WESTERLO — After passing a local law Tuesday to create a planning board, the Westerlo Town Board appointed the new board’s members.

Residents Andrew Brick, Jack Milner, Gerald Boone, and Kristin Slaber will serve on the board, and Leonard Laub will act as the board’s chairman.

The town board and new planning board will hold workshop sessions on April 10 and April 18.

The town board disbanded the planning board in 1992 after developers complained about the length of time and requirements to get approval for projects; town board members have since also acted as the planning board.

Weeks prior to appointing the board, Alene Galgay, the town’s attorney, researched past local laws to determine if the town board had the authority to appoint the new board. Two weeks ago, as the town board interviewed candidates, Galgay said she had researched back to 1971 and found no local law to create the board.

A 1992 law, which disbanded the board, she said, terminated any prior local law since it transferred the planning board’s authority to the town board. Galgay had recommended at least one board member represent the agricultural district; Milner and Boone live in the ag district.
"I’m thrilled and honored," Laub told The Enterprise after the meeting. "This is a brand-new phenomenon here," he said.

Laub, who has lived in Westerlo just a year, Councilman R. Gregory Zeh told The Enterprise after the meeting, was appointed chairman of the board because he has shown interest by attending meetings and has looked at the vision of the town.

Laub, Zeh said, also attended meetings last year as the board discussed a comprehensive plan.

Last year, residents Paul Baitsholts and Helene Goldberger sued the town, alleging that the town board also acting as a planning board was illegally constituted, and state law prohibits members of a town board to also serve on a planning board. They are also contesting the planning board’s decision in August to grant approval for a 12-lot residential development adjacent to their properties.

Roland Tozer, who was chairman of the planning board when it was disbanded, told The Enterprise in December, "I’m surprised they haven’t been sued more often."

Zeh told The Enterprise that creating the new planning board was "not at all" in response to the Article 78 petition.
"Over the course of the last year, we’ve had a lot of lengthy, detailed applications that have come before the board," he said.
The applications, he said, "have required a lot of research and a lot of work"."
"I think it’s good that we thought about it, and looked at forming an independent board to start doing that process"," Zeh told The Enterprise after the meeting. Zeh said that an independent board could give the planning process "better due dilligence."
"It’s a lot of work," he said.

Zeh, who made the motion to appoint a planning board at the town board’s March meeting, told The Enterprise after the meeting that he had suggested putting advertisements in newspapers earlier "to solicit for interested residents" for the town’s appointed positions.
"I just think it’s a good idea that the town board take a close look at the people that are interested, and competent, and trained in appointed positions that we have," he said.
The town, he said, hasn’t solicited interested residents prior to the town’s re-organizational meeting in the past. "I think it’s a good thing to do every year," he said.
The town board has a responsibility to look for experienced residents for appointments, and to have "succession planning" for the positions, said Zeh.

Other business
In other business, the town board:

— Voted unanimously to send a letter to Albany County Executive Michael Breslin and Albany County Commissioner of Public Works Michael Franchini detailing employee hours and fuel costs for the most recent snowstorm.
Supervisor Richard Rapp said that, during the storm, the county "went home early" and the town spend "over two hours" plowing the county and state roads. Highway Superintendent John Nevins and Rapp will compile the information, Rapp said; and

— Heard resident Gaye McCafferty’s concerns about the posting of ads in town. McCafferty recommended the board discuss at the next town board meeting regulating the height tobacco advertisements. She said a lot of tobacco signs are below 36 inches. McCafferty, who works as a nurse practitioner, told The Enterprise she recently attended a class that discussed the height of advertisements. McCafferty said she will have more information for the next town meeting.
McCafferty said she doesn’t have small children. "Kids are so important," she said. "It’s time to do the right thing," she said.