ANCRAM—The Town Board has decided to wait until the next general election in November to fill the board seat vacancy created by the resignation of Councilman Christopher Thomas.
During the board’s organization meeting January 5, members voted unanimously not to appoint to fill the vacancy or conduct a special election.
Town Supervisor Art Bassin said by phone last week that the board concluded it could operate with four members for the year and it would let the political process deal with filling the vacancy. Mr. Thomas resigned effective January 6.
The Town Board organized as follows, appointing: Budget Officer Art Bassin; Deputy Town Supervisor Hugh Clark; Town Attorneys John Lyons, Jason Shaw, Elena Defio-Kean, Mitchell Khosrova; Town Engineers Morris Associates, CT Male, Ryan Briggs Clark Davis, Pat Prendergast; Town Historian Robin Massa; Deputy Town Historian Clara VanTassel; Town Hall Building Manager George Wittlinger; Deputy Town Hall Building Manager David Boice; Town Assessor Ken Leggett (through September 2019); Assessor’s clerk Monica Cleveland; Building Inspector/Zoning Enforcement and Code Enforcement Officer Ed Ferratto; Clerks for Building Inspector/ ZEO/CEO Marie McDermott, Colleen Lutz; Animal Control Officer Wes Powell; Emergency Preparedness Plan Coordinators Art Bassin, Jim Miller, Dave Boice; Registrar of Vital Statistics Monica Cleveland; Records Management Officer Monica Cleveland; Clerk of the Town Court Ruth Wittlinger; Deputy Clerk of the Town Court Colleen Lutz; Planning Board Clerk and Zoning Board of Appeals Clerk Colleen Lutz; Deputy Town Clerk Ruth Wittlinger; Assistant Deputy Town Clerk Colleen Lutz; Deputy Tax Collector Ruth Wittlinger; Kid’s Summer Camp Director Samantha Mason; Ancram Pool Director Jen Boice; Head lifeguard Johanna Boice; Town Accountant Brian Fitzgerald; Insurance agent Kirk Kneller, Brad Peck/Lofgren/Apollo Agency.
Designated: Official Town Bank/Depository Bank of Greene County; Town Justices’ Depositories Key Bank, Bank of Greene County; Town Clerk Depository Bank of Greene County; Town Tax Collector Depository Bank of Greene County; Official Newspapers The Columbia Paper and the Register-Star; Official Dog Kennels Columbia-Greene Humane Society, Fraser Kennels; Town Representatives to Columbia County, Representatives to the Advisory Council to the Office of the Aging Madeleine Israel and Adrienne Citrin; Representative to the Columbia County Traffic Safety Board Steve Williams,
Alternate Bill Gillers; Representative to the County Environmental Management Council Ann Rader; Official Polling Places, District #1 Ancram Town Hall, District #2 Friendship Hall, Ancramdale Presbyterian Church.
Authorized the Town Supervisor to compensate Officials of the Town for duties performed on the following basis: annually—town historian, assistant town historian; quarterly—Town Board, town supervisor, town justices, and town hall building manager; monthly—Planning and Zoning Board clerks, Building Department clerk, court clerks, town hall cleaning custodian; every other week—Highway Department personnel, animal control officer, assessor, town clerk, registrar, tax collector, assessor’s clerk, zeo/ceo, summer life guards and kids’ camp staff, camp director, pool director.
Approved the following authorizations, policies and procedures:
• Highway superintendent and town supervisor authorized to spend up to $5,000 for a single unbudgeted expenditure without prior Town Board approval, and are authorized to purchase budgeted materials and services up to the amount in the approved highway and general fund budgets without prior Town Board approval
• Mileage reimbursement for town officials performing their duties on official town business will be set at the IRS rate per mile
• Town Board may accept county and state bids that apply to the Town of Ancram, including but not limited to gasoline, propane, heating oil, diesel fuel, salt, stone, road oil, tires and culvert pipe, so long as state and county bids are equal to or less than locally available alternatives, but the Town Board may also select suppliers that are not the best price but provide, in the judgment of the Town Board, the best value based on reliability and service
• Salaries and per hour pay rates for elected and appointed officials and employees for the year 2017 will be in accordance with the approved 2017 budget
• Official meeting of the Ancram Town Board will be the third Thursday of each month, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Ancram Town Hall, 1416 County Route 7, with Saturday meetings to be scheduled at the discretion of the Board
• Salaries for appointed clerks will be recommended by department heads and approved by the Town Board as part of the budget process
• Town Clerk is authorized to advertise for, accept and open all bids presented before the board, with bids in sealed envelopes marked “sealed bids”
• Town Clerk is authorized to purchase all necessary supplies, stationery and dockets on behalf all departments not to exceed total budgeted amounts included in the 2017 budgets for such purchases as part of each department’s budgeted.4 account, in accordance with the approved Town Purchasing Policy
• Town Supervisor and Deputy Town Supervisor are each authorized to sign town checks without having them countersigned. Checks over $10,000 must be signed by both the supervisor and the deputy supervisor
• All conferences and training attended by any town official or employee and paid for by the town in excess of $100 must be approved, in advance, by the Town Board. Training and conferences that will be attended by the Town Supervisor or any Town Board member and paid for by the Town of Ancram in excess of $200 must be approved, in advance, by the Town Board
• Town purchasing policies will follow standard state purchasing guidelines unless otherwise specified in the approved Town Purchasing Policy Document
• Town Investment Policy is to maintain funds in an interest bearing money market account with the Town’s depository bank, with deposits over FDIC insured limits collateralized by securities pledged by the Town’s depository bank or their agents
• Town will follow state and Town of Ancram FOIL laws, and will respond to FOIL requests within 20 business days, except in situations where the amount of information requested is significant enough to make the 20 business day turnaround impractical. There will be a 25 cents/page fee for all documents requested.
The Town Board authorized the formation of a Community Development Advisory Council to include Broadband, Cell Service, Cable, Heritage Resources, Habitat for Humanities, Affordable Housing, Intersections, Economic Development to be chaired by Gerry Fultz, with the following specifics: Cell Service—Jane Plasman, Mary Murfitt; Broadband—Steve Solomon, Jim Storm, Norm Osofsky, Rob Horwitz, Alex Lage; Heritage Resources—Scott Newman, Greg Long, Sue Bassin, Clara VanTassel, Bob Blechman, Bob Murphy, Lynne Perrella, Robin Massa, Susan Friedlander, Art Bassin.
The Climate Smart Communities Task Force will be chaired by Doug Brenner with members Larry Lampman, Jane Meigs, David Dembo, Bob Moss, Brad Bennett, Susan Flamm and Madeleine Israel.
A Monument Committee has been formed and assigned to oversee the design of new all-inclusive veterans’ monument at Town Hall and take care of existing monuments. Jim MacArthur will chair the committee and members are David Boice, Lynne Perrella, Hugh Clark, B. Docktor, Bob Wilcox, Prope Dietter, Gerry Roberts, Ron VanTassel and Bob Grayson.
A complete listing of 2017 organization-related measures and committees will be posted on the town website at www.townofancram.org.
To contact Diane Valden email dvalden@columbiapaper.com
