Two candidates are running for town supervisor, five candidates are running to fill two town council positions, two candidates are running for town clerk and two for town justice. Incumbent Scott Smith’s candidacy for highway superintendent is uncontested.

Un!te the North Country hosted the candidate forum in the Keene Central School gym, where candidates discussed infrastructure, government spending, housing, child care and services for seniors.

Early voting is open from Oct. 23 to Oct. 31. Early voters can cast their ballots at either the Lake Placid Beach House at 31 Parkside Dr. or at the North Hudson town offices on U.S. Route 9.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 2. Voters in both of the town’s districts can cast ballots at the Keene Valley fire hall on Market Street. Town residents 18 and older who are not registered to vote can still register at the Essex County Board of Elections up to 25 days before Election Day.

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Town supervisor

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Cori Ann Favro is running for town supervisor on the independent Local Families line against incumbent Joe Pete Wilson Jr., on the Democratic line.

Favro said her family has lived in Keene for generations. She’s currently raising kids in Keene with her husband, and she said she plans to grow old in Keene.

She currently serves as Keene’s town clerk and coaches varsity girls basketball at KCS. She said it “took a lot of courage” for her to run for town supervisor, especially against an incumbent, while working in the same office. She encouraged voters to sit and talk with her before making their choice for town supervisor in November.

“It has not been easy,” she said, “but I did it because I care about my community.”

Favro said she wants to address town issues like the maintenance of, and updates to, town facilities, playgrounds and recreation areas. She wants to make the transfer station more cost-effective and environmentally friendly, update the town’s water systems and create more local arts opportunities for kids. She held these priorities on par with keeping the Keene spirit alive “with kindness and energy.” But above all, Favro said she hopes to improve communication and transparency in government, which she claimed as an advantage over Wilson. She said that she doesn’t believe she’s a singular authority figure, but someone who is open to other ideas and willing to play into community strengths.

When asked if she was concerned that her current position as town clerk might appear to situate her in a conflict of interest with Wilson, potentially affecting her ability to remain transparent, Favro said she is not the clerk for the supervisor, and did not feel that there was a true conflict of interest.

During the forum, she said her position as a town clerk provides her with advantages in the race. She said she sees the everyday operations in Keene, including how the town supervisor is handling each situation he is presented with and the actions he is or is not taking. She said she answers the phone and speaks with members of the community every day.

“I hear you,” she said.

She said she also knows the inner workings of the town’s budget and has vast knowledge of planning, revenue streams, quarterly planning, and contract negotiations that will help her better allocate residents’ tax dollars. She said she knows she’ll learn and understand the position of supervisor quickly, and she plans to use county and state-provided training tools and work with members of the town council.

When asked how she plans to use revenue streams more efficiently, Favro said she wants to digitize paper billing processes, cut down the cost of government contract phones for town employees, update heating systems in the town hall, and move the assessor out of the town hall to save spending. Wilson countered that the town is only required to pay $40, or 50%, of contract phone bills for most employees and the state comptroller advised that payment process.

Wilson is currently serving his fifth year as town supervisor. He moved back to Keene after graduate school when he and his wife started a family. He said his grandfather bought a business in Keene before World War II, and Wilson used to work there when his father took it over.

At the forum, Wilson focused on the balance of supervising a small town and a small town budget with a high influx of tourism demands.

“It all boils down to the money we have and how we use it,” he said.

One strategy he’s used as supervisor is to partner with organizations like the AuSable River organization to finish projects for half the cost. Last year, Wilson said the organization helped the town of Keene to perform an emergency water repair at a fraction of the cost. He also said the volunteer presence in Keene has helped fill planning committees that have saved the town money and helped the town accomplish things that may not be possible for most small populations.

After the forum, Favro said that as a young person, she feels she has an advantage over Wilson because she’ll have more energy for projects and more experience with technology to advance outdated systems. She said that she understands some residents may be skeptical that she’s a young woman running to replace an older man in an incumbent role, but she hopes voters will stay open to change in the community.

Wilson later reiterated the balancing act of living in a small town with a high tourism rate, and he said his track record of working with nonprofits, the Keene community and the state is an advantage for him in the race.

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Town council

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Two seats are up for town council. Incumbents Robert Biesemeyer and Teresa Cheetham-Palen are running on the Democratic line against newcomers Sadie Kaltenbach, running under the Your Choice party line; Mary Molly Lawrence, running on the Republican party line; and Richard Guy Smith on the independent Adirondack party line.

Biesemeyer was born and raised in Keene, and he’s raised two children with his wife since they moved back in 1985. In 1986, he said the town board put together a 10-person planning commission and Biesemeyer served as chair for several years. He’s served on the town board for the last 24 years.

He said that going forward, he wants to prioritize things like high speed broadband, maintenance of the library and recreational fields, and staying vigilant about COVID-19 infections. He also said the board needs to stay focused on affordable housing, caring for the senior population, and hiker and visitor parking.

He said the town is limited by what they receive in property taxes, and that the board’s challenge is securing additional funds for the town budget to avoid any additional financial burdens on taxpayers.

