Monroe voters put James Gulick in the highway department driver's seat

Monroe - For the next year, the town of Monroe has a new highway superintendent. Republican James Gulick, a newcomer to politics, easily beat out Charles Mancuso, who ran on the Conservative line, for the spot. Gulick had defeated Frank Beams in the Republican primary back in September. The unofficial vote was 7,750 for Gulick and 1,792 for Mancuso. For such a lackluster campaign it was a resounding tally. Gulick will be serving out the unexpired term of the late Roy Montanye at a salary of $70,000. The new chief will be running again in next year’s election for a four-year term. Monroe voters also had their say on Monroe Free Library’s request for a $66,000 increase in its budget for a proposed spending plan of $1.3 million. That was turned aside by a vote of 2,770 to 2,280. The difference between the voting totals for highway superintendent and for the library is because the Village of Kiryas Joel opted out of paying the library tax several years ago on the premises they do not use the facility. There are 17,485 registered voters in the town of Monroe. Kiryas Joel has 12 election districts and 6,685 registered voters. The town of Monroe outside the village has 10,800 registered voters and 19 election districts. What was in the back of the mind of the average voter when they voted in Tuesday’s mid-term election? To Ron Berk of Harriman ,who cast his vote at the Monroe Senior Center: “I voted for a change in government. I want to see control of our taxes.” “Spending,” he added, “is way out of control.”