GUILDERLAND — With little fanfare, the town board on May 16 unanimously appointed a new water superintendent, a new assistant town attorney, five members to the inaugural Tree Preservation Committee, a bus driver for seniors, and a maintenance worker.
William Bremigen was named superintendent of the Water and Wastewater Department, replacing Timothy McIntyre who recently retired.

“For the past two years, Bill has been shadowing the former superintendent …,” said Barber. “It’s been a good practice that the water department has been showing us, which is basically having the next person shadow.”

He also said of Bremigen, “I think he’d be a wonderful head of this department. He has the full support of his staff. And he’s very very open, you know, to discussions and improvements at the water and wastewater department.”

The only appointment that engendered discussion was the new attorney, Janet Thayer, and the controversy centered not on her person nor her professionalism but rather on the process used to select her.

Robyn Gray, who chairs the Guilderland Coalition for Responsible Growth opened the meeting by saying she had not seen the attorney’s job posted anywhere.

“Nobody saw the qualifications … and what the job duties are …. This is not the first time this has happened,” said Gray. “You have an employee handbook that clearly spells out how you’re supposed to post vacancies for positions and it doesn’t appear as though it’s consistently followed.”

Gray also said that she “knew of several attorneys that would be very interested in working with the town.”

“Which ones?” responded Supervisor Peter Barber.

“I’m not going to give you their names,” said Gray.

Later, as the board prepared to vote on Thayer’s appointment, Barber said the current assistant town attorney would be taking leave soon and “we were looking to see who would be the best person to basically help out the zoning department” and guide the zoning board.

Barber stressed, “That’s not a knock at all against the zoning board,” and said the new chairwoman, Elizabeth Lott, an attorney herself, is “quite adept.”

“Janet had been the town attorney assigned to the zoning board for about 10 years …. I know she was very well received,” said Barber, adding that she “stepped aside” because she became counsel at the University at Albany, which presented a conflict. “So she’s now retired from that position,” said Barber.

Thayer had been appointed as a member of the zoning board in 2003. In March 2004, when Barber resigned as chairman of the zoning board, the town appointed then-zoning board attorney Bryan Clenahan as chairman. Thayer was then chosen to replace Clenahan as the attorney for the zoning board.

“It was wonderful working with Janet when I served on the zoning board for the periods of time where I would have to step in as chair,” said Councilman Jacob Crawford who called those times “nerve racking.”

Crawford said of Thayer, “She could guide you through the process whether it was a shed or whether it was a major, major project in front of you.”

Councilwoman Christine Napierski, herself an attorney, said that, while she appreciated Crawford’s and Barber’s recommendations and that, while Thayer has “an impressive résumé, although she should have included her decade as the zoning board attorney, “I would have appreciated the opportunity to do an interview for this position, because I don’t know her.”

“When we became aware of the need for somebody, I think we had to act pretty quickly,” responded Barber. “And I think it’s a unique circumstance.”

He also said, because the position is part-time, “Technically, it’s my appointment, but I’m letting you guys … I always share the opportunity.”

“It just would have been more comfortable for me to make this decision having had an opportunity to interview,” Napierski persisted. “I don’t see the harm in it and that way we could all be assured that we’re making the best decision for the town.”

Napierski then voted with the others in favor of appointing Thayer.

Tree committee

In December, the town board unanimously passed a law to protect native trees and to educate the public about them. The seed that grew into the law was planted by a group of McKownville residents.

Residents of the historic neighborhood on the edge of Guilderland next to the city of Albany walked their tree-lined streets and discovered over 100 were missing — with no plans for replacement or care.

The group then worked with the town’s planner, supervisor, park director, and others, to come up with a bill that would create a committee to develop a forestry plan for Guilderland.

Properties slated for development will be part of the plan as well as the town-owned parks and land running alongside streets. Private-property owners continue to be able to do as they wish with their yards but the hope is they will learn about and become interested in planting native trees and plants.

