ROYALTON: Highway superintendent contest tops ballot

Local News

October 15, 2009

By Bill Wolcott<br><a href="mailto:bill.wolcott@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Bill</a> The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Thu Oct 15, 2009, 06:20 PM EDT

ROYALTON — Carson Kelley will be on four ballot lines in his bid to replace Republican incumbent Terry Nieman as Royalton highway superintendent.

Kelley, who lost to Nieman two years ago, is the nominee of the Democrat, Independence, Conservative and Working Family parties. He added the Independence party this year on the strength of write-in votes.

“It was very hard work,” Kelley said. “I had to go talking to people and knocking on doors. It wasn’t given to me ... It means a lot, people are pulling their own lines.”

Kelley claimed a committee of about 25 people, including some Republicans, worked with him in order to get on four lines.

Nieman, who is in his fifth term, said does not believe a 4-1 party edge is a major advantage. “People will vote for the person, the best candidate,” Nieman said. “The party-line tradition was gone a long time ago. They vote for the person, not the party.”

“It takes a lot of maintenance, and my whole thing is keeping up with it,” Nieman said. “Once you get behind, playing catch-up is a killer.”

When Nieman took the job 10 years ago, there were 11 employees; now there are seven.

“They need leadership,” said Kelley, who wants a good working relationship with the employees. “We’ve got to streamline the budget, first and foremost.”

With the write-in push in the primary election, Kelley got 21 votes on the Independence line, and Nieman had 11. Kelley had 23 Conservative, votes and Nieman had 13.

“The last 10 years I’ve seen a lot of progress,” Nieman said. “We stuck with the program with new supervisors and new members of the board. We pulled in one direction.”

Nieman, who is on the road most of the time, noted the price increase for equipment, fuel and parts over a decade.

Both candidates are lifelong residents of the town. The job pays $53,000 a year.

• Supervisor Richard Lang and Town Clerk Marie Little run unopposed on the Republican, Independence and Conservative tickets. Board members Democrat James Budde and Republican Dan Bragg are running unopposed, as are town justices Gregory Bass and Margaret Raduns.

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