Raymond Mayone (photo by Will Dendis)
Personnel management
Mayone believes there are serious problems with Myer’s management style, which he describes as running things from “behind a desk.”
“Morale is worse than before,” he said. “He’s not out there when they have a problem. They have to call. They don’t feel connected to him… Doug is not a people person. When you have employees that are happy, things are going to go smoothly and you’ll get more out of them.”
Myer said he doesn’t understand where Mayone is coming from with that. He cites his endorsement from the union representing the employees. “I have three men who don’t like me. The others are out there fighting for me,” he said. His explanation for those who don’t like him? “I make them work.”
Mayone often refers to his intention to treat all employees with “respect.” It’s a reference to the removal of former department secretary Mary Lou Dengler, which became a minor fiasco in late 2012. Some said at the time is was because she was too old and could not use the department’s new software. She was later paid $25,000 to retire and a few weeks ago wrote a letter to the editor in support of Mayone. “It was an employment issue that I tried to rectify in-house,” says Myer. “Once I realized that I couldn’t I went to two separate law firms for opinion of counsel. I followed opinion of counsel. I wrote a motion that had to be brought up in [the Town Board’s] executive session. It was thrown on the agenda. If it were handled according to proper parliamentary procedure none of this would have happened.
“I respect all the employees. It was never discrimination. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make in my life. There was no winner here. And I do respect all employees, contrary to what my opponent would say.”
Condition of the roads
Mayone believes the roads are not in good shape. He says Myer’s much-vaunted fund balance of $900,000 is not a case of good management, but inactivity. That money should be used to maintain the roads and keep the ditches clean, not stored up for election time boasts.
“If you got $900,000 in your account you’re not doing your job,” said Mayone. “Pavement’s not getting down, drainage isn’t happening. Last summer they did very little blacktopping. He was running his budget up to look like he’s Superman.”
He specifies the following roads as needing work: Dave Elliot, VanVlierden, Valk and Schoolhouse.
Myer said the town has spent its paving budget for the year, and much of the surplus will be used in future years to replace expensive pieces of equipment (two plows and a sweeper among them). Without that surplus, the town would need to borrow money, and that means interest payments. “If you want to do that, be my guest,” he said.
Politics
Both men quote the adage: “There are no Democratic or Republican potholes.” In fact, Mayone said it only a few minutes after Myer at the candidate forum, prompting a genuinely perplexed reaction in the incumbent. And while no one disputes this, politics have been omnipresent in the race. One need only look at Myer’s two endorsements—Democratic and Conservative—to know something unusual happened this year.
Going into the year, both men were lifelong Republicans. But after Mayone defeated Myer at the Republican caucus, Myer left the party. He’s now unenrolled. Later, at the Democratic caucus, and in letters to the editor, many people told a story familiar to anyone who followed Saugerties politics in the middle of the last decade when Greg Helsmoortel, Fred Costello and Leeanne Thornton left the party: I t was said that Myer was ordered by Republican Party members to do favors, and he refused, so they did everything they could to deny him the nomination. Silent at the time, a few months later, Myer confirmed this. “The reason I feel I did not get the GOP nomination is because of a select few in the Republican Party wanted things that I wouldn’t give them. I wouldn’t hire people they told me to hire because I wasn’t hiring anyone. And I just wouldn’t do what they told me to do, I guess. But I feel [that members of the] Republican Party should know that because the vast, vast majority of people in the Republican Party are wonderful, wonderful people.”
Myer wouldn’t say who made the request, only that it “was not the chairman. But certain committeemen.”
Mayone says he doesn’t know anything about that, but said he wouldn’t be any more likely to do favors like hiring someone’s kid or grandkid or putting in a private road.
“I am not the type of person to be influenced,” he said.
Mayone doesn’t think the story, even if true, would explain the outcome. “He lost by more than a couple votes,” he said (the vote was 173-121). “All the stuff that went on with Doug in the last 20 months, people didn’t want him representing them. And when I stood up, they all kind of gathered behind me, as well as a lot of Democrats, and a lot of Conservatives and a lot of Independents. He only beat me by 10 in Conservative and 30 in Democratic [caucuses].”
The choice
Highway superintendent is one of those offices that could just as easily be appointed. Once someone wins a few races, he’s pretty much got the job as long as he wants it. Often, as in this case, the voters are asked to choose between two candidates eminently qualified and experienced in construction. What do they know about this specialized skill, honed from years of hard experience in the ditch, over blueprints, coming up with fixes on the fly and managing the kind of no-nonsense, salty men who do this kind of work?
Not much. But voters can look at qualifications, quality of the roads and budget numbers. Undecided voters who attended the voter forum could see both men in action and go with their gut feelings. If you missed it, it will shown on cable access television, channel 23, Sunday, Oct. 20 at noon and 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. It’s worth checking out.
