KNOX — On New Year’s Day, the town’s new supervisor, who had ousted the 42-year incumbent in November elections, saw two measures he had proposed fail.

Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis wanted to replace the long-time chairman of the planning board, and he wanted to hire legal counsel by putting out requests for proposals.

Ultimately, Robert Price, by a vote of 3 to 2, was retained as the chairman of the planning board, and John Dorfman remains the town’s attorney.

The planning board members, including the chairman, are unpaid. The town attorney is paid a yearly salary of $18,094.

The Knox Town Board is green. Michael Hammond was ousted as supervisor and 22-year Councilman Nicholas Viscio quit after the elections.

That leaves four-year board member Amy Pokorny, and Dennis Barber, who was just elected to a second four-year term. The other three board members are brand new: Supervisor Lefkaditis and Councilman Earl Barcomb were elected in November, and councilman Eric Kuck was appointed last month after Viscio quit.

Pokorny said she wanted to keep Dorfman as the town’s attorney because, with such a new board, “There was no institutional knowledge without John.” Dorfman has been the town attorney for 22 years.

Similarly, Barber said that he, like the other council members, voted to keep Dorfman for his experience. “I am the senior person on the town board,” said Barber. “Mr. Dorfman knows a lot of the ins and outs. It’s not a time right now to replace him because of all his knowledge.”

Barber also said that, when he asked Lefkaditis if he “had anybody lined up, he said no.”

Lefkaditis said on Monday that he had campaigned on opening up Knox government, allowing new people to serve. “A lot of people here want to be part of local government,” he said.

He said the two vacancies on the planning board will be advertised and the full town board will interview the candidates. “We have four people already,” he said of applicants. “They are all excellent.”

The town of Knox placed a legal ad in this week’s Enterprise, soliciting letters of interest and résumés for vacancies including two planning board members, one zoning board member, two conservation advisory council members, a minutes recorder for the zoning board, and the town historian.

On Jan. 1, most of the standing posts were renewed, including Robert Edwards as chairman of the zoning board. “I reached out to every person on the list,” said Lefkaditis, noting he was unable to reach only three or four.

Lefkaditis said it will be up to the town board if some of the things he proposed during his campaign will come to pass — like opening the town hall with its Internet for public use, or running his hedge fund from the town hall to expand its hours.

He had planned a tour for Saturday, Jan. 9, of the town facilities for the board members, noting that three, including himself, are new. The tour is open to the public — a requirement since a quorum of the board will be on hand, evaluating town facilities. The most important hallmark of his administration, Lefkaditis said, will be “open communication.”

Town Clerk Tara Murphy emailed The Enterprise Tuesday evening that the facilities walk-through scheduled for Saturday is “postponed due to the chance of inclement weather.” She wrote, “Vas requested that you still mention that this was going to happen but will be rescheduled.”

“My unprofessional opinion is that facilities have been neglected,” said Lefkaditis. The expanded town hall is only a few years old, he conceded, but he believes the transfer station and the highway garage may have “significant” needs.

Barber responded that he himself had worked at the Knox highway garage for seven years in the late 1970s and early 1980s and that he along with other town employees had built the transfer station very economically based on a design from Hammond’s students; Hammond had taught technology to high school students in Troy.

“I don’t think anything is in dire shape,” said Barber. Referencing Lefkaditis’s push for change, he said, “Mom always said a new broom sweeps clean.” Barber said of Hammond, “With Mike, we did not neglect things.” He also said of the town’s highway superintendent, “If there were any big concerns at the town garage, I’m sure Gary Salisbury would have let us know.”

Lefkaditis said he has heard considerable feedback from town employees since his election — both from the paid workers and the appointed volunteers. “I plan on listening to and addressing as many concerns as humanly possible,” he said. “If the requests are reasonable and responsible, we’ll respond.”

His view of the former decades-long administration is “a handful of people were running the show, and that was it.” Lefkaditis said, “There was no formal method” of dealing with complaints. Hammond could not be reached for comment.

Lefkaditis said he will sit down with workers in the highway department, transfer station, and building department to work on improvements.

“The little things really bring down morale,” said Lefkaditis. “The little things are easy. I plan on addressing them and hope the board will follow suit.”

