the political enrollment and activity in New Paltz leans heavily to the left, the invitation was extended to Ashley Torres, the commissioner registered as a Democrat. 

One of the individuals who has submitted a letter of interest for the supervisor position is Gotto, who also petitioned and was nominated by local Democrats to run in November for the vacant town board seat. That is the same two-step process that will be needed to fill the supervisor’s seat: town council members appoint someone until the next election, and because it’s too late for Democrats to circulate petitions to get on the ballot, that party’s local committee members nominate a candidate themselves. Hypothetically, Gotto could be appointed and serve as interim supervisor while running for that town council seat; it’s largely too late to decline that nomination. However, if Gotto were to 1) be appointed to serve as supervisor and 2) be nominated to run for supervisor by that committee, this would be the only reason to replace Gotto on the town council line of the ballot, because one cannot run for two offices at the same time. Should that come to pass, members of the Democrats’ committee would have to pick a candidate for that town board seat instead of Gotto. 

“I can understand why this is confusing to the average person, as there are two mechanism going on at the same time here,” Ashley Torres said. The replacement process after a resignation is covered by municipal law, and the replacement process for a candidate by election law. “If a member of the existing board is chosen to fill the supervisor role they would create a new vacancy for the council seat to be filled, also by the town board, in the same way they have been filling these vacancies. As you have accurately reported, they’re getting a lot of practice in using this power to fill vacancies. Those appointments are only good through December 31st of this year. Both offices are going to appear on the November 5th ballot for the general public to finally get their say as to who serves them in these roles for the duration of time both terms have left.” 

When it comes to election law, timing plays an important role. Commissioner Torres went through the various deadlines that figure into each of the two vacancies that have been created in the past year. Dan Torres resigned in September, after the deadline for the vacancy to appear on last year’s ballot, but before all of the normal mechanisms for ballot access. The main way someone gets on the ballot is the petitioning process, when a candidate and helpers try to gather a number of signatures that’s determined by how many people are registered to that political party. Gotto secured those signatures earlier this year, and became the nominee whose name is slated to be on the November ballot for that position. No candidate was nominated by petition for either the Conservative or Working Families parties. It’s not too late for the Republicans to follow their own process, which is nomination at a caucus, but the commissioner noted that “without a New Paltz Republican committee in place the county Republican chair would be required to call a caucus for New Paltz. Given the enrollment dynamics in New Paltz, the likelihood of that taking place is slim, but possible.” 

As for supervisor, Bettez resigned after the petitioning process was complete. Election law provides that based on that timing, a candidate can be named during a 30-day window starting after the primary on June 25. Republicans could convene a caucus any time now, but also would have to get any candidate’s paperwork filed by July 25. 

Returning to the possibility of such a nomination creating a vacancy, if Gotto were to be nominated to run as a Democrat for supervisor, the committee would have until July 25 — or ten days after Gotto’s nomination for supervisor, if that date is later — to select a replacement for that party line. That would be a process entirely for and about Democrats, because members of others parties get their own chance to serve up a candidate. The commissioner did note that this does not rule out the Republicans also nominating a candidate by caucus by July 25, or even for an independent candidate to collect sufficient petition signatures by a deadline of May 28. 

By the end of July, it should be clear who is running for supervisor, and who is running for town council if there is a seat open. The decision on who is doing the supervisor’s job through the end of the year will come when the three remaining board members select someone for that role. No public discussion has yet occurred on replacing Gotto, who was advised to resign from the town council prior to interviewing for the supervisor’s position.