The previous ECRC chairman, Shaun Gillilland of Willsboro, stepped down at the beginning of this year for personal reasons. Since then, Win Belanger of Willsboro has been serving as the acting chairman. John Gereau of Westport will be the new chairman, having previously served in the same role four years ago. Gereau has also served as the vice chairman for the North Country region of the state GOP.

Wayne Taylor Sr. of Ticonderoga will take over the role of first vice chair, which also leads the political arm of the committee. Jack Moultan of North Elba will be the second vice chair and Chelsea Merrihew, from Lewis, will be the third vice chair. Stacey Hayes, from Moriah, will be the new secretary, Lane Sayward of Willsboro will be the treasurer and Kimberly Smith of Keene will be the recording secretary.

Belanger said that the timing of the primary elections, which were moved from September to June in 2019, caused the organization to be in limbo with the turnover of leadership. State election law gives committees a window from Sept. 17 to Oct. 6 in which to reorganize their leadership. When the primary elections were moved, the organization time was not moved.

This hasn’t been too much of an issue, especially since Belanger has stayed around as acting chair, but it did mean that they ended up having slightly fewer people on the committee and the old committee members ended up having to “double-time” in some areas, Belanger said.

“Everything went really smooth. We’re very happy with the new people and everything,” Belanger said. “But it’s a little bit of a strain adjusting for that length of time.”

The Essex County Democratic Committee is subject to the same rules, and Chair Maggie Bartley said they also reorganized at the end of September.

Bartley will be serving as chair for the third time and Jason Clark of Saranac Lake will be serving as the vice chair.