With the odds of a general election opponent unlikely, Anula Courtis looks to the future as Woodstock’s first LGBTQ+ supervisor.
“I feel very humbled. I feel very honored. I think that their vote really showed me that they put their trust in me,” Courtis said. “And I look at this like it’s a victory for all of us, whether people support me or not, to every single volunteer, to neighbors. It’s just an amazing moment. And I feel like people spoke, and they want change. They want something different. They want a new way forward is how I think about it.”
Courtis received more than 60 percent of the vote in a three-way race against David Wallis and Erin Moran. Courtis received 816 votes, while Wallis garnered 369 and Moran got 167 in unofficial primary results.
With the window closed on an independent run, that leaves the Republican Party to emerge with candidates for supervisor and town board. In Woodstock, that party chooses its candidates at a caucus instead of through a primary. Town Republicans haven’t caucused in years because they haven’t had any candidates. The Democrats outnumber them by more than four to one.
The GOP has until July 14 to file notice that they will hold a July 24 caucus.
Keeping the water clean
Courtis said her message is the same as it was during the primary campaign. She wants to change how the town communicates with people, particularly on important issues like water and the contaminated fill on Church Road.
“I want to look at every single option that we have legally to look at the agreements that have been made and then to figure out what we might have as far as legal options moving forward,” she said. “That said, what I want to do is sit with the owners of the property and talk with them, and see if we can, outside of legal means, come to some resolution to look at removing the fill from that land.”
Courtis said she wants greater transparency in how PFOS in the drinking water is handled, including continued work with the Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSP2).
“I want to look at how we might be able to educate people as far as how they like how we all contribute to PFOS in the water. But at the same time, part of the DWSP plan is to look at source identification,” she said. “And then what we want what I want to do is figure out what is the best mechanism by which to keep our water clean. So it could be ion technologies or GAC, granular activated carbon, or it could be reverse osmosis. It really depends on what we find is inside the water.”
Courtis plans on making a water dashboard available on the town website.
“This will be so there’s no more guessing on when the wells will be tested and what the results are,” she said. “This way, in a very easy-to-see manner, we can see if things are getting better or worse.”
Other high priorities
Another top priority is the police department, which has been embroiled in scandals over part-time officer Phil Sinagra. Three officers and a former dispatcher recently received a $70,000 settlement in a lawsuit alleging Sinagra made sexually inappropriate and racially charged comments and personnel faced retaliation for reporting it.
“I do anticipate that out of the task force, there will be some good recommendations. I will also be looking back to the prior task force,” Courtis said.
At the beginning of the year, McKenna appointed a task force to look into personnel issues at the police department. During the Cuomo administration, all police departments in the state were required to form a police reform and reinvention task force in response to the police killing of George Floyd.
Other important issues are housing, which needs to be built to fill a shortage. Courtis said it needed to be done in a responsible manner and in a way that protects the environment. A major revitalization of the Tinker Street corridor coming down the road will include repaired sidewalks. Part of the vision may include a bike path. Courtis is interested in fostering public input on the project.
The next town board
Barring a November opponent, Courtis will likely take the supervisor seat in January, which will leave her current seat on the town board vacant. She is mum on who that might be, but has promised it will be someone with a strong environmental focus.
“I want to let the dust settle a little bit after the primary and then work on a list of people who we might look at,” she said.
Filling the seat with a woman could lead to an all-female board.
“It’s not a consideration, to be honest,” she said. “I want the person who’s going to be most qualified to help move things forward, somebody who’s collaborative, understands environmental issues, knows how to navigate through complexities, and also somebody willing to roll his or her sleeves up and start getting to work literally out of the gate.”
The next hurdle is to see whether Lily Korolkoff survives a recount scheduled for 10 a.m. on July 2 in Kingston. Korolkoff leads Marcel Nagele by just nine votes, 726-717. The threshold for are count is 20 votes.
Former longtime Onteora school board trustee and president Laurie Osmond took the lead in the three-way race with Korolkoff and Nagele for the two town board seats, garnering 762 votes.
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