Glenville names board member
Gonzalez-barone is first openly gay person to take seat
GLENVILLE — A businesswoman who ran unsuccessfully to be a village trustee in her hometown of Scotia was sworn in Wednesday night as the newest Town Board member before Supervisor Chris Koetzle delivered his state of the town speech.
Amanda Gonzalezbarone, who owns Girl Fight Fitness in Glenville and is not affiliated with any of the political parties, will serve out the unexpired term of Gina Wierzbowski, who stepped down from the council last month because of her new job.
“We’re looking more for people that are interested in what’s best for the community and she certainly does that,” said Koetzle, a Republican, this week ahead of the meeting. “We feel that good government can be shared among a lot of people with different backgrounds, and she has demonstrated that she believes in good government — she’s very fiscally conservative and a reasonable person, and we believe we can work with her.”
He said Gonzalez-barone, the first openly gay woman to serve on the governing body, emerged from a field of seven prospective candidates because of her intelligence and how active she is in the community. He also said he and Deputy Supervisor Sid Ramotar thought it was important to get another woman to replace Wierzbowski as well as someone with a keen business sense.
Gonzalez-barone has already indicated that she plans to run in November for what would be a full four-year term, added Koetzle. She will serve as the Town Board’s liaison to the village.
Koetzle talked about everything from economic development plans on Freemans Bridge Road and the Route 5 business corridor between Vley Road and Amsterdam, key infrastructure projects, plans for investments in parks, and a look at finance and operations for the coming year.
He also discussed plans to make the community more pedestrian-friendly and the prospect of moving ahead with plans for a new Town Hall and the police department, on hold because of the pandemic.
“We intend to use the prospect of a new Town Hall as a transformative catalyst for new development that can serve as the central element that includes a mix of complementary uses that produce new commerce, jobs, housing, and revenues rather that it being a simple net cost,” the supervisor told his audience. “In every facet we have improved Glenville: we have added tax base, kept taxes low, invested in the community, attracted new jobs and businesses, and made Glenville a vastly better, stronger and more vibrant place than it was 15 years ago.”
He also talked about allowing retail cannabis in certain parts of Glenville, which the current town code prohibits.
Gonzalez-barone is a 2001 graduate of Burnt Hills-ballston Lake High School and a 2005 graduate of Skidmore College.