ORANGE — He might not have his opponent’s experience in public service, but he’s been fascinated with water systems his whole life — going back to childhood, when he’d build fake dams to block the water streaming down Chase Street.
Carl L. Sauter, 72, of 57 Forest Lane beat Denise Andrews, 59, of 21 Beach Lane, with 221 votes to Andrews’ 71, in the race for water commissioner in Orange’s Monday town election. Sauter, with his experience working on water systems as a control panel builder for Rodney Hunt Inc., thought winning was a possibility, but predicted his race against the former Democratic state representative for the Second Franklin District would be much closer.
“I initially had no idea if it would really, really be close, or a marginal win,” Sauter said. “I thought I could win. A lot of people in town trust me.”
“Anyone whose gone to be a public servant at any time, they deserve maybe a little bit of a buffer,” he added.
Sauter said he was surprised at the reaction from voters, who took interest in the race, one of two contested races in Monday’s election. The other contested race was for cemetery commissioner, with incumbent George C.F. Willard beating challenger John D. Waters Sr., 157 to 137 votes.
“It turned out to be a lot nicer and better than I ever would have imagined,” Sauter said. “The interaction with the people – the amount of people who came up to me, gave me hugs.”
Sauter has spent weeks studying the history of Orange’s Water Department, scavenging for old reports and news clippings — “Orange has one of the best, if not the best, water supply of any town or city in the state as to quality, and is one of the few systems where the pumping is done by water,” reads a June 13, 1902 article in the Orange Enterprise & Journal.
Orange still has an excellent water system, Sauter said, and he would like to see the district be “revolutionary,” just as it was in 1902. One of his first plans as water commissioner will be to examine the possibility of a municipal water purification system that uses ultraviolet light, something he saw in New York City’s water systems while doing field work for Rodney Hunt Inc. Orange uses chemical treatment — something which is safe and common, Sauter stressed — but ultraviolet systems can be more efficient.
“The UV system is very, very good,” Sauter said. “It kills bacteria, microbes, it kills it. Chlorine bleach, that will kill the stuff too. The problem is once you’re done there’s chlorine in the water.”
Sauter also said he wants to ensure the sale of the Lake Mattawa “point” properties yields a fair, positive result. The point properties are homes on town-owned land, with residents paying taxes to the town in order to stay there “as if they own” the properties. In 2012, an act passed in the state legislature allowing the town to sell the properties to the current residents in earnest, and 25 percent of the money would go to the Water Department. Sauter, himself a point resident, estimates the total value of the properties to be about $1 million.
For the win, Sauter thanks his friend Glenn Harris, whom he met while advocating for the preservation of the Mahar Dam a few years ago, for standing down the street from the polls “for hours” holding a sign. On the Water Commission, Sauter will be back to working with Michael Hume, a former coworker of his.
“I’m excited to have the job. As it developed, it was a shock that I might even apply for it, but I started to think and say, ‘Wow there’s a lot of possibility here,’” Sauter said. “The number one thing is this has to do with the health of people. It’s a technical challenge to maintain one of these things in good order. It’s a challenge and I love it.”
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.