RIPLEY — Jim Spacht, current town of Ripley highway superintendent, has been endorsed by the Democratic, Working Families and Independence parties in the upcoming general election on Nov. 5.

Spacht works side-by-side with the highway workers. This eliminated a position, so the town did not have to hire and pay another worker.

Among Spacht’s accomplishments include:

¯ Received $125,000 New York state grant to build a much-needed salt shed;

¯ Filled two vacant highway positions;

¯ Paved seven dirt roads and worked with the state to obtain free millings;

¯ Re-paved nine roads that were in need of repair and sealed several of them;

¯ Patched numerous roads throughout the town until they can be fully upgraded.

¯ Work on the following town projects: Ripley Beach, Gazebo Park, water/sewer projects, demolition projects, small sidewalk grant and the Town Hall.

Among his goals are to implement a new strategy, with a back-up plan, to get the sidewalks cleared early in the morning to keep the kids safe while still clearing the roads for the buses and residents; pave the remaining dirt roads with millings and re-paving all the roads in need of repair.

Spacht is a lifelong town resident. His lives wife his wife and three children on his family’s 169-acre farm in Ripley where his grandfather began farming in 1958.

He is a 34-year member in the Ripley Fire District, and has been a chief for nearly 20 years and is the current district deputy fire chieft.

“I voluntarily wrote grants for the fire district due to the extreme need for funds,” he said. “I Successfully received over $250,0000 in funding over the past 15 to 20 years for the Ripley Fire District. Most notably; the bunker gear that our Ripley volunteer firefighters wear to keep them safe while protecting our community, which includes leather boots, helmets, bunker pants and coats, hoods and gloves for all firefighters in the Ripley Fire District. I also received grant funding for the truck bay addition onto the South Ripley Firehall (and) oversaw the building project and spent countless hours working with many others to get it built. No taxpayer funds were used for the project which houses the South Ripley fire engine and tanker.