KNOX — At its Jan. 9 meeting, the Knox Town Board discussed a bill that would limit the number of meetings a planning or zoning board member could miss in a year.

Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis said that the proposed law had been drawn up by the law firm recently hired by the town, and that it stipulates if appointees miss two meetings in a year, they would be dismissed. Lefkaditis said the proposal arose after actions at town meetings could not be completed due to the lack of a quorum. He said this had occurred “several times” during the zoning board of appeals’ meetings and once at a planning board meeting last year.

Councilman Earl Barcomb objected to the proposed law. As a former planning board member, he recalled missing a meeting to attend his child’s school concert. Barcomb said his concern with the bill was that members could be dismissed for political gain even if the absence was “for a good reason.”

Lefkaditis said that he “couldn’t agree more” about avoiding politics when it comes to appointments, but said that the motivation for the law was instances of boards not having a quorum. He mentioned that Robert Gwin, a long-time planning board member, had missed two meetings and couldn’t be reached. Barcomb replied that Gwin had missed a single meeting and had told him he was resigning. The board later accepted Gwin’s resignation.

Councilman Kenneth Saddlemire suggested adding a section to the law about excused absences, later adding that a review process could be created; Councilman Dennis Barber asked whether a chairman of a board should report to the town board when there are absences. Barcomb suggested also changing the number of meetings a member could miss.

“There’s not that many meetings,” said Lefkaditis, who noted that each board meets 12 times a year so, for each, two absences is one-sixth of the board’s meetings.

The town board approved a public hearing for the law at its next meeting, on Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.

Business districts

The board also discussed a proposed business district along Route 146 in Knox. Lefkaditis said he had asked the planning board in September to study the proposed district and give a recommendation; the town would hear from the planning board after its meeting on Thursday, he said.

Lefkaditis said he also wanted to eventually reintroduce the proposed business district on Route 156. The planning board had recommended that the town not create this district; the town board ignored this and brought the proposed district to a vote twice; both times it failed.

Gwin’s resignation will mean that the town board will be filling two vacancies on the planning board. Planning board member Travis O’Donnell’s term expired at the end of last and, although he has said he would like to be reappointed, the town board has yet to make a decision.

The town board also voted to appoint a new planning board chairman, Thomas Wolfe, at its reorganization meeting on New Year’s Day, ousting Robert Price from the position he has held for decades.

Wolfe had been the only planning board member to support the creation of a business district at routes 156 and 157, something Lefkaditis wanted and O’Donnell had spoken out against.

The zoning board also has several positions to be filled, with Pamela Kleppel’s term expiring at the end of 2017 and the resignation of the board’s chairman, John Demis.

At its Jan. 9 meeting, the town board discussed advertising for these vacancies, deciding to post on the town’s website, on Facebook, and in the town newsletter. The board agreed to interview applicants before making a decision at its next meeting; if the applicants can’t be interviewed by then, the board will set up a special meeting to make the appointments.

Gwin had been a member of the planning board for 40 years, first appointed in 1978. “I wasn't a volunteer fireman,” he said this week. “This was my public service.”

Price said that Gwin had also helped to write the town’s highway laws around 2006. He also said Gwin drafted amendments to the town’s lighting ordinance. His colleague, the late Daniel Driscoll, drafted amendments to the sound ordinance, both of which Lefkaditis opposed, saying that it would affect businesses and pit neighbors against each other, starting a heated debate at a town board meeting.

A professional engineer, Gwin spent most of his career working for the state's Department of Transportation where he dealt with planning as he managed the Transportation Enhancement Program, dealing with non-asphalt projects like bike paths. “I saw a whole bunch of master plans across the state,” he said.

Gwin was active, under Driscoll’s leadership, in developing Knox's first comprehensive land-use plan and also in the regional consortium — led by Driscoll and Guilderland's Lindsay Childs — that surveyed and came up with guidelines for development in Guilderland, New Scotland, and the Helderberg Hilltowns.

Gwin had served as chairman of the planning board and, throughout his tenure, focused on technical aspects important to the planning process.

He declined to comment on the current Knox administration.

Social media

At the Jan. 9 meeting, Lefkaditis mentioned that several social-media accounts were linked to an individual who had since left town government, meaning the town could not access the sites. He said that there are also computers that cannot be accessed because the town does not have the passwords used by employees who have left. He suggested that the accounts and computers would have to be thrown out if the town could not get the information; he later told The Enterprise that this would be the case for the town’s Facebook page, a new one will be created.

“It wasn’t done maliciously,” he said at the meeting, of the social-media accounts.

From the gallery, resident Joan Adriance later said that a Facebook page can be changed to be linked to another email. Barcomb said he would look into that, and into getting the account information, adding that it would be best that the town keep the same Facebook page. Lefkaditis also asked Barcomb to get the town park computer password, and Barber volunteered to do that.

“There is that political thing we talked about,” said Ed Ackroyd from the gallery.

The former town clerk, Tara Murphy, was ousted from her post in November’s election. Murphy had developed the town’s website and Facebook page, and worked with the new clerk, Traci Schanz, before the Jan. 1 transition.

Murphy told The Enterprise this week that she had created a Facebook account for the town after she was elected four years ago. She said that she did not have an email as town clerk at that point, and so she created the account using her own personal email, and was connected using her personal account as an administrator.

Murphy said she later created a town clerk email address and used it to create a Twitter account, which she linked to the Facebook account so that a tweet was sent every time she posted on the town Facebook page.

Because of the way Murphy had set up the account, she could not be taken off the page as an administrator without giving the new administrator her Facebook password. One way around this would be to delete the old account and create a new one, she said.

“I spoke to Vas about a month before my term was up about the entire thing,” she said.

Murphy said that she had left at Town Hall an entire page of passwords, including one to the the Twitter account. She said that she spoke to Barcomb after the town board meeting and gave him this password.

Lefkaditis told The Enterprise on Friday that the town had acquired the necessary passwords. He said that there was no ill-intent from those involved, but that the town would have to make sure computers, emails, and social media accounts involving the town are set up based on a position and not an individual. He said this week that the town had decided to delete the old account and advertise for the new one with Murphy’s assistance.

“It should be any day,” he said.

Other business

In addition, the town board also:

— Discussed the speed limit on Old Stage Road. At its Nov. 8 meeting, the board had authorized the supervisor to request the speed limit there be reduced from 55 to 30 miles per hour, and to contact Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, county representatives, and the state’s Department of Transportation about reducing the speed limit.

At the meeting on Jan. 9, Lefkaditis said that he had not yet heard whether the speed limit would be reduced, but had gotten favorable feedback from Apple and the county’s commissioner of the Department of Public Works, Lisa Ramundo. Barcomb said that “the nuclear option” would be to create a dead end in the center of the road near a sharp left turn. He said that it takes a similar amount of time to go around to the other side of the road;

— Approved paying up to $6,500 for a generator at the highway garage. Saddlemire suggested Lefkaditis look into a repair contract when purchasing the generator;

— Scheduled a town facilities tour for Sunday, Jan. 21, at 11 a.m.;

— Discussed creating a “neighbors helping neighbors” program similar to one established in Berne. Lefkaditis said that it is a system of neighbors checking on one another, and that it could be useful during bad weather;

— After some debate, approved Barber’s design for the Knox Town Seal; and

— Accepted the donation of Senior Services Coordinator Charlotte Fuss’s salary of $500, and approved using half of that to pay her deputy, Patricia Lightbody.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer contributed comments from Robert Gwin.