LAKE HUNTINGTON —Cochecton Supervisor Gary Maas expects to welcome Lake Huntington physician Paul Salzberg to the town board at its July 8 meeting.

“I assume by next meeting he's going to be sitting on the board,” Maas told the Democrat yesterday.

And that means current Councilman Ed Grund will be off the board, as a year and a half after Grund and Salzberg squared off in the race for town council, Salzberg has been declared the official winner.

On Friday, the Sullivan County Board of Elections counted 16 ballots of voters whose residencies had been challenged by Maas.

The votes had been cast back in November 2013, but the legal wranglings persisted until last month, when the NYS Supreme Court's Appellate Division (Third Judicial Department) overturned Sullivan County Supreme Court Justice Stephan Schick's decision that the voters in question were not entitled to cast ballots in Cochecton.

The three state judges declared the voters had legitimate ties to the town, even though they live in a summer-only seasonal community in Lake Huntington.

Maas decided not to appeal it further, and thus the votes were counted.

Every single one of them went to Salzberg, vaulting him over Grund 332-325.

(There were two other candidates, as this was a race for two town board seats. However, winner Sean Nearing's 359 tally was unchanged, and candidate Joan Glase's total of 296 wasn't enough to garner a seat.)

“I'm happy with the results,” Salzberg acknowledged yesterday, adding he was glad the disenfranchised 16 ultimately won their right to vote locally. “I will try to do my best to serve my community.”

Maas expressed disappointment in the outcome but anticipates installing Salzberg at the next town board gathering. He's checking with the NYS Association of Towns for guidance, as the county and state Boards of Election were unsure exactly what happens next, due to the rarity of such a circumstance.

Grund's year-and-a-half of service - and votes - on the board is not being questioned or challenged legally, and Salzberg will likely smoothly assume the remainder of what was Grund's four-year term, through the end of 2017.

Grund did not offer comment, other than to confirm he plans to run for one of two town board seats up for vote this fall (currently occupied by Larry Richardson and Anna Story).

Maas said Grund will remain his appointed deputy supervisor at least till then, depending on how the election goes.