Independent candidate challenging incumbent in Somerset

Thomas Tedesco, Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
·2 min read

Nov. 2—BARKER — Two-term incumbent Jeff Dewart is facing off against independent candidate Lauritz "Larry" Dent to secure the Somerset town supervisor seat's on the Nov. 7 ballot.

Dent, a material fielder and trainer with the U.S. Army and member of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals, had originally sought to challenge Dewart in the Republican primary election in June, but his nominating petition was tossed by the Niagara County Board of Elections.

Despite that, he said, he was determined to be on the ballot, so he launched an independent candidacy.

"It was all just a learning experience," Dent said. "I had to just overcome and push through."

Dewart, who was a town board member for eight years prior to being elected supervisor in November 2020, said he aims to continue various town projects that he had recently gotten off the ground after the COVID-19 pandemic stymied progress for most of his first term.

"It was very difficult to try and do any projects locally for the people," Dewart said.

Among the various projects he wants to see through are upgrades to the town park, sewer system, and the lagoons by the site of the decommissioned Somerset Generation Station, all with funding the town secured through state grants.

"It's actually going to save the taxpayers money down the road," Dewart said. "That'd be over $1 million dollars to take care of just what we're doing with the lagoons right now."

The town's finances are one of Dent's foremost concerns, too. He said his main reason for running for supervisor was to "bring some kind of transparency" to the town government and its budgets especially. He pointed to what he terms "discrepancies" in recent town budgets in light of the state's audit of the town's finances in Fiscal Year 2016.

"Part of my job is being a steward of tax dollars and ensuring that the best product gets pushed out to the end user," he said. "In this case, it would be the residents of Somerset. If this is the product that's being pushed out to the residents, they all deserve better."

If elected, Dent said one way he would look to better the town's financial situation is to "restructure or contract out" the services provided by the town's police department similar to neighboring towns in Niagara County as opposed to raising taxes.

"(With) the money that we're spending on our police department department (I would see) if we can get more and a better product through the (Niagara County) Sheriff's Department," Dent said.