GHENT–Roy Brown and Andrea “Cricket” Coleman are running for county coroner this year. The county has three coroners. Angelo Nero is not seeking reelection this year. Coroner terms are 4 years.
Both Mr. Brown and Dr. Coleman were sent candidate questionnaires from The Columbia Paper. The paper did not receive Dr. Coleman’s questionnaire or candidate statement before press deadline.
Roy Brown
Mr. Brown, 60, is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines. He is not enrolled in a political party. He lives in Germantown and is the owner of the Iron Horse Cigar Depot in Hudson.
He was the supervisor for the Town of Germantown from 2005 to 2013 and the chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors 2010 to 2011. He has also been chairman of the county Public Works Committee. He sat on the county’s Public Safety Committee for six years and was committee chairman from 2012 to 2013. He was a member of the Germantown Board of Education for three years. He was president of that board in 2004.
Mr. Brown was the Town of Germantown Police Commissioner for six years. He is the chairman of the Germantown Fire District Board of Fire Commissioners. He is an active member of Germantown Fire Rescue and has served as president and vice-president of the Germantown Fire/Rescue Company #1, and was on the Columbia County Fire Advisory Board in 2010 and 2011. He sat on the New York State Association of Counties Public Safety Committee and New York State Association of Counties Blue Ribbon Task Force on Farming from 2009 thru 2013.
He is a member of the Germantown Lions Club and was the chairman of the Hudson Valley Apple Festival from 2012 to 2016. He was a leader of the Germantown Boy Scouts and a member and past president of the Southern Columbia Little League.
Mr. Brown is on the Columbia County Local Emergency Planning Committee.
He has attended Contra Costa Collage, Columbia-Greene Community College and completed a two-year program at Marist College in Organizational Leadership Communications. Mr. Brown was in the US Air Force for eight years–four years active duty and four years in active reserve.
He is married to Dr. Nicolette J. Sacco-Brown and has three grown children.
His candidate statement says: “I’m a lifelong resident of Columbia County and as such, I have a real feel for the communities and their residents. My training in emergency services, first responder training and my medical training in the military, along with my administrative accomplishments as an elected official, more than qualify me to perform the duties of coroner. I’ve been available 24/7 throughout my emergency services career and I’ll do the same as coroner. It’s important to note that in most states including New York, the coroner needs no definitive medical training or qualifications. The coroner does not perform medical post mortem examinations or make diagnoses, but they are responsible for identifying the body, notifying next of kin, handling personal belongings and arranging the death certificate. As an emergency responder, I have performed several of these tasks multiple times. I believe I am the best qualified candidate for coroner.”
Andrea “Cricket” Coleman
Dr. Coleman is running on the Democratic, Working Families and Women’s Equality lines on the ballot.
According to Dr. Coleman’s website, she was born in born in Chicago, IL, and graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Studio Art. She moved to New York City “painting and doing freelance work for a few years.” She completed a two year premedical course at Columbia University. She interned and was later hired as a consultant in the DNA laboratory at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York (OCME NY). She went to medical school at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn. After graduating, she did her residency in anatomic pathology at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Following her residency she was accepted to a fellowship program at the OCME NY, where she completed a year-long forensic pathology fellowship and an additional fellowship year studying forensic cardiovascular and neuropathology. She spent eight additional years in the position of senior medical examiner at OCME NY. During this time she personally completed approximately 1,500 autopsies and oversaw several hundreds more, testified in approximately 45 trials in federal, state Supreme and Family courts. She taught medical students and incoming fellows.
When she relocated full time to Columbia County in 2014 she spent a year performing autopsies at the Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office in Poughkeepsie. She and her husband started coming to their home in Claverack in 2010.
