By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
COEYMANS — Republican Highway Superintendent Daniel Baker and Democratic candidate Peter DeLuke will compete in the Nov. 8 election for the top spot in the town’s highway department.
Baker was appointed to the post by the town council in March after former superintendent Scott Searles retired. He and DeLuke are running to complete Searles’ three-year term.
Candidates are presented in alphabetical order.
DANIEL BAKER
Baker has lived in the community all his life, he said.
“I have been a lifelong resident here in the town of Coeymans and the village of Ravena,” he said. “I was born and raised in Alcove, New York, and went to school here. I’m currently married, my wife is an RN (registered nurse) case manager at Sunnyview Hospital in Schenectady. We have two children, a daughter who is 14 and a son who is 11. Both attend the Ravena school district.”
Baker is a former member of the Coeymans Town Council and stepped down from that position in March when he was appointed highway superintendent upon Searles’ retirement. He still holds the appointed post of deputy town supervisor; it is not mandatory that the deputy town supervisor be a member of the town board.
He has worked his entire career in manufacturing and maintenance, he said.
“I was at Lafarge for 20 years,” Baker said. “I was a millwright, then transitioned over to maintenance supervisor. I was in pharmaceutical maintenance for a while, and I was also in mattress manufacturing for a while.”
Baker said one of the issues the town faces is local truck traffic on Main Street, which has increased substantially over the past few years.
“Lafarge is trying to make an access road come out on Route 101 to try to limit some of the traffic coming through town, and I really think that’s what is needed to really get some of the businesses and make it a little more walkable and friendly as far as the Main Street corridor is concerned,” he said.
High fuel prices and inflation also pose a challenge for the department and the next superintendent will have to manage spending and rising costs, he said.
“The increase in diesel fuel and the increase in gasoline, the overall increase and sometimes the availability of parts can present challenging situations for the highway group,” he said. “Things break all the time. We are doing a lot of work, we are cleaning a lot of roads, so we have to be mindful of what we do, how we do it and how we spend.”
Baker said he supports the proposal to build a new town hall to replace the one at 18 Russell Ave., which will be a referendum on the ballot in November.
“The building is aging — it’s no secret. It’s got to be 80-plus years old,” Baker said. “The infrastructure is aging as well. We replaced the heating, we replaced the air conditioning. Everybody knows that the steps out front are in very poor shape. We put some money into them to try to keep them going. Everything that we do here we feel that we are putting good money into an old building.”
There is a lack of sufficient space and mold has been found in the current town hall as well, he said.
“I believe it’s time,” he added. “We’ve had some public input. People are very concerned and we take the concern very seriously about the cost. We don’t know what the future is going to bring, we don’t know if the prices are ever going to come back down. But the building is very rough, the building is aged, and we want something that we can be proud of for the town of Coeymans and for the people.”
PETER DELUKE
Pete DeLuke will be the Democratic candidate on the ballot seeking the highway superintendent’s post. He currently works for the New York State Department of Transportation.
“I have been living in the town and village for about 40 years now,” DeLuke said. “I have worked in both the public and private sectors for contractors, highways, and I am currently working for the New York state DOT. I would like to help out the community as well in a field that I love, which would be road construction, and go from there.”
Among the challenges he sees facing the community is improving communication and getting different groups in the town to work together.
“Some of the challenges that I see in the town structure is instead of everybody being able to communicate and get their thoughts out and work with one another, it seems to be a little one-way,” DeLuke said. “You are not going to be able to appease everybody and you’re not going to be able to make everybody happy, you’re going to make some people upset, but we need to work together as a team and find the best solutions for everything, not just let one or multiple people control the whole environment.”
If elected, DeLuke promises to do what is in the best interests of the town.
“I would be willing to work hard for our community in all aspects and no matter what administration, as far as the board or town supervisor, I would be willing to work hard and strong with them financially, fiscally and every which way,” DeLuke said. “I wouldn’t just do what they asked, I would do what is in the best interests of the town and the community and put safety first and work for the people, not just the board.”
On the proposal to build a new town hall, DeLuke said he opposes the $7 million price tag under the current proposal. The details that have been released by the town council are scant, he added.
“It would be nice to have a new facility for the town hall for people to go to for whatever needs they may have, but $7 million without having a blueprint to go by with what’s inside it and how it’s designed and what is the $7 million, there are other buildings locally going up that are recently built and when you say it’s going to cost three times as much, the question is, why?” he said. “I would like to see a new building in the future, but one that the town can afford.”
Watch the full video interview with Daniel Baker and Peter DeLuke on TheUpstater.com.
Election Day will be Nov. 8.
