ALTAMONT — With Chris Marshall now sitting on the village board, Mayor James Gaughan has appointed a new citizen member to the Rural Guilderland Referral Committee to take her place.

Scott DeLong, a resident of the same development that Marshall lives in, Kushaqua Estates, is Gaughan’s choice. Having someone from that development offers an important perspective on the committee, Gaughan said on Wednesday. DeLong also has the right personality, skill level, and commitment to serve on a committee made up largely of professionals, he said.

The committee was created by Guilderland town law in 2005. Any proposal for land in Guilderland that is within 1,200 feet of Altamont’s border or its infrastructure is first reviewed by the committee. If the committee disapproves of a project, it needs a supermajority from the town’s planning or zoning board to pass.

DeLong, a letter carrier for the post office, is looking forward to being a part of the community, beyond saying hello to neighbors on the street, he told The Enterprise. Five years ago he was looking for a rural community where he could raise his son, he said, and settled in Altamont. Serving on the committee will be a learning process, he said, and a new voice might also help the panel.
When asked yesterday about the process for choosing a new citizen representative, Gaughan said, "I chose him." When asked if he had chosen DeLong from among a group of possible appointees, Gaughan said, "No, no. I chose him just as I chose other committee members that are in existence or are not in existence any longer."

Other business

In other business, the village board:

— Heard from Harvey Vlahos, a former village trustee, that he would like to see the board vote on a resolution he proposed at his last village board meeting, in March. The resolution states that, historically, campaigns for political office in the village have been run on no more than $500 and that expensive campaigns have a negative effect on the village’s character.

During the last mayoral election, Gaughan raised about $7,000 and defeated Vlahos for the office in a four-way race.

Vlahos proposed that the information outlined in his resolution should be given to any person who seeks office in the village. Following Vlahos’s presentation, three village residents told the board that they do not feel money effects the outcomes of elections in the village.

The three people who spoke were Eileen Dean; Norman Bauman, who donated to Gaughan’s campaign; and Judy Walters Dineen, mother of Trustee Kerry Dineen, who ran on Gaughan’s slate two years ago. The board did not discuss or vote on the resolution;

— Voted unanimously to appoint two new part-time police officers to the village’s department. Gerardo Conti and Christopher M. Laurenzo will be on probation for one year, during which they will be paid $15 per hour. After their probationary year, they will be eligible for a raise to $16 per hour;

— Voted unanimously to appoint Kevin Delligan as a full-time employee of Altamont’s department of public works. He will have a probationary period of one year and he will be paid $12.65 per hour;

— Heard from Keith Lee, co-chair of the village’s parks committee and Mayor Gaughan’s partner, that the cleanup in Orsini Park and Angel Park are complete and that there is a new green space at Maple Avenue and Bozenkill Road.

He also said that there are 500 daffodils in bloom at the Maple Avenue Park and that the Altamont Community Tradition’s green-and-clean event will be on May 5. Organizers plan to meet at the gazebo in Orsini Park at 10 a.m.;

— Heard from Bauman, a village resident and president of Altamont’s neighborhood association, that Safety Day was a success. Gaughan added that the town of Guilderland will soon be holding its own safety-day event;

— Heard from Bob Thomson, a village resident, who thanked Anthony Salerno, the village’s public safety commissioner, for helping him get to the hospital recently;

— Voted unanimously to accept a proposal for the construction of a 10-by-16-foot gazebo for Bozenkill Park prepared by Michael Hammond, who owns a woodworking business and is Knox’s supervisor, at a cost of $3,700; and

— Voted unanimously to enter into a shared-services contract with the town of Guilderland to use the services of Donald Csaposs, who will spend about four hours a week identifying and structuring grant applications for the village for $3,000 per year. He will start on June 1.