Article Photos

Article Links

» Unofficial, town-by-town results on the Essex County Board of Elections Web site

By MIKE LYNCH

Enterprise Staff Writer

BLOOMINGDALE - In a rare contested election for St. Armand supervisor, Republican Joyce Morency won easily over Democrat Tom Jones to retain the seat she has held since 1981.

Morency beat Jones by an unofficial count of 361 to 184.

"I'm really very appreciative of the voters and my friends in the town of St. Armand that felt the confidence in me to support me again to take care of the town of St. Armand," Morency said after hearing the results. "I'm really grateful to them, and I'll continue to do the best I can."

Morency, who will serve another four-year term, said her main priority will be getting a cell phone tower for Bloomingdale, something the town has been working toward for the past three years. The last thing the town needs is a permit from the state Adirondack Park Agency, she said.

"It's getting closer. We almost have a permit in hand," Morency said. "It's going to be sent to Verizon very soon, and we desperately need it down here. There's no service. It's a safety issue."

Morency said she has only had two contested races for town supervisor. In her first year, she defeated Thomas Norman Jr. in a Republican primary. Then several years later, she faced some Democrats in the general election. Her goal is to serve a longer term than Thomas Norman Sr., who served for more than three decades.

Morency has been involved in local politics since 1979, when she became tax collector and treasurer for Bloomingdale, which was a separate village at the time. It dissolved at midnight on Dec. 31, 1985. She is also a former chairwoman of the Essex County Republican Committee.

Jones said he will remain on the town board, but he doubted that he would challenge Morency again for supervisor.

"I will serve out my term on the town board," he said. "I might make a decision when I'm done, but I'm not optimistic about running again. I have a nice family, a beautiful home, plenty of money to live on, and I want to enjoy my retirement, so that's probably what I'm going to do."

Jones is the first Democrat town board member in more than three decades. He is a retired school teacher, principal and administrator. He was on the Saranac Lake Central School Board and an assessor in the town of Saranac. He taught at Bloomingdale Elementary School for 21 years and spent the bulk of his administrative career in Cincinnatus, near Cortland. He is on the Democratic state committee and the Democratic Rural Conference as well as the town and county committees.

In his campaign, Jones said the town needed a more open government, including an improved Web site and the need to get its agenda out to the public before town meetings. He said it will be difficult to push those and other issues he believes in because he is in the minority. He is the only Democrat on the town board.

"I don't expect that I could have success pulling off some of the things that I wanted to do like open up the government, have transparency, put jobs out for bid when they're over $10,000, but that's pretty much immaterial now."

For Morency, she said the win is an opportunity to continue to try to help the people of her town.

"So many people know my work ethic," she said. "I work hard and they know that. And they known I'm going to give 100 percent, so it's a vote of confidence."

---

Contact Mike Lynch at 891-2600 ext. 28 or mlynch@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.