Vice chairman of Conservative Party backs Ed Houseknecht for Shelby highway superintendent

Posted 13 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Editor:

My wife and I attended the Elect Ed Houseknecht Rally for Shelby Highway superintendent on Oct. 9. As vice chairman of the Orleans County Conservative Party, I can say with complete confidence that we endorsed the best candidate to carry out this demanding job.

Being a highway superintendent is no easy job. You have the lives and safety of your citizens in your hands especially in the winter time when the public depends on you the most. Poor maintenance of the roads especially at night can cause senseless death and injury so it is very important that any candidate that seeks that job be completely qualified and understand that it is a 24-hour a day job.

Special attention has to be paid the weather forecasts when the snow and ice is coming. You can’t wait to be woken up out of bed to get your crew out after the accidents begin to happen. It is the highway superintendent’s job to have an idea of what’s coming and get his crew out ahead of it – no matter what time of day or night.

It is the highway superintendent’s job to make sure the roads are in good repair and that they do not hold excessive water, the shoulders are not low and crumbling, that the road corners are kept swept of fine stones, and that potholes are fixed.

The highway superintendent is responsible for using the CHIPS money wisely and actually laying down the new black top that the money is intended for instead of using it to compete with neighboring towns to see who has the biggest, shiniest and most expensive toys the taxpayers can buy for them.

Ed Houseknecht has all the qualifications that would make him a superior highway superintendent. He worked 25 Years in the village of Medina. His expertise saved the taxpayers’ millions and millions of dollars.

He also worked years at the county as highway superintendent, and was he only non-union superintendent to ever get Employee of the Year recognition. He saved the county taxpayers’ hundreds of thousands of dollars – if not millions. He put all the lights up at the county nursing home at no cost to the taxpayers other than labor.

The residents of Shelby should have no fear of change. This change will be for the betterment of your community, the betterment for the men who work at the highway department, and the betterment of the tax base because Ed will watch your tax dollars like a hawk.

He knows how to get the job done and he knows how to get it done using the least amount of taxpayer money .

The Orleans County Conservative Party Highly endorses Ed Houseknecht for your next highway superintendent of Shelby.

Paul Lauricella Jr.
Vice Chairman, Orleans County Conservative Party