Cheetham-Palen has served one term on the town board, and she’s served on the Keene school board for 12 years. She said she’s excited to continue the town council’s work with the 2021 strategic plan, which was adopted in June to assist board members in planning efforts related to “achievable” housing, short term rentals, seniors and health care, preschool and full day child care, hiker parking and recreational infrastructure.

She said that while it’s easy to focus on problems in Keene, it’s important to point out what’s working in the community. She referenced access to the mountains and outdoor amenities and the vibrant volunteer efforts as positives in Keene, which she said helped progress the 2021 strategic plan. She also touted Keene’s school system.

Cheetham-Palen did present some challenges: she said some aging infrastructures in town are inefficient or need maintenance, and she said there’s a need for more diverse housing options to attract more residents to the town. She said she also wants to make Keene more handicap accessible and friendly to the town’s aging population.

Sadie Kaltenbach was born and raised in Keene, and she returned to Keene last September after traveling. Her current career is in children’s nutrition and nutrition education.

“I grew up in a community that took care of its neighbors, and I want to be a part of the generation that follows and continues that legacy,” she said Sunday.

If elected to the town board, Kaltenbach said her focus would be on making Keene livable, sustainable and accessible, and as efficient as possible. She said Keene needs affordable housing, childcare, community-directed fundraising, and a livable wage that supports Keene’s small businesses and working community. She related these issues to tourism and conservation of the High Peaks and Keene community, suggesting actions like road widening, waste management, limited parking and “education on the history and purpose of these protected lands” as solutions as opposed to tourism-based fixes.

Mary Molly Lawrence is a fifth-generation Keene resident, and her son started Kindergarten at KCS this fall. She said she identifies as Republican, adding: “It’s OK to vote for a Republican, it feels good to be a little rebellious sometimes.”

After she graduated from college, Lawrence said she traveled and worked in Clinton County, which is “close but very different (from Keene).” She ran the Traffic Safety program and Stop DWI program there for a combined five years. She said she’s also worked closely with law enforcement and got into social services, where she conducted child protective services investigations and worked as a foster caseworker for a combined 10 years before starting a spray foam insulation business. Now that she’s back in Keene, she works for the Essex County Health Department and she said she wants to advocate for the community.

She said she’s a single mom and “probably the only person running for (the) board who is not a property owner with the town of Keene.” She said she has a limited income and still manages to live in Keene, but she knows how hard that can be and she wants to represent those issues on the board.

Guy Smith was not present at the candidates forum, and he did not immediately respond for comment by press time.

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Town justice

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Chris Daly is running on an independent line against incumbent Democrat Barbara Dwyer for town justice. Daly and his wife became full-time residents of Keene last year, and he said he knows the importance of long-time residency in a candidate. But he said the experience of a candidate is just as important; he has 30 years of experience practicing law on Long Island, and he said he wants to put that experience to work for Keene. He said he is running on an independent line because “justice is independent.”

Dwyer countered with her experience as a 45-year resident of Keene. She said her position as town justice is “fulfilling” and “rewarding.” Much of her speech focused on what she identified as recent social changes and pressures on the Keene community. She referred to an illegal marijuana growing operation that was spotted in Keene found by police in 2019, and she said she’s had two break-ins at her home. She said she has electric locks now, which is something she hadn’t considered for 45 years. She said the larger volume of residents and visitors in Keene has brought a different local attitude, referencing three different court cases.

Dwyer has served as the Keene Neighborhood Task Force treasurer for 23 years and on the Keene school board for six years. She was also on the BOCES school board for 10 years, the North Country Community College board for eight years and the Cornell Coop Extension of Essex County Board of Directors for six years. She said her knowledge of the town and community makes her an asset on the bench.

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Town clerk

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Republican Kimberly Smith and Anna Whitney, who is running on the Independent Choice line, are campaigning to fill Favro’s position as town clerk.

Smith is another new Keene resident, and she said she has more than 17 years of government experience as the records clerk and deputy task receiver in Queensbury. She said her previous responsibilities have prepared her for similar town clerk duties. She said one of her priorities as town clerk would be accuracy in duties like taking minutes.

Smith said she knows that the town clerk must have a dedicated working knowledge of the laws and regulations related to the position, and she said she’s willing to put in the long behind-the-scenes hours “to make it all work.” She said that if elected, she plans to go through regular training and seminars to stay informed about any changes in her field. Whitney said she enjoys multi-tasking and working in a fast-paced environment, and she looks forward to interacting with the public.

Whitney has served on the Keene school board for 12 years, acted as secretary and treasurer for the Keene Volunteer Fire Department for 10 years and she’s been a regular volunteer with the Keene Youth Commission. Whitney moved to Keene in 1997 when she married her husband, Reggie Whitney. They have two daughters, Hanna and Emily, and Whitney has worked at Adirondack Chevrolet for 31 years. She said she works with a town clerk from a neighboring town, and that side-by-side interaction will be a benefit to her.