The Town of Montgomery’s November 7 general election will feature four candidates running for one of two open seats in the town board. These candidates include incumbents Cindy Voss and Kristen Brown, former councilperson Mark Hoyt, and newcomer Jeffrey Samerson.

Cindy Voss
Republican- Conservative
After serving 13 years on Montgomery’s town board, Cindy Voss reruns for a seat as a councilperson and wishes to continue working for the community. Her skill set included 44 years’ worth of financing and information technology experience, allowing her to collaborate with Montgomery’s IT Department and board members on the town’s security and budget respectively.

“I have worked closely with the town’s IT Department to maintain the town’s security and system applications and have also worked with the town supervisor, board members, and department leaders to ensure balanced and sustainable budgets for the town,” she wrote.

Voss is also the Chairperson of Montgomery’s Comprehensive Planning Committee, whose group devises a plan for the town’s future based on the community’s needs and expectations. Her vision for development and economic growth would follow the guidelines set in this plan and take residents’ feedback in mind.

“As Chairperson of the Town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee, I understood the importance and essential nature of engaging our town’s residents to develop the goals for the town while listening to their concerns. I remain dedicated to ensuring that town development and economic growth is based around the Comprehensive Plan,” she wrote.

Voss asserted that she will remain dedicated to her role as councilwoman and will uphold Montgomery’s quality of life for all residents.

“Being a lifelong resident with plans on retiring in the Town of Montgomery, the development and financial stability and the character of the town continues to be of utmost importance to me as it is for all town residents,” she wrote.

Jeffrey Samerson

Democrat -RESPECT Montgomery
When Jeffrey Samerson heard about Montgomery’s traffic and tax issues from his neighbor, he decided to pursue a seat on the town board and desired to bring about positive changes for the community. He stated that he would provide an energetic, fresh perspective to the table and help residents reach safer, more accessible, and more affordable living.

“I could bring new ideas of how the town could be better. I think I could stop the role of complacency of people being in positions for too long and doing nothing in their community. I’ve come here and I’ve seen so many things that should change for the better,” he said.

Prior to moving to Montgomery in October of 2022, Samerson lived in New York City and worked for the FDNY as an EMT and EEO instructor for 27 years. He retired from the FDNY in 2016, volunteered in Baghdad, Iraq providing IVs and vaccines at Camp Taji, and eventually returned to the FDNY to serve as an alcohol and drug counselor. He currently works for the department’s union and is always on standby to respond to firefighter mistreatment.

“Any injustice, I’m always 24 hours handling situations that union delegates call about our members because the fire department has 24 hours of emergency service. I’m constantly there to assist them in functioning,” he explained.

As councilman, Samerson’s first action would be to build a sidewalk near Valley Central High School, based on his observations of children walking on the side of the road to school without any protection from speeding cars.

“I’ve driven by there many times on 17k and I see children with backpacks walking. Separating them from cars at high speeds is a white line. There needs to be a sidewalk,” he stated.

Samerson will then focus his efforts on funding the town’s first responders, including building a new station for the police department. One of his ideas for funding involves merging the fire department and EMS together so that both will receive money from ambulance services.

“Our firefighters are asking for donations. Although on a voluntary basis, they still need money to survive and they should not have to ask the residents, with the taxes that they’re paying, for donations,” Samerson said.

“The EMS, and this is an idea that I have, should be joined with the fire department as one entity. The ambulance companies should be able to pay for firefighters and EMS under one emergency service,” he continued.

For development, Samerson believes that repairing the town’s roads should be a top priority, as many are currently in a damaged state. He also proposed that warehouse companies operating in Montgomery should start paying taxes, with said taxes going towards improving the town.

“I would like to see the large companies here start paying taxes and see if we could lessen the load on the residents. Channel some of the taxes from the big companies towards the schools and our first responders,” he said.

Kristen Brown
Integrity First
Originally from Minisink, Kristen Brown moved to Montgomery in 2010, where she and her husband started a family. She graduated from SUNY Cobleskill with an Associate’s in animal science pre-veterinary work and a Bachelor’s in agricultural business management. She and her family operate the Historic Brown Family Farm, where they sell a variety of goods and raise quarter horses. In her free time, she enjoys barrel racing with her horse, Rebel.

Aside from her current four-year term on the town board, Kristen was a lobbyist for the New York Farm Bureau, in which she spoke with state and national officials about agriculture issues, and worked for Orange County Soil and Water, where she gained extensive knowledge on environmental concerns. Of her qualities, Brown stated that she is balanced and strives to be a councilwoman that all residents can approach and speak with.

“I’m not out for one side or the other. I’m a very ‘what’s good for one is good for all’ kind of person…I do it for the people and I do it to make sure what’s right and what’s fair,” she said.

After receiving support from residents, Brown decided to rerun and seeks to address the town’s development through the comprehensive plan’s zoning, repairs for Benedict Farm Park, and construction of a new police department.

“I had a lot of support from the general public, and also a few things that I would like to see finished, such as the zoning…and also the Benefict Farm Park, trying to determine what’s going to be the future for that property,” Brown explained.

“The biggest thing that I’ve been working on recently is the new police station. So not only the need for a new police station so that way they’re housed in one location, but more importantly, a new place for them for them to call home,” she continued.

Brown will also collaborate with both Montgomery’s and Orange County’s IDA to properly expand the town’s economic growth, including creating opportunities that will allow residents to live and work comfortably.

“The most important thing to me is wanting to live here. It’s making the Town of Montgomery a place that attracts not only people and businesses, but mostly people…economic development is important because it provides the community with a place to work, but it has to be fair and balanced in where they work and where they want to live,” she said.

Mark Hoyt
Republican-Conservative
Mark Hoyt is a lifelong resident of Montgomery, a local farmer and the chairman of the USDA of Orange County Farm Service Agency. After graduating from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s in Agriculture Economics and Farm Finance, he opened the Mark W. Hoyt Hay and Livestock Farm in 1985, where he grows crops and raises livestock. Hoyt enjoys helping residents with their issues and seeks a seat on the town board.

“I enjoy working for the town and serving the public. As a farmer, I have the time to think about the town with not a lot of distractions. It is a nice mix,” he wrote.
Hoyt previously served on Montgomery’s town board from 2000 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2020, served on the planning board from 1996 to 1999, served as vice president for the Valley Central School Board, and was a member of Montgomery’s comprehensive planning committees. He possesses experience in planning, zoning, and budgeting.

“I have a very good understanding of planning and zoning. I possess excellent skills in understanding the budget process and finances of municipal government,” he wrote.

If elected, Hoyt will adhere to the town’s newly adopted comprehensive plan for development projects and prioritize sewer infrastructure and affordability for residents. He will prepare accordingly for meetings and public hearings and will answer residents’ questions and concerns, whether during said meetings or outside of office hours.

“I come to the meetings prepared and I am able to give answers to questions asked, or I will put them in contact with people who answer their questions,” Hoyt wrote.

“I am not hard to find as I spend most of all my time in the Town of Montgomery or on the farm,” he added.