By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
WALTON _ Two young men who began attending Walton town and village board meetings when they were teenagers have decided to try to find out what it's like to sit on the board.
Patrick Meredith, 20, and Andrew Rutherford, 21, are running for village trustee seats in Tuesday's village election in a four-way race for two seats.
They are running against incumbents Rich Morley and George Ostrowski, who were appointed to their seats after the resignations of Lillian Browne and Kenneth Landry.
Meredith, who is the youngest brother of the late Walton Town Supervisor John Meredith, attends the Utica School of Commerce in Oneonta and is majoring in business management.
Rutherford attends the SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica and is majoring in computer information systems.
Meredith said he and Rutherford began watching local politics when they would sit in the Hess convenience store in Walton discussing community issues with John Meredith and other patrons who gathered for coffee and daily updates.
"I really enjoyed government and economics classes in high school," Meredith said. "But definitely, John was an influence in my interest in local politics."
John Meredith, 29, was elected Walton Town Supervisor when he was 23 and was running unopposed for his fourth term when he died of complications from a brain tumor Oct. 26.
"I have always been interested in politics," Rutherford said.
Meredith and Rutherford said they began attending Walton board meetings after the June 2006 flood.
"It seemed like the town board was running really smoothly and the village board wasn't," Meredith said.
"That's what motivated us to lean toward running for the village board rather than the town board," Rutherford added.
Rutherford said they watched the boards deal with issues including concerns about sex offenders living in the community, a cell tower controversy, concerns about a road rally on town roads and the village's decision to spend $4 million on a water-and-sewer upgrade.
"The town board would meet and finish its business in an hour," Rutherford said. "The village board would shuffle papers for two to three hours."
Meredith and Rutherford are campaigning together and said they are getting good reactions from people.
"Our age actually seems to help us," Meredith said. "People say they are glad to see two young guys who are interested in the future of their community."
The men agree that issues that currently face Walton village residents are dealing with the six FEMA flood buyout properties and deciding how to use and maintain them; the controversial snow removal law that they would like to see revisited; encouraging people to spend their dollars in Walton and finding ways to make youth want to stay in Walton.
"We are promoting rallying around Walton and finding more recreational opportunities," Meredith said.
"It would be great to see more town-wide events like the Walton Chamber of Commerce Spend the Day in Walton," Rutherford said.
Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
