Lexington's new town council, left to right: John Berger, Dixie Baldrey (supervisor), William Pushman, Jo Ellen Schermerhorn, Lynn Byrne. Photo by Walter Severini.
Lexington, a small Greene County town that was the locus of some very strange political shenanigans after last year's election, has officially returned from the Twilight Zone.
As the first order of business as Lexington’s new town supervisor, Dixie Baldrey presented a motion appointing Lynn Byrne to the one vacancy still left on the town council. The motion was passed unanimously at the opening session of the new town council on Tuesday, January 3.
Lexington has now filled both of the two open slots on their council. The first slot was opened when Byrne, a Democrat, and William Pushman, a Republican, tied for a seat in the November election. The second was opened by the resignation of town councilman Glenn Howard, who recently moved out of Lexington.
With two open seats, and two candidates that had received equal support in the polls, the solution seemed obvious. But the board was in a tricky spot: Only one seat -- the one Howard resigned in December -- could be filled before January, when the new council took office. Byrne could not be appointed to it, since she was already on the board. That left Pushman -- who, if appointed, would shift the balance of power on the council toward the Republican side.
The situation led to a tense standoff at last month's town meeting, the Daily Mail reported:
[Republican councilman John] Berger promised he would personally nominate Byrne, come January, and made a motion to appoint Pushman, immediately getting a second from town supervisor Greg Cross, a Republican.
That left the decision up to the two Democrats, [Keith] Mellott and Byrne, who took their sweet time in responding. “We have a motion on the floor. Give me a yes or a no and we’ll move on either way,” Cross said.
Breaking the deafening silence, Byrne said, “can you understand why I would be hesitant?”
But in the end, Byrne and Mellott voted to appoint Pushman. And at yesterday's meeting, Berger was as good as his word, supporting Byrne's appointment to the remaining open seat.
So it seems the will of the voters has prevailed over party politics -- an extraordinary thing, given that Byrne's appointment reverses the former council’s Republican advantage, and gives the Democrats a 3 to 2 majority on the new Lexington council.
When asked about the Democratic advantage, Berger responded, “That doesn’t matter, what is important is the need for all of us to work together moving Lexington forward.”
The Lexington Town Council for 2011 stands as follows:
Dixie Baldrey (D) – Town Supervisor
Jo Ellen Schermerhorn (D) – Council Member
Lynn Byrne (D) – Council Member
John Berger (R) – Council Member
William Pushman (R) – Council Member
