Chester town board appoints new councilman

The Chester town board, during its March 11 meeting, appointed a replacement for the late Councilman Larry Dysinger, who passed away recently. They chose chairman of the Chester Democratic Committee Stephen Diffley, an electrician and union member, to serve out the remainder of the term.

Diffley will have to run for the seat in November when the new ward system is instated in the town. All four council seats will be up for election. The town board is now three to two Democratic, although Republican Councilman Robert Courtenay ran and won endorsed by the Democrats in the 2025 election and is planning to do so again in 2026. The lone Republican-endorsed councilman, Giusepe Cassara, abstained on the vote to appoint Diffley. The other board members are Tom Becker and Supervisor Brandon Holdridge.

Holdridge said that Diffley was the consensus choice for the seat because he was in the top three of all four board members. The board interviewed 10 candidates for the position, Holdridge said.

Upon taking his seat on the board Diffley said, “Thank you to the board for putting its trust in me. I will help the town to the best of my ability.”

DOT updates, budget recap

In other news, town officials met with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and received an update about their plans for Route 17 (future Route 86). The department is still recommending changes to the exits. They want to upgrade Exit 126 and close Exit 127, as well as install a traffic circle at the intersection of Lehigh, 17M and Kings Highway. They will hold another public hearing in November followed by a 45-day comment period.

Comptroller Neil Meyer presented a recap of the budget season of 2025. He said that coming into his third year as comptroller the town is “pretty much on target.” Holdridge praised Meyer for his transparency and said the town can now forecast their budget situation with greater clarity.

Kiwanis Clean-up, MuniCollab approval

Thomas Flynn announced the annual Kiwanis Clean-up on April 11. Participants will gather in the Shop-Rite parking lot. Volunteers are being sought out. Courtenay said he noticed that a lot of the mess on the streets is coming from garbage trucks that trail loose trash behind them.

The board approved a computer program called MuniCollab for use by the planning and zoning boards. The cost year one is $11,750 and years two and three $6,750.

Lighting upgrades, infrastructure projects

The board created a Chester Commons lighting upgrades cash reserve, to allot the remaining $6,696.52 from a $20,000 grant to be dedicated to upgrading the lights at Chester Commons.

During the meeting, the board voted to refund three Chester residents $458 per resident for unused senior bus trip tickets.

The board authorized town engineer John Queenan to create bid documents for Surrey Road culvert, Pond Road dam and Highway Department roof projects. They bonded for the three items at $150,000 for the highway roof projects, $200,000 for the Pond Road dam project and $600,000 for the Surrey Road culvert. The bond amounts were to indicate the threshold the board could not exceed. Actual bond amounts will be indicated when bids come in on the projects.

Alarm agreements, discussion of shared services

The town board authorized Supervisor Holdridge to sign fire and burglar alarm agreements with Harry Rotolo and Son, Inc. The price is $45 and $29 per month respectively.

The board accepted the resignation of Connie Roach from the Chester Parks Advisory Board.

Holdridge said he’d recently met with a group of six town supervisors in Orange County to discuss sharing the cost of ambulance services.

The town board meeting opened with a moment of silence for the seven service members who died in the war with Iran.