Wallkill and Montgomery town boards unanimously voted for Ronald Feller to fill a vacant Orange County Legislature seat at a special joint meeting on Jan. 3.
The District 9 seat was vacated by former county legislator Stephen Brescia, who left to serve as Montgomery’s town supervisor at the beginning of the year.
About 13,300 Montgomery residents and 7,000 Wallkill residents live in that legislative district, according to the 2020 U.S. Census data.
A longtime Montgomery resident, Mr. Feller attended John Burke Catholic High School and Villanova University before joining the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War era.
He worked at Con Edison for almost 30 years, commuting to New York City or Westchester each workday until about the time when his youngest daughter died of ovarian cancer.
“I want to be home with my family,” said Mr. Feller, who retired from his city job and became a local home builder in the Montgomery area.
Though an active community member for decades, he never thought about entering politics until a local Republican committee member urged him to run for town council more than a decade ago.
“At first, believe it or not, it was pretty difficult,” he told The Epoch Times. “We had a split board, and there was a lot of tensions, questioning, and bickering, which I didn’t like.
“But on the other hand, it gave me the opportunity to look at both sides of the coin. I wanted to become a good listener to find out what the other side is really trying to get out, and sometimes, they’ve got a pretty good point.”
Mr. Feller went on to serve as deputy town supervisor and then parks and recreation director before being tapped to fill the supervisor post vacated by Brian Maher at the end of 2022.
Mr. Maher left the supervisor seat one year early to serve in the New York State Assembly.
“I enjoy talking to both sides today, people that are not so Republican-oriented and people that are Republican-oriented,” Mr. Feller said, noting that he would carry that mentality to the County Legislature in 2024.
