There is a New Era in the Town of Monroe.
The New Era for Monroe actually began back on Nov. 4 when Maureen Richardson, Beth Stephens and J. Louis Rivera were elected by close to 60% of our Monroe voters.
The first Monroe Town Board meeting of the year celebrated the New Era as Maureen, Beth and Luis took their oaths of office and their seats on the board. Audra Schwartz took her oath as Town Justice. In attendance for this meeting were County Executive Steve Neuhaus (R), Orange County Democratic Committee Chairman Zak Constantine (D) and a full house of Monroe and Orange County citizens.
The first item of official business was the appointment of a replacement to the Orange County Legislature seat vacated by the resignation of Katerine Bonelli. Here for this public hearing were our neighbors and the entire Palm Tree Town Board, led by Supervisor Abraham Wieder and Administrator Gedalye Szegedin. The cooperative New Era glowed brightly as the two boards selected Maureen as Chair and Gedalye as Secretary.
Both boards unanimously voted for Matthew Turnbull, former County Legislator and Dem Minority Leader, to represent Legislative District 1.
The bipartisan spirit continued as the Monroe Board filled the various offices and positions in town government. Mary Bingham was chosen unanimously for the fifth board seat and all the town appointments received five “Aye” votes.
In public comment, a closing speaker urged the attendees and all town residents to step up, volunteer and support our new town board for this New Era.
Daniel Burke
Monroe