BERNE — On New Year’s Day, the newly installed bipartisan Berne Town board voted as one.

All votes were unanimous and there was little discussion as the five-member board — four Democrats and one Republican — passed 21 resolutions defining a wide range of policies.

Six years earlier, when GOP-backed candidates took control of the board for the first time in many decades, changes were swift and sweeping.

This year, all the existing boards and committees remained in place.

Thomas Doolin, a Republican who did not seek re-election after serving one four-year term on the board, was named deputy supervisor.

When the three other GOP-backed board members abruptly resigned in 2024, claiming then-supervisor Dennis Palow had mismanaged finances and created a toxic work environment, Doolin remained on the board, serving under Palow as deputy supervisor.

Doolin said at the board’s December meeting that he was retiring from his medical practice as a physician’s assistant.

When The Enterprise asked Supervisor Joseph Giebelhaus why he had chosen Doolin as his deputy — typically a board member serves in that role — Giebelhaus replied, “Institutional knowledge.”

As deputy superintendent, Doolin does not have voting privileges.

Giebelhaus said of Doolin, “He is in town most of the time. He knows every system in place. We’re a brand new board.”

The longest serving board member, lawyer Melanie laCour, a Democrat, was appointed to the board last January by the governor to make it functional again. She was sworn in last February and attended her first meeting in March.

Giebelhaus, a Democrat, was appointed as a councilman in April. Giebelhaus and laCour were both elected in November along with first-timers Republican Casey Miller and Democrats Scott Duncan and Brian Bunzey.

Incumbent Town Clerk Kristin De Oliveira, a Republican, was re-elected, and Republican Allen Stempel, running on the Democratic line, ousted Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger, who had once chaired both the town and county Republican committees.

Giebelhaus told The Enterprise he started drafting the New Year’s Day resolutions just after the elections and distributed them to the new board members.

He noted his 30 years of government work as the needed background for the drafting process. Giebelhaus had moved to Berne after working for 28 years for the city of Albany, including 18 years as solid-waste manager and seven years as deputy commissioner of the city’s general services department.

“Other municipalities have many of these in place,” he said after the meeting of the newly adopted policies. “Our town doesn’t.”

Among the new policies is one that makes clear Freedom of Information Law requests are valid even if not submitted to the records access officer. Another policy defines the town’s statutory duty to annually audit the records of all town officers who disburse funds.

A third policy defines hiring procedures to be “conducted in a fair, transparent, and merit-based manner.” A fourth defines payment policies that maintain “proper fiscal control” while a fifth outlines purchasing procedures.

The town had been plagued with financial problems under the GOP-controlled board. A 2021 audit report from the state comptroller’s office, covering the entirety of 2020, itemized the duties the Berne Town Board had neglected. A later report from the comptroller’s office found that the Berne board had followed only one of its 11 recommendations.

Berne overdrew its payroll account several times in 2023 and let utility bills go un- and underpaid for years.

In October, Giebelhaus, as a councilman, released a $4.24 million preliminary town budget for 2026 that he said “rights the ship” by aligning revenues with actual costs, increasing town taxes by 38 percent. The increase, he said, was to eliminate an average deficit spending of 30 percent from 2021 to 2023.

Berne currently has 67 vendors with services that total over $1 million.

LaCour called it “a little concerning how many contracts look like handshake deals.”

“We just want to get started,” said Giebelhaus.

The board set a $1,000 limit such that any officer requesting over $1,000 has to come to the board for approval.

Stempel said that any repair with a big truck would be over $1,000.

“We’re going to work with you,” Giebelhaus responded.

LaCour said the board is “trying to find an equilibrium with past practices.”

“We’re looking for checks and balances that have not been in place before,” said Giebelhaus.

After reading each resolution, Giebelhaus first asked the board for comments and then asked if the public had comments.

The crowd of more than 50, which had been on hand for the celebratory swearing-in ceremony that opened the meeting, had dwindled to a dozen for the reading of resolutions.

One of the only questions from the public came from resident Helen Lounsbury as the board adopted its audit policy. She asked if it would be a forensic audit.

“That’s what I’m shooting for,” Giebelhaus responded, adding that he doesn’t want someone to take over a department that has problems.

The Enterprise asked after the meeting how costly the audits would be. “We’re not going to move till we know how much it costs,” Giebelhaus responded.

He also explained the resolutions that authorized him to sign six-month contracts with Lamont Engineering and with the Law Offices of George D. McHugh. Those sixth months, Giebelhaus explained, will cover the town for engineering and legal services while the town board puts out requests for proposals and evaluates the best choice for town attorney and engineer.

Late in the meeting, Lounsbury said, “I want to commend you for encouraging participation from the community, making it part of the program.”

Palow had not allowed public comment at meetings.

“Gold star,” said her husband, Walter Galicki.

At the very end of the meeting, Mary Claire Ansbro, who had been reappointed to head parks and recreation for the town, also commended Giebelhaus on running a harmonious meeting, saying no one had any questions about or objections to the resolutions.

LaCour responded, “Supervisor Giebelhaus did a very good job of making sure we were prepared for this meeting.”

Geibelhaus told The Enterprise afterward of the many resolutions, “There’s been a request for transparency. With transparency comes accountability.”