Persico wins town justice seat

COEYMANS — After a week of uncertainty following Election Day, the results are in – Rocco Persico has won the Coeymans town justice seat.

After votes were counted at the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 6, Persico was ahead by 41 votes, with a total of 1,194, compared to incumbent Kevin Reilly’s 1,153.

But with 134 absentee ballots still to be counted, the outcome of the race remained uncertain.

Absentee votes were counted at the Albany County Board of Elections on Tuesday, Nov. 13, and Persico took the bulk of them.

Of the 134 ballots waiting to be counted, Persico received 85 votes, and Reilly 49.

That left Persico with a total of 1,279 votes and Reilly 1,202.

The results are still unofficial, according to Rachel Bledi, Republican Commissioner at the Albany County Board of Elections.

“It will be a while before the result is official because we have so many absentee and affidavit votes to count in other towns, but unofficially, Rocco Persico has won,” Bledi said.

Persico will take the bench in January 2019.

“Being a town justice is something I’ve been interested in for a long time,” Persico said in an interview prior to the election. “I knew it was something where availability is very important, and now that I’m retired, I am available to dedicate the time that the position deserves.”

While he is new to the judicial bench, Persico is not a newcomer to local office. He was a village trustee in Ravena for eight years, stepping down roughly five years ago.

Professionally, he is a retired school psychologist, including 29 years of experience working with the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district. He retired from the district in April 2017.

But he said the experience working with the school district — in a position that involves laws, and working with lawyers, doctors and families — will serve him well as town justice.

He takes the place of longtime Town Justice Kevin Reilly, who has been on the bench, both in the town and village courts, for 22 years.