Lewisboro Resident Appointed to Fill Vacant BOL Seat
The Westchester County Board of Legislators unanimously appointed a retired IBM software engineer Monday night to temporarily fill the District 2 seat vacated by Peter Harckham earlier this month.
Alan Cole, a Lewisboro resident, will serve until the winner of November’s election is certified, which typically occurs within a few weeks after Election Day. The election for the seat will pit Democratic Mount Kisco village Trustee Karen Schleimer against Republican Francis Corcoran, a Bedford councilman.
“I have been active in government and politics for more than 25 years and filling this seat is an honor that tops all of those activities,” said Cole, who worked for IBM for 34 years. “I am grateful for this opportunity and am confident that I will hit the ground running to give the residents of northern Westchester a place to go to voice their concerns and have an avenue of advocacy at the county level.”
Cole will caucus with the Democrats. Earlier this spring when Harckham announced that he would resign June 1 to join Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, Board of Legislators Chairman Michael Kaplowitz said that the Democrats would offer a fellow Democrat as the temporary replacement because that’s what District 2 voters preferred at the last election in 2013.
Kaplowitz said the Board of Legislators looks forward to Cole’s contributions for the time that he will serve.
“Legislator Cole has done an admirable job of getting up to speed on a number of important issues currently before the Board,” he said. “His constituents should know that they have an excellent representative at the Board of Legislators.”
Democratic Majority Leader Catherine Borgia added that his professional background and long history of community involvement will provide his district with a strong, independent voice.
Harckham left the Board of Legislators to become the assistant director of the Office of Community Renewal, where he works with local governments throughout the lower and mid-Hudson Valley on economic development, construction of more housing and using Community Development Block Grant funds for community renewal projects.
District 2 covers northeastern Westchester and includes Mount Kisco, Bedford, Lewisboro, North Salem and parts of Somers.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