On May 16, the town board appointed the Tree Preservation Committee, mostly made up of those who had helped draft the law.

Barber recalled, “The board was very appreciative of the role played by members of the committee who had drafted the local law.”

He noted they had traveled to Bethlehem and Niskayuna, which have similar committees, and had spoken to staff at the Landis Arboretum in Schoharie County.

One person was named to the committee, Tim Welch, who was not part of the original group. Barber said he “was somebody that we’d interviewed during the ZBA process, and he’d actually been formerly a member of a tree committee in Niskayuna — we all agreed he’d be a nice fit on this committee.”

The committee members and their terms are:

— Laura Barry, term ending Dec. 31, 2026;

— Mary Dornbush, term ending Dec. 31, 2026;

— William Kidd, term ending Dec. 31, 2025;

— Ellen Manning, term ending Dec. 31, 2025; and

— Timothy Welch, term ending Dec. 31, 2026.

Barber said the terms, whether two or three years, were decided by the flip of a coin. They are staggered so that all the terms don’t expire at once, Crawford noted, and going forward terms will be for three years each.

Rather than having the town board name a chairperson, Barber said, “I figured let’s first let them meet and then maybe they’ll pick their own chairman and we’ll come back and reaffirm it.”

Other business

In other business at its May 16 meeting, the Guilderland Town Board:

— Appointed Michael Connolly as a bus driver at the town’s senior center. He was interviewed by Coordinator of Senior Citizen Services Mary Ann Kelley and by personnel assistant Kaitlyn Craig. 

“It’s been very difficult to find a bus driver,” said Barber, “so we’re very appreciative to get the second bus driver as we’ve lost our prior bus driver a while ago.”

The starting salary is $16.48 per hour;

—  Appointed Brandon Shaver, after an interview, to work in maintenance for the town’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“Brandon will be one of those people that is a jack of all trades and will help out in various projects that the town has got under way from GPAC to the new EMS building,” said Barber of the Guilderland Performing Arts Center and the Emergency Medical Services building.

His starting salary is $55,000 annually;

— Heard from Barberf the committee charged with updating the town’s comprehensive plan is holding a second public workshop and open house — on Thursday, June 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Westmere firehouse.

While several board members likened the format to speed dating, Barber called it a “shotgun” approach: Residents will circulate among tables for 20-minute sessions discussing various topics such as housing or traffic with a facilitator at each table;

— Authorized a request for proposals for the repair and replacement of the clubhouse roof at the Western Turnpike Golf Course.

“The roof is 35 years old and I think they’re done trying to patch it,” said Barber.

“The shingles are cracking and falling, leading to interior leakage and damage,” wrote Collin J. Gallup, the director of Parks and Recreation. The roof will be replaced in late summer or early fall, he said, with the funding coming primarily from golf-course revenues;

— Awarding a contract for granulated activated carbon to Carbon Activated Corp. as lowest qualified bidder, as requested by Bremigen, at $1.16 per pound;

— Approved Diamond Lane as the name for a private lane for a two-lot subdivision from Schoolhouse Road off of Vaughn Road; the other choices were Twin Hills or Penny Lane;

— Waived the building permit fee for a temporary sign for the First United Methodist Church of Voorheesville, at the intersection of Route 146 and Depot Road, advertising a farmers’ market, because it is a religious institution;

— Authorized the signing of a collector’s warrant for the water department. The original fee was in error, Barber said, because the house was “covered by a special program during the COVID pandemic where people could get a payment plan … and our system didn’t keep up with that”; and

— Went into executive session to discuss “the employment status of a Town employee,” according to the meeting agenda. James Melita, the town’s attorney, wrote in a memo that the board was to discuss “an agreement related to a personnel matter.”

The board reconvened in open session to vote unanimously to approve the agreement “that was discussed in executive session, including changes to amendments that James has put forth in an email to the board,” Barber said, framing the motion. He said Melita will include clauses “regarding confidentiality and … disparagement against the town.”