HILLTOWNS — Town boards in Rensselaerville and Westerlo  found themselves one member shy earlier this year when a member of each resigned.

The Rensselearville board appointed a new interim member immediately. The Westerlo vacancy has yet to be filled.

Kevin McGrath, a Republican elected to the Rensselaerville Town board in November’s election, took office Jan. 1 and resigned in March. His letter of resignation was read at the March 10 meeting of the board. He cited “personal reasons” for his departure from the board. He wrote, “I am very humbled and honored that my fellow residents….chose me to serve as a member of the Town Council and looked forward to serving with my fellow council members to make our great town even better.”

McGrath, a town resident for a decade, is a CPA who has helped residents with tax or accounting issues and assisted Conkling Hall to obtain a tax exemption as a non-profit.

At the same board meeting, Supervisor Valerie Lounsbury informed the board that Robert Bolte, a former member had expressed his willingness to serve as McGrath’s replacement  until the end of 2016. She also noted that a  permanent replacement will have to be elected In November.  The board then voted unanimously to appoint Bolte, a Conservative. He had only recently  left the board at the end of 2015, after completing the four-year term to which he had been elected in 2010.

His election in that year marked the beginning of  a shift in the board away from a Democratic majority to its present composition: one Republican (the supervisor), two Conservatives (Bolte and Marion Cooke), one Independent Party member (Margaret Sedlmeir), and one Democrat (Gerald Wood).

 Robert Bolte and Theodore Lounsbury

In Westerlo, Theodore Lounsbury III resigned  effective April  4 because he was “moving out of the area,” according to town officials.

Lounsbury was one of five Democrats on a board that was entirely  Democratic until the election of Amy Burnside, a Republican, in the last election.

His replacement has yet to be named. The Westerlo Town Board meeting scheduled for June 7 was canceled the day of the meeting because not enough members were able to  attend to form a quorum necessary for voting, town officials said. With one less member, a quorum — three members for a five-person board — becomes harder to attain.

Theodore Lounsbury won election to the town board in the November 2013 general election by defeating his fellow Democrat, William Bichteman Jr., by one vote. He was a little more than halfway through his four-year term when he resigned.

Both town boards have five members when at full strength.