Three candidates vie for Milton supervisor
Ostrander, Kerr challenge Zlotnick in contentious campaign
Senior citizens here have been displaced from their center for 19 months.
The $1.5 million Town Hall renovations are going over budget after no one turned the heat on last winter and water pipes burst. Neighbors around the scrap metal yard, Planit Waste and Recycling, are upset over constant crushing of cars. And residents around the Saratoga County Airport fear the runway will soon stretch into their backyards.
Issues like these come down on the shoulders of the person who sits in the town supervisor’s seat.
And this fall, three people are seeking that job: former Republican Supervisor Scott Ostrander, incumbent Benny Zlotnick, a lifelong Republican who dropped out and is running as a Democrat, and decadelong Republican Town Board member Barbara Kerr, who is running independently.
Ostrander, running with incumbent Town Board members Frank Blaisdell and John Frolish, is a part-time police and court officer. The state
Republican committee has sent mailers to voters disparaging Zlotnick, claiming he will defund the police (there are no police in Milton) and will raise taxes 89.5 percent.
During Ostrander’s one term he was blamed by the Twin Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts for crushing a deal to purchase Boyhaven that was expected to net the town another park and cash. He was also criticized for defending Planit as a grandfathered-in business and hiring and stacking the ethics board with friends.
And then there is the issue with the town computers. When Zlotnick defeated Ostrander in 2019, Zlotnick arrived in Town Hall to find that someone in Ostrander’s administration wiped the town computers clean. At the time, Zlotnick didn’t seek out law enforcement over the issue and Ostrander called the matter hearsay.
This week, Zlotnick went to the state attorney general’s office, asking for an investigation on the lost programs and files. Ostrander emailed the Times Union through the town’s GOP committee to say it’s untrue and a campaign distraction. Ostrander declined an interview.
Zlotnick and Kerr joined forces in 2019, capturing several ballot lines and denying Ostrander a second term. Soon thereafter, Zlotnick named Kerr his deputy.
But their partnership has deteriorated, divided by what to do about the computers, with Kerr wanting the police to investigate and Zlotnick against that. They were also split on the Town Hall, disagreeing on what
should be done and by whom. Zlotnick aligned closer with Frolish and Kerr was once again in the Town Board minority.
Kerr then said she would run against Zlotnick, so he fired her as his deputy, appointing the town’s Democratic Committee chair.
Candidates’ stands
Kerr, 74, running with Republican Jim Frey and Democrat Meg Stevens on the United Milton line, said she is running because she thinks the town needs new leadership.
“I think the town has been mismanaged for years,” Kerr said. “I think I have some good ideas on how to turn it around. I also don’t think the residents are treated the way they should be. I think they should be listened to and we should be responding to their needs.”
She points to Planit. While Ostrander was in office, residents who complained were told there was nothing to be done. When Zlotnick swept in, he appointed Kerr and board member Ryan Isachsen to do something, but she said she and Isachsen have been unable to get access to the operation or come to a compromise with the neighbors and Planit. She is now waiting to get the results of a sound study on the noise.
“This has dragged on for four years,” Kerr said. “We need some resolution. We don’t want it to drag on for six years. … We don’t want to discourage business in Milton, but something has to be done. I’ve heard the noise. I’ve seen the dust and dirt flying. I think we need to rezone the area and look at certain restrictions to help the neighbors.”
She said her priorities would be to get back into Town Hall, which is now under construction, as soon as possible so the
senior citizens can get back into the town’s Community Center, which is where town employees are working.
She also said she would not have handled the Town Hall renovations like Zlotnick. She would have removed the mold, fixed the roof and immediately moved the employees back into the building. But once the pipes burst, a full restoration was necessary. Kerr said the money spent on Town Hall is not worth it.
“I didn’t want to pour any more money into a building that doesn’t fit our needs,” said Kerr, who retired from Skidmore College. “We need to get a plan formulated for the future of Town Hall and the town center. … Town Hall is our biggest disappointment since Boyhaven. And the biggest travesty was displacing the seniors for two years.”
She also said it is very important, if she wins, to have a seat on the Saratoga County Buildings and Grounds Committee as so many of the county’s important structures — the airport, jail and sheriff ’s office — are in Milton.
“We have to have a seat at the table,” Kerr said. “We need some answers on what the county wants to do with the airport.”
Moreover, she said that the town is growing and that neither Ostrander nor Zlotnick have the vision to take the town into a sustainable future.
Zlotnick, 62, running as a Democrat and on the Moving Milton Forward line, said he’s running to finish what he started: Renovations to Town Hall and seeing that the seniors move back into the Community Center.
“The seniors should be back in by the end of the year,” Zlotnick said. “I am grateful for their understanding.”
He said the reason Town Hall renovations went over budget was because there was “dissension among board members” including Kerr who didn’t vote for the building bond and didn’t want to spend $100,000 on the selected engineering firm. That is what was ultimately agreed upon.
In a second term, Zlotnick, who served two terms as a councilman and 12 years on the town’s Planning Board, has set his sights on repairs in the town park, including resurfacing the tennis courts and laying ground for a pickleball court.
He believes he’s the best choice because he said he restored civility to the board meetings, which were contentious under previous Supervisors Dan Lewza and Ostrander.
“I listen to people and I try to talk to them in a nice way even if I have to tell them something they won’t like,” said Zlotnick, a Polyset Company retiree. As a lifelong Republican, he did try to stay true to his party. In addition to placing fellow Republican Frolish in charge of key projects, like the Town Hall renovations, he sought the GOP endorsement last winter. When the committee opted for Ostrander, he rethought his membership, going with no party affiliation, saying Ostrander was a poor choice.
He then sought the endorsement of the Democrats, which he won against Kerr who also interviewed for the party line.
Zlotnick is also disappointed that Ostrander won’t debate him. He’s also upset about GOP mailers. One features Zlotnick’s head on a kayaker’s body, zeroing in on his vacation during the early days of the pandemic. He said, “It’s very petty and nasty.”
As for the town’s problems, Zlotnick said he did assign resolving Planit to Kerr and Isachsen and he too is waiting for the sound study results that he said he fought to have spanned over several days.
When it comes to the airport, he said there are no current plans for expansion of the runway or services there, but he understands residents’ fears.