“Vas has some very refreshing ideas,” said Pokorny. “I’m interested in working with him. We don’t agree on everything, but we hash things out.”

Barber said of serving with the new supervisor, “I think it’s going to be different. Society has changed. Community concerns have changed. We’ll listen to the people.”

Barber also noted, “I’ve been in town my whole life.” Lefkaditis moved to Knox a decade ago. Barber concluded, “Vas has the best interest of the town at heart. He’s in it for all the right reasons.”

Price stays as chairman

Lefkaditis had put forth Thomas Wolfe, a planning board member, as chairman. “He’s very seasoned, very level-headed, and bipartisan,” Lefkaditis said of Wolfe.

Wolfe had favored designating a second business district on Township Road to accommodate Hitmans Towing, which had opened there despite the area not being zoned for business. Lefkaditis campaigned on a pro-business platform, claiming that the former administration had slowed development.

Further, Lefkaditis said the desire to replace Price was “not personal.” He called Price “very dedicated and very talented” but said that, during his campaign, he had heard “an enormous amount of public feedback” suggesting he should be replaced.

Price, who is 81, is a semi-retired manufacturing engineer. He moved to Knox 46 years ago and joined the planning board 44 years ago, he said.

“The planning board does what it is supposed to do...in a reasonable fashion. We have our disagreements,” Price said. “I do not dominate the board.”

Asked why he has kept at it all these years, he said, “It’s fun; it’s useful.”

Lefkaditis said he did not know why three board members voted against his proposal to make Wolfe the chairman. “I told the board it’s common practice to rotate chairs so you create redundancies,” said Lefkaditis, “instead of being reliant on one individual.”

In 2005, the town board had hesitated to re-appoint Price as chairman after Republican members raised concerns about an incident of what they called “road rage” at the town’s transfer station.

Price said Monday that Lefkaditis had approached him several weeks before the reorganizational meeting, flattered him, said he could keep his seat on the board, but not as chairman. “I got a lot of flak” Price quoted Lefkaditis as saying over Price’s leadership role on the board.

By law, Price can’t be ousted from his appointed planning board seat until his term is up, but he serves as chairman at the pleasure of the board.

Price says he responded, “I don’t care if you got a lot of flak. If I can’t stay as chairman, I’m going to leave the board.”

Price subsequently emailed the other planning board members, except for Wolfe, he said, and found he had support for the chairman’s post.

“I got lambasted in an ugly way,” Price said of Lefkaditis’s reaction.

At the Jan. 1 meeting, Price said he spoke just four words. When going through a lettered list, Lefkaditis asked the military word for the letter “F,” to which Price responded, “Foxtrot.” And, when Lefkaditis summarized Price’s stance of quitting the planning board if he were not named chairman, Price said, “That is correct.”

“I don’t know why he thought he could make this happen,” said Price on Monday. “He didn’t have enough members of the board with his point of view.”

The vote was split, 3 to 2. 

Barber voted with Lefkaditis. Barcomb, Kuck, and Pokorny favored keeping Price at the helm. (Barcomb and Kuck could not be reached for comment.)

“We asked if he still wanted to stay on the planning board because he had so much to offer the town,” said Barber. “He said he’d only stay if he is chair. That’s not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear he wanted to be part of the process. Some of these chairs should be changed.”

Barber went on, “Bob is kind of outspoken. I don’t always agree with his views and the way he expresses them. I don’t like his tone of voice a lot of times and the way he acts. He’s like a little kid: If he can’t have his way, he’ll leave. He’ll throw his toy, like a tantrum.”

Barber concluded, “If he cared about the town, he’d serve on the board without having to be chair.”

Pokorny said she wanted to keep Price as the chairman because she “was interested in keeping the planning board intact, keeping the momentum Bob has generated going.”

She described Price as “hard working” and as someone who “works well with the other members.”

Pokorny has headed the board’s recent efforts to update the town’s master plan and said she thought Price would be helpful in completing that process.

Pokorny said she knew in advance about the proposed switch in planning board leadership and gave the matter a lot of thought. At first she thought she would recuse herself because she is active in the Helderberg Community Energy group, which is working on setting up a solar array that will have to come before the planning board. Price is active in the group, too.

“I talked to the town attorney,” she said of Dorfman, “and he said it was not necessary.”

