Public referendum on Nov. 3 will determine if Shelby town clerk, highway superintendent stay as elected positions

Town Board seeks to make the positions be appointed

Photo by Tom Rivers: Dale Root, the Shelby highway superintendent, speaks during Tuesday’s Town Board meeting, going over a monthly report for the Highway Department.

SHELBY – The Town Board will give voters the chance to decide whether the town keeps the town clerk and highway superintendent as elected positions or instead changes to having those officials be appointed by the Town Board.

The issue will be on the ballot during the Nov. 3 election, with each position its own referendum. In Orleans County, all 10 towns currently have the town clerk and highway superintendent as elected positions. In the four villages, the clerk and DPW superintendent are appointed.

During a June 30 public hearing, many of the speakers opposed the change proposed by Shelby, saying it would take away residents’ voting rights to pick the officials in those two jobs.

But Town Board members say residents will still have in a say in how those jobs are filled by who they elect to be on the Town Board.

Town Supervisor Jim Heminway said the appointment process would better ensure highly qualified people would serve as town clerk and highway superintendent.

Some of the speakers during the June 30 public hearings said the local Republican Committees in Orleans County are ultimately the ones that decide who serves in the key town positions.

Republicans have a 2-to-1 enrollment advantage over Democrats, making it difficult for a Democrat to get elected. It is also very challenging to run as an upstart Republican candidate without the committee’s backing, some of the speakers said.

Several town highway superintendents and town clerks also spoke at the hearing, saying it is better for the community to have elected people in those jobs, who ultimately answer to residents and not the Town Board.

The referendums will ask voters whether they support abolishing the highway superintendent and town clerk as elected positions and then create a hired  office of town clerk and hired office of highway superintendent.

Town Councilman John Pratt said the voters will decide if the positions remain elected or not.

“It’s not taking your vote away,” Pratt said during Tuesday’s Town Board meeting. “You have a choice when you cast your ballot in November. The board believes you will get the most for your tax dollars by voting for this change. If you’re happy with the current system as it is, then vote against it (the change).”