Grafton Chooses A Town Supervisor

by Alex Brooks
The Grafton Town Board met on Monday, March 25, to choose a new Supervisor to lead the Town from now until the end of the year. Just about all of the chairs in the meeting room were occupied, evidence of a good deal of citizen interest in the proceedings.
[private]The meeting began with a statement from Councilperson Barbara Messenger. She said, “I am ready to lead.” She affirmed her intention to seek her party’s nomination for Supervisor in next fall’s election, but she said without assurance of being appointed, she did not want to give up her seat on the Town Council which she would have  to do to be considered. Therefore she rescinded her letter of interest for the vacant Supervisor position.
Rick Ungaro followed, saying that he also rescinded his letter of interest in the Supervisor position.
Avoiding State Involvement
Deputy Supervisor Marie Claus said that Messenger and Ungaro had rescinded their letters of interest for a very good reason. If they both resigned their seats on the Town Council in order to stand for Supervisor, there would be only two people left on the Town Board, not enough to pass any resolutions, which require three votes for passage, or to appoint either one to the Supervisor position.  In that case the State government would have to step in, which would probably result in a special election which would cost the Town about $3,000, according to Claus.
Claus said for this reason they decided to appoint someone who is not on the Town Board.  The Town received a total of seven letters of interest for the Supervisor job.  After Messenger and Ungaro withdrew their names from consideration, there were five. These were Ingrid Gundrum, Frank Higgins, Jan Shields, Pat Ivory and Pat Kane.
The Board went into Executive Session to deliberate about whom to appoint. They then called first Ingrid Gundrum and then Frank Higgins in to the back room with them for interviews. After being in the Executive Session for about half an hour altogether, they came out and voted unanimously to appoint Frank Higgins to be the Supervisor for the remainder of the year. There was a good deal of applause in immediate response to the vote.
Higgins resigned his positions as Fire Commissioner and Town Justice in order to make himself available for the Supervisor position. These vacant positions will need to be filled in due course.[/private]