GUILDERLAND — Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber has drafted a law that would extend both the supervisor’s term and the town clerk’s term from the current two years to four years.

A public hearing on the bill will be held on Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. at Guilderland Town Hall.

“The Town Board finds that an extended term will provide greater opportunity for long-term planning and is in the best interest of the public,” says the draft of the local law, which is subject to a mandatory referendum.

“I see the benefits …,” said Deputy Supervisor Christine Napierski as board members discussed the bill at their July 16 meeting. “Campaigning is very time-consuming and takes away from your official duties in office.”

The four town board members each serve four-year terms.

“I’m just curious: What is the rationale?” asked Napierski. “What are the pros and cons for a two-year versus a four-year term? Why was it two years to begin with? Does anyone know?”

“I don’t really know …” Barber responded. “There was some discussion several years ago about changing all offices that were two years to four years.”

According to an opinion from the state comptroller: “Town Law, §24 provides generally for two year terms of office for the town supervisor, town councilmen and town clerk. Towns which are not in counties having boards of supervisors may increase the terms of office of these officers to four years either by resolution subject to mandatory referendum.”

Barber went on, answering Napierski, “I think the reason is because you want to do long-term planning and a lot of times you can’t do something in two years … You can’t do something without worrying about how people might perceive it. So I think it’s probably more of that. You want to be able to do long-term goals.”

Barber also said that he’d never understood why the town clerk’s post, which is a “largely statutorily driven ministerial type of job, was not four years.

He added, “It’s probably heresy to say it: Why do we elect a town clerk?” Barber also said he didn’t understand why highway superintendent should be an elected position.

“Just to clarify,” said Councilman Jacob Crawford, “a clerk is a constitutional office; a highway superintendent is not.” A highway superintendent does not have to be an elected post, he said, adding that it depends on how the town is structured “whereas a clerk and supervisor need to be, with how New York state government is set up at the local level.”

Crawford, who chairs the Albany County Democratic Committee, went on to say, “I think there’s a significant change in the election timeline from what it used to be to what it is now … The election timeline was more May through November. It is now basically January through November.

“So in a two-year office, you’re spending … 10 months of a 24-month office as part of an election season, which I think changes the dynamic of public service.”

Councilwoman Amanda Beedle said, “I think the move to extend is a move that a lot of municipalities are looking at because they’re realizing that, as election cycles change, as things become heavier out there in the world, you want somebody that has the time to focus 100 percent on doing that.”

“But this is only the initial step,” said Crawford. “Obviously we’ll have a lot of interaction with the public when we have a public hearing on this. And I have no understanding of what their views are on this.”

Other business

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

— Proceeded despite power outages in town; although electric service to Town Hall was lacking, Barber said, “We’re actually operating under a generator as far as we can tell”;

— Endorsed a proposal made by Town Clerk Lynne Buchanan to designate Guilderland as a Purple Heart Town. “This designation is set forth by the Military Order of the Purple Heart,” Buchanan said. “This organization is comprised of military men and women who received the Purple Heart medal for wounds suffered in combat. It was formed in 1932 and has been chartered by Congress.”

Since 1992, roads and bridges have been designated as part of the Purple Heart Trail to raise public awareness about the organization. Signs are to be placed at both ends of Route 20 entering Guilderland.

The signs, for $230 each, will be made by a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, Buchanan said. Next year, more signs for several other roads in town are to be budgeted for.

Buchanan said she is working with Steve Oliver from the American Legion Post in Altamont to identify Purple Heart recipients in town; so far, she knows of six. A celebration is planned for November;

— Discussed setting up a committee to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Barber said he has spoken with the town historian Mary Ellen Johnson; the parks director C.J. Gallup; and resident Aaron Mair who wants to raise a monument to the 1st Rhode Island regiment that fought in the Battle of the Normanskill, the only Revolutionary War battle fought in Albany County.

The regiment included Native Americans as well as freed Black men and enslaved Black men fighting alongside the white men who owned them. Mair told The Enterprise earlier, “The 200th anniversary is not just a celebration but a marker on how far we need to go. There is still work to be done for a more perfect union.”

Barber asked the board members to come up with names of residents who might want to be appointed to serve on the committee;

— Heard that the Guilderland Police Department will host National Night Out in Tawasentha Park on Aug. 6.

“This event is nationwide. Our area was the largest one that the national people thought took place,” Barber said, referencing the first annual event in 2009. “Since then, I think we’ve been getting even bigger”; and

— Heard that four new pickleball courts will open in the Nott Road Park in August.