TROY – Frustrations boiled over during Monday’s Board of Aldermen meeting in Troy resulting in one alderman calling the proceedings a “joke” before being told to “shut up.”

The feud between Troy mayor Ron Sconce and aldermen Harold Horner, David Norman and Rachel Dunard ignited the confrontation after Sconce attempted to appoint a replacement for Kay Diekemper for a third consecutive meeting.

And for a third consecutive time, Horner, Norman and Dunard voted down the nomination with Gary Leifert and Steven Jones voting yes.

For a second time, Sconce nominated Michael Quezada, who previously lost to Dunard in April.

In addressing the board, Quezada skipped the carrot and went straight for the stick, comparing himself to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, chastising a board member for stating he would only support one nominee for the position, while repeating a rumor he was denied the position because of his support for President Donald Trump.

“This is a chance for you guys to make a second chance to do the right thing because right now, this city and these people are not equally represented,” he said. “And it’s wrong. This city needs a person to fill that seat. I ask you to do the right thing.”

Jones agreed with him, reminding the board of an ordinance they recently passed to prevent underrepresentation on the board.

“We passed the ordinance a while back about if an Alderman missed so many meetings, they would be removed,” Jones said. “People stood up and one of the things that they talked about was a lack of representation because that person didn’t come to the meeting. We need to fill this position.”

Horner disagreed, pointing out there was an election for the seat coming up in April and that by appointing Quezada, who has filed to run, would be giving him an advantage over other candidates, one of which, Kim Colbert, was in attendance at the meeting.

After Norman and Sconce argued over the number of other viable candidates who expressed interest, the mayor tried to recenter the discussion.

“This debate is not about me, or whether you like me,” Sconce said. “It’s about what’s good, right, and fair for the citizens of the city of Troy. The system is set up so that there’s a balance

see JOKE page 4 of power. There are two representatives from each board so that no one person can control what happens. There’s a reason why it’s set up this way. And it’s a balance. It’s so that everyone is fairly equally represented. The reason it’s set up that way is to be fair to all the citizens. I would ask that the board treat all the citizens fairly tonight.”

After the 3-2 vote, Leifert called the proceedings a “joke” to which Horner agreed before telling Leifert to shut up. An audience member then stated “bulls***” twice in response to the board’s vote.

Also at the meeting, the board approved by a 5-0 vote an amendment to its existing sign ordinance to regulate billboards. Unlike in the past, new billboards will have to be approved by the city. Also, all billboards will be charged a $1,000 application fee and a $1,000 annual licensing fee.

Dunard had previously suggested charging a percentage- based fee based on the revenue generated by the billboard, but her suggestion was largely ignored in favor of the flat fee.