Everyone on the town board is a Democrat. Lefkaditis tried to get the party’s nomination at the town’s Democratic caucus, but Hammond was endorsed instead. Lefkaditis ran and won on the Conservative line and said after the election, “My allegiance is to the town of Knox, not to a political party.”

Price said, “I am the most radical independent you’ll ever meet; I’ve never been affiliated with a party.”

Of Wolfe, Price said, “I didn’t think he would be a good candidate.” He said Wolfe was slow completing work for the board and missed some monthly meetings.

“Tom has been tasked with adding changes on solar arrays,” said Price of a proposal on lighting that is to be presented to the board. “We still don’t have anything, and at least three large-scale commercial arrays are pending in Knox.”

Wolfe said he did not care to comment on Price’s allegations about him.

He did say, “When Vas approached me, I said, ‘Fine.’ I understand he is trying to do new things,” said Wolfe, stressing that he never lobbied for the appointment and did not expect it to go through.

“I’m not disappointed,” he said, noting he tries to get along with people. Wolfe did not attend the New Year’s Day re-organizational meeting.

At 64, Wolfe is retired from a career with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. He worked as a forester, he said, and was involved in public land management.

Filling vacancies

When Daniel Driscoll stepped down as the planning board chairman two decades ago in order to head the committee that developed Knox’s first comprehensive land-use plan, Price stepped up to the role. Driscoll continued serving as a member of the board.

Driscoll’s latest term on the planning board expired Dec. 31.

Traditionally, the Knox Town Board had routinely reappointed zoning board and planning board members who wished to continue on those boards.

Lefkaditis said that Driscoll would be interviewed by the town board if he applied to keep his post. There is a second vacancy on the board as well because Barcomb, formerly a planning board member, was elected to the town board.

Price called Driscoll “one of the most valuable members of the board. He gets a lot of things done,” said Price, citing a recent example of a proposal Driscoll had written to control noise from commercial enterprises; it is slated to be presented to the town board on Jan. 12. “Dan is an expert on noise,” Price said.

Price said that Driscoll cleverly got around the need for having a town building inspector use an audiometer to enforce the law, a difficult procedure requiring skill and the use of an expensive instrument, by putting the burden of meeting the requirements on the builder. “They have to have an engineer,” he said.

Lefkaditis said he had not been able to reach Driscoll, who was vacationing with his family in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Reached by The Enterprise on Monday, Driscoll said he had told Pokorny he would be interested in staying on the planning board.

“I didn’t know about the interview process,” he told The Enterprise by phone on Monday. “I think it would be useful for me to stay on the board,” Driscoll said, citing his experience.

Asked what he thought of an interview process to fill vacant board seats, Driscoll said, “If that’s the way they want to do it, I’d be glad if they found someone to serve in my place. I wouldn’t object....I’m willing to serve if they want me to.”

Barber said he likes the process of advertising for positions and interviewing applicants. “We started doing that at the end of Mike’s term,” he said.

Barber said of Driscoll, “He would be eligible” to apply to keep his post on the planning board.

Pokorny told The Enterprise on Monday that she is “agreeable” to interviewing “to make opportunities available.” But she also said, “Because it’s such a big commitment and it’s volunteer, we’ve had trouble finding people.”

She concluded of the volunteers on Knox’s appointed boards, “We really appreciate the help they’ve given us. They all do a fabulous job.”

Master plan update

During his campaign, Lefkaditis criticized the process by which the Knox master plan is being updated.

Thus far, the comprehensive planning committee has gathered public response and worked with the Knox Conservation Advisory Council cataloguing scenic resources, Pokorny said this week. Also, she said, an expert from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has worked with the council members on a habitat summary and put together an analysis of natural resources in Knox, including wildlife, flora, fauna, and water resources.

“For the next step,” said Pokorny, “I want to put out a draft of three chapters — an introduction, one on methodology, and one on history. Then the next step is to get the section on goals and suggested strategies for achieving them. We’ll need professional help reviewing the draft suggestions from the public, we’ll need to rank them in effectiveness for achieving the goals. A lot of syntheses and analysis is needed.”

Corrected on Jan. 8, 2016: The original article said that Robert Price is a semi-retired mechanical engineer; he is actually a semi-retired manufacturing engineer, certified by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers since 1968.