Republican Party Line Out the Window for Avon Town Council Member

AVON — At this past Thursday’s Avon Town Board Meeting, Town Councilman Jim Blye and candidate Jim Harrington got into a heated argument so extreme that Blye vowed to do everything he can to prevent a fellow Republican party member from getting elected.

James Blye, and Jim Harrington, who is running for Town Council, got into a nasty argument over the salaries of Town employees, and once Blye had enough he vowed to do everything in his power to stop Harrington from winning.

“I’m going to do everything I can to keep you from getting elected, you know that? Because you are so misinformed. Because you spend all your time sitting over at the diner shooting your mouth off,” said Blye. “I’m going to spend all my time making sure you’re not getting elected, Jim.”

Jim Harrington (R) Jeannie Michalski (R) and Malachy Coyne (D) are all running for two Town Council seats that are being vacated by Dick Steen and Bob Ayers. No Democrat has ever been elected to the Avon Town Council.

The argument started when Harrington raised concerns over the pay of Sharon Knight, Avon Town Clerk, and her salary as compared to Water Superintendent Daniel McKeown and Town Highway Superintendent Tom Crye.

“As a taxpayer I have nothing against [McKeown], he does a great job. But as a taxpayer how can you justify that a guy that has been here 10 years is $6,000 away from a guy that’s been here 20 years [in reference to Crye],” said Harrington.  “This guy’s got 20k in raises in 10 years and Sharon has only got 8k in 16 years.”

Blye stated that the jobs were completely different and defended the pay rate that was approved by the Town Board.

“Do you get paid the same amount of money that cooks at Ember or North Shore?” asked Blye to Harrington, who is a cook at the Avon Village Restaurant.

Dave LeFeber had to interrupt the argument and questioned the accuracy of Harrington’s numbers.According to See Through NY, Knight makes $39,760.