(Credit: Luke Mosseau, 2023)
Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty, left, is sworn in as chair of the Warren County Board of Supervisors by State Supreme Court Justice Martin Auffredou on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.
Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty was selected Wednesday, Jan. 4 to chair the Warren County Board of Supervisors in 2023, his second consecutive year as chair of the board. Geraghty received a majority of the weighted votes of his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors at the board’s annual organization meeting.
The 20 members of the county board voted in a weighted count that reflects the population each member represents. Geraghty beat Glens Falls Ward 3 Supervisor Claudia Braymer 578 to 90 in the weighted vote. Daniel Bruno, Brad Magowan, Rachel Seeber and Douglas Beaty abstained. Together, their weighted votes are 295. Even if they all voted for Braymer, it was not enough to bring her tally over Geraghty’s total.
“I am honored that my colleagues have again selected me to chair our Board of Supervisors,” Geraghty said. “I am proud of what we were able to accomplish in 2022, with a balanced budget, millions of dollars in stimulus funding distributed in our community and revenues that show our local economy remains strong. I believe Warren County is in good shape and we have a lot of good things ahead of us.”
Before the chairmanship vote, Braymer opposed the vote from taking place saying the City of Glens Falls was not accurately represented after the city’s wards were redistricted last year.
“This is something that needs to be corrected before we take a vote,” Braymer said to her colleagues on the board.
She said the vote for chair could face possible legal challenges if the Glens Falls redistricting was not corrected. Supervisors Beaty and Seeber of Queensbury agreed.
County Attorney Larry Elmen stated that it is up to the City of Glens Falls to present the new redistricting information to the county and that he had only just learned of the issue that morning. Elmen said he believes the votes for Geraghty as chair of the board are lawful.
In an interview after the vote, Braymer said she would research a possible lawsuit over the vote.
"I am debating it, actually,” she said. "I don't think it was right.”
She said the issue for her was that Glens Falls changed its ward boundaries last year, bringing the number of people represented in each ward much closer to parity for each of the supervisors in the city. Ward 3 was much larger last year than it is now, and Braymer’s weighted vote on the board at 57 was much larger than Daniel Bruno’s weighted vote of 28 in Glens Falls’ Ward 4.
However, now their weighted number would be equal at about 45 votes a piece, she said.
The arguments during the debate stemmed around when the county knew of the changes and who should have brought changes to the county.
“The county has not received a request from the city, or notification from the city that they modified their wards through the local law,” Elmen said.
“We received a call from [Glens Falls] Mayor [Bill] Collins, and he indicated that they are effective as of January 1, and that it was adopted by the voters in the election in November,” answered Braymer. “It’s been adopted for two months."
“But it’s only been effective for three days, and only one business day,” Elmen retorted.
According to Clerk of the Board Amanda Allen, the Board of Supervisors was made aware that Glens Falls was redistricting back in August. However, the county failed to formally receive paperwork from the city saying it was adopted into law.
This is Chairman Geraghty’s second stint as chair of the board, as he also spent 4 years leading the board between 2013 and 2016.
In addition to his time as chairman, Supervisor Geraghty previously served as Warren County Budget Officer for six years, and acting Warren County Administrator for 1.5 years between 2016 and 2018.