Julie Seyfert-Lillis resigned suddenly from the New Paltz Town Council earlier this month, and was replaced at the February 20 meeting by Randall Leverette, who was one of eight individuals interviewed. This was the largest number of candidates to seek an appointment in recent years, and by selecting Leverette from among them council members have placed the first registered Republican on this board for about three decades. Leverette will serve through the end of the year, after which whoever voters choose will complete the last two years of Seyfert-Lillis’ term.
Leverette has been an active volunteer at the town and county level, including being part of the police reform group created in response to a gubernatorial executive order to identify racism in local police forces, but omitted state police from similar scrutiny. Leverette had been selected for that role in part for having been the chair of the town’s volunteer police commission until it was dissolved at the beginning of 2014. A citizen police commission was reconstituted as a result of that review effort; as was true of the prior incarnation, commissioners are largely not empowered to investigate officer conduct nor determine disciplinary measures, as this would come into conflict with the police contract.
One of the council members who voted on to shift the commission’s work to town board members during the December 19, 2013 meeting was Kitty Brown, who is also among those now welcoming Leverette to the council table. Leverette will be the first registered Republican to serve in this role since Tom Benenati was elected in 1995. Carol Roper ousted Susan Zimet from the supervisor’s seat in 1999 from the Republican ballot line, but was not a registered member of that party.
During the interviews, candidates were all asked if they intended to run in the November election when, in addition to the remainder of Seyfert-Lillis’ term, two full four-year terms will be up for grabs. Leverette expressed skepticism that anyone not running on the Democrat line can win a seat in New Paltz at this time, but agreed to consider it if that option was available. It is not. The Wilson Pakula Act of 1947 provides that members of the party committee may vote to nominate someone not registered to that party, but local party chair Dawn Winchester confirmed that they would be making no endorsements for town council seats this year, preferring to allow the process to play out entirely through the voters. The deadline to change party registration has already passed, shutting Leverette out from trying to collect signatures on Democratic nominating petitions — a process that begins on Tuesday, February 25.
During the interview, Leverette voluntarily described a political philosophy that aligns with an older concept of conservatism, in that it supports personal choice and privacy, such as in reproductive rights and marriage equality. During a run for town supervisor in 2013, Leverette acknowledged helping form a “Republicans for Obama” group, and sometimes spoke about becoming Republican to fulfill a promise to Leverette’s great-grandmother, who recalled when systemic racism was perpetuated by Democrats and Republicans were the ones working to free slaves and establish racial equality. “I’m less conservative than some Democrats,” Leverette said, but, “It’s impossible for me to win” an election.
Leverette agreed with many other interviewed candidates that the big issues facing the town include the ongoing affordable housing crisis, fostering a business environment that would allow for jobs that pay well enough to afford housing in the community, and monitoring the police. Another big issue hanging over council members is whether the village will be dissolved by its residents when by vote this November. Back in 2013 a push for consolidation of the two governments was a big focus, and Leverette was in favor as long as it made fiscal sense. If village residents vote in favor of a dissolution plan, the impacts on them and other town residents will be based in part on how much effort town employees and elected officials put into helping develop that plan in the coming months.
The others interviewed during the meeting were Kate Ryan, a public defender working for the county; Paul Brown, a former planning board chair and newspaper columnist; planning board member Lauren McPadden; village zoning board of appeals chair Sean O’Sullivan, veterinarian Erica Harlec, and Steve Greenfield, a captain in the village fire department who was also a school board member. Greenfield raised the specter of an issue no one has had brought up, that the steep decline in volunteer firefighters could soon result in the need to shift to a paid department. Greenfield advised that this could cost $10 million a year to taxpayers, nearly a tenfold increase from the current expense.
Seyfert-Lillis was also thanked for many years of service, at the opening of this meeting. The council member resigned for personal reasons, and supervisor Amanda Gotto assured that it was “nothing bad.”
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