2026 New York General Election

Connor Exum

Buket Urgen

Connor Exum attended Louisville University.

BETTER THAN HEARSAY - The Windham Town Supervisor Race

Connor is semi-retired. He previously served as operations manager of his family corporation.

Connor previously ran for Windham town supervisor in 2024 but did not win.

Windham supervisor tears up newspaper in clash over mountain ...

We must, as a community, come together and create solutions that will sustain our community for generations.

Imagine a community with a town-financed small business incubator that helps our residents find the funding they need to grow? Imagine a community with a program for home efficiency, where grants and assistance are provided to the most vulnerable members of our community, low-income families, and those on fixed incomes, to reduce the costs of winter and summer utilities.

Letter: What Is at Stake in Windham's 2026 Election

How do you see your role as supervisor intersecting with the Mountain Club’s role as a tourism driver in town?
Exum: My role is to balance their oversized abilities right now and offer and build an alternative revenue stream into the community. We have to start financing incubators and accelerators, getting local entrepreneurs back into the game here. If they cut more and more of the skiers, you get fewer and fewer reasons for people to come here and rent housing or go to our hotels, shop in our few stores and eat in our restaurants. We have to build up that local base.

Meet The Candidates: Connor Exum on Affordable Housing, Transparency and Gentrification – The Overlook

Exum: We have to look at outsourcing. From my studies of outsourcing of services such as our water treatment, we run somewhere between an eight to 15% profit margin on that to our company that runs it, Cedarwood. We’re paying for everything. They’re just the managers. Why don’t we hire some engineers, which are good-paying, local jobs, keep those jobs inside, save eight to 15%. We’re outsourcing our roads to contractors that have 15 to 20% right on the top.

Proposes a community SHARE program to make loans to startup and expanding local businesses.

Proposes pursuing a tax-neutral, town-owned ski operation financed through revenue bonds.

Proposes town-financed business incubators and accelerators to help local entrepreneurs access funding and grow.

Proposes hiring local engineers instead of outsourcing water-treatment services, which he says could retain jobs and reduce costs.

- Proposes town-financed business incubators and accelerators to help local entrepreneurs access funding and grow.
- Proposes hiring local engineers instead of outsourcing water-treatment services, which he says could retain jobs and reduce costs.

Economy

How would you help residents learn about town decisions and have a say before those decisions are made? Please identify a specific change you would make to improve transparency or communication.
Exum: There are a lot of ways we can attack transparency. One of the things I want to do is introduce a policy of more public hearings. When you have a board like the planning board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, that’s really a black box-type operation.

If they want to remove one of them, ironically, they have to have a public hearing and explain why they want to remove this member. I think that’s kind of backwards. Let’s put out a list of positions that are open. Let’s advertise, let’s have a public hearing. Let’s have everyone who wants to come and be a part of the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals bring their full resume and we’ll ask them questions.
Let’s find out what boards they serve on, what businesses they’re involved with, so we all have an idea on what kind of conflicts of interest they may or may not have.

Let’s have everyone who wants to come and be a part of the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals bring their full resume and we’ll ask them questions.
Let’s find out what boards they serve on, what businesses they’re involved with, so we all have an idea on what kind of conflicts of interest they may or may not have. We also need to make sure the minutes of meetings are reliable and on time. I don’t know if I’ve seen Planning Board minutes posted on time in the past three years. We also have to make the meetings more accessible. Every other small town is putting their meetings on Zoom, at least. Shandaken puts theirs on YouTube. We can do that, too.

Plans to adopt a policy of holding more public hearings on town decisions.

Proposes publicly advertising Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals openings and holding hearings with applicants.

Calls for timely meeting minutes and making town meetings accessible through Zoom or YouTube.

- Plans to adopt a policy of holding more public hearings on town decisions.
- Proposes publicly advertising Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals openings and holding hearings with applicants.
- Calls for timely meeting minutes and making town meetings accessible through Zoom or YouTube.

Public Services

But if you go with a three-acre minimum, you use up all the land with very large houses, which require a lot of energy resources which is bad for the environment. I promote what is called cluster housing, right around state Route 296, Main Street, on connecting roads. Housing can be denser there. We’re not going to touch the periphery of the town. That’s still going to be open and wide. The town also has to be a part of the process.

The town also has to be a part of the process. I know a lot of people like the RUPCO solution.
I’m not a big fan of that, since RUPCO has most of their jobs in Kingston and most of their engineers and architects tend to be out of Syracuse or Albany, so those jobs aren’t going to be local. I would prefer to see a housing authority right here in Windham with people who are from Windham.

Opposes Windham's proposed zoning law and calls for land-use regulations that do not economically segregate residents or shift costs to businesses and residents.

Promotes denser cluster housing near Route 296 and Main Street while keeping the town's periphery open.

Prefers a Windham-based housing authority staffed by local residents.

- Promotes denser cluster housing near Route 296 and Main Street while keeping the town's periphery open.
- Prefers a Windham-based housing authority staffed by local residents.

Housing & Urban Development

As of October 28, 2026, Connor Exum’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Public Safety

Transportation & Infrastructure

Imagine a community with a town-financed small business incubator that helps our residents find the funding they need to grow? Imagine a community with a program for home efficiency, where grants and assistance are provided to the most vulnerable members of our community, low-income families, and those on fixed incomes, to reduce the costs of winter and summer utilities. Imagine a community where investments in local businesses are made by residents in our business sector through a community partnership between businesses, the town, local banks, and residents; this is known as a SHARE program.

We also have to look at what we’re doing with energy resources at our water treatment plant.
Last year, we were paying about $29,000 in hauling off sludge, which has to go all the way up to western New York to dump it. We can turn that sludge into methane gas and create a cogeneration plant there. We can power the entire wastewater treatment plant plus the ambulance center with the electricity. We’re creating clean energy for ourselves.

Proposes home-efficiency grants and assistance for low-income residents and people on fixed incomes to reduce utility costs.

Proposes converting wastewater sludge into methane to power the wastewater treatment plant and ambulance center.

- Proposes home-efficiency grants and assistance for low-income residents and people on fixed incomes to reduce utility costs.
- Proposes converting wastewater sludge into methane to power the wastewater treatment plant and ambulance center.

Energy & the Environment

Thomas F. Hoyt

Thomas F. Hoyt is a lifelong resident of Windham.

Catskill Watershed Corporation Board

Thomas previously served as the Town of Windham's Highway Superintendent.

Thomas serves as Town Supervisor of Windham and has held the office for six years.

Supervisor - Town of Windham

The Mountain Eagle - BETTER THAN HEARSAY - The Windham Town Supervisor Race

As of October 28, 2026, Thomas F. Hoyt’s website did not contain information on this issue.

New York Town Supervisor, Windham

Candidates (2)