GUILDERLAND — Retired math teacher Stuart Reese is a new alternate on the town’s zoning board of appeals, while David Payton, retired from the State Education Department, has gone from being an alternate to a regular member of the board of assessment review. Both men are registered Democrats, and both were approved with unanimous votes.

Reese has been a member of the Guilderland Environmental Conservation Advisory Council for over 10 years. He said of the ECAC, “That’s a good board for getting to know the town. We go out and walk properties when somebody wants to subdivide. We get to go around the town and see various places where people want to subdivide their property for development or to sell to a family member.”

Reese taught high-school math, working first for about 25 years with “juvenile delinquents,” he said, mostly at the Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, which has since closed. He then taught for several years at Schalmont.

He and his wife have lived in Guilderland for 37 years, after moving from California in 1979 and buying a house, “strangely enough, with redwood siding on it.” Their daughter, son-in-law, and 3-year-old grandson live there with them.

Reese will serve for one year. His stipend will be $5,250 for the year.

David Payton was an alternate on the assessment review board last year. He went through the initial training and observed last year’s process, he said. The board handles Grievance Day in the spring, when town residents can challenge their assessments.

“I had expected to be appointed as an alternate again this year, only to find to my surprise that the town board had met and someone had moved on, and I was no longer an alternate, but a permanent member.”

Payton has been appointed to the board to serve out the unexpired term of William Meehan, who moved on to the town’s planning board; the term runs through 2021. Meehan recently replaced Bruce Sherwin, who had been filling an unexpired term and did not seek reappointment.

According to assessor Karen Van Wagenen, grievance board members receive a $500 stipend for participating in the grievance process. A stipend of $50 per member is available for any follow-up meetings that may be required later. The chairperson receives an additional $100 stipend, Van Wagenen said.

Payton has lived in Guilderland since 1975. He is retired from working for the state. He spent the majority of his time, he says, working in the State Education Department, where he was supervisor of the middle-level education program. He retired in 2006.

He is “happily married,” Payton says, to his wife of 48 years. “We have one daughter who is grown, and a grandson who isn’t,” he added.