After many tries Voss named to planning board
After many tries
Voss named to planning board
NEW SCOTLAND Chuck Voss, a professional planner, has finally secured a regular seat on the towns planning board. He was appointed by a unanimous bipartisan vote.
Voss has served on the Residents Planning Advisory Committee; he had been nominated numerous times by Supervisor Ed Clark and continually supported by Councilwoman Andrea Gleason both serving as Republicans for a planning board seat, but he hