BERNE — The Berne Town Board will convene on March 5 for the first time in seven months to hold its annual reorganizational meeting, followed on March 12 by a regular town board meeting.

The town board has not met since July after three of its members resigned suddenly in August, just before that month’s scheduled meeting. 

Governor Kathy Hochul’s chosen appointee to the board, attorney Melanie laCour, a Democrat, will be sworn in on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Supervisor Dennis Palow, a Republican who like the rest of the five-member board was backed by the GOP, could not be reached for comment on why the board is waiting until March to hold its reorganizational meeting, which are typically held in January.

Town Clerk Kristin de Oliveira, who disclaimed that she does not set the meetings and could not speak to the reason for the chosen date, told The Enterprise that, as a newly appointed official, laCour is essentially “a new employee, and paperwork must be completed prior to official duties beginning.”

De Oliveira also said that the extra month “will give us all an opportunity to answer any questions or concerns as well as provide time to review subjects before they are voted on.”    

The board could technically meet as soon as Monday, Feb. 3, according to the New York State Committee on Open Government.

“To hold a meeting scheduled to take place this Monday, the board would still have time to provide notice 72 hours ahead of the meeting,” said the committee’s Excelsior Fellow, Miguel-Carlo Batista, who also added that the board would not be required to publish a legal notice. 

The extra month, however, is minor compared to the several months that the governor took to announce laCour’s appointment in January, with the town board left to stagnate. 

The governor’s office denied a Freedom of Information Law request submitted by The Enterprise in October for correspondence between state and town officials that may have shed light on the decision-making process.

Batista told The Enterprise, “Communications between employees/officials of state and local government agencies constitute ‘inter-agency material’ which is one of the statutory grounds for denial of access.”

However, he acknowledged the lack of enforcement around the amount of time the governor’s office took to deny the request, and said that the committee, in its annual report, has called on the state to address deficiencies in the system.

Currently, the only enforcement mechanisms for Freedom of Information Law requests are an appeals process, and the legal system — both lengthy procedures. 

“We urge the Legislature to investigate new ways for achieving timely and cost-effective access to government information through improved oversight and enforcement mechanisms,” the report reads. “After nearly fifty years, the time for such a comprehensive review and overhaul is long overdue.”