Bleau Takes Seat on County Board, Wright Finally Represented

After going nine months without a voice on the county Board of Supervisors, since the unfortunate passing of former Town Supervisor Bill Goblet, residents of the Town of Wright received the gift of representation yesterday when Amber Bleau took her seat in the long vacant chair between outgoing supervisors Tom Murray and Dan Singletary.

 

Mrs. Bleau, who won November's general election by five votes over Democrat Karl Remmers and was officially named Supervisor by the Wright Town Board on December 9th, has served as acting head of the small community of 1,500 citizens since Goblet's death. However, without the correct credentials to also serve on the county board.

 

The reason for that is the fact Mrs. Bleau, who was deputy supervisor, would have to resign her position on the Town Board in order to be appointed as Supervisor. Not a big problem, except that another councilwoman adamantly refused to support Mrs. Bleau no matter what, leaving the Town Board with only three members and without a legal majority to conduct business of any kind if just one councilperson was opposed to a motion.

 

With all of that in the past, Mrs. Bleau took her seat yesterday morning and although she listened more than she spoke, she wasn't afraid to go against the majority in one of her first votes and helped to clarify a statement by Treasurer Bill Cherry in a follow up question, showing both freshmen restraint but also a streak of independence in her inaugural board meeting.

 

 

 

 

Opinion: Give Bleau a Chance

In the aftermath of Tuesday's final count of absentee and affidavit ballots in the Town of Wright's too close to call Supervisor race between Democrat Karl Remmers and Republican Amber Bleau, which Mrs. Bleau won by just five votes, the response by some individuals to the Republican's victory was disappointing to say the least.

Ranging from allegations of being a replica of former Supervisor William Goblet, who's passing earlier this year led Mrs. Bleau to assume leadership as Deputy Supervisor, to concerns over her participation in a tri-party advertisement that together formed the county's Conservative Party faction, residents ranging from readers of the Schoharie News to county officials have expressed skepticism and worries over her election to the county board.

These worries are nothing new. We have been hearing them for weeks now at the Schoharie News, but after interviewing Mrs. Bleau two days before the election and reviewing her record of service in the Town of Wright, we believe them to be exaggerated and would ask everyone to give the Supervisor-elect a chance to do her job before casting final judgment.

The election is nothing more then an educated guess as to who we think will do the better job in office, particularly between two non-incumbents as such was the case in this situation, with our guess either being proven to be accurate or inaccurate by their actions in said office.

Mrs. Bleau's focus is primarily on the growth of Wright by improving public services and expanding business in the town of fifteen hundred plus citizens, a job she is well prepared for because of tenure on the town board and her de facto leadership position since early 2013, while she also eases into her equally important role of representing her neighbors on a county-wide level in the currently fluid state of affairs of Schoharie politics.

With that said, could we please give the Supervisor-elect an opportunity to prove herself before casting the first stone and disregarding her leadership experience and qualities just because of her inclusion in an political advertisement that she was invited to join and did so in good faith? Obviously, the reasonable answer would be yes... Only time can vindicate or ostracize the voters of Wright for their decision on November 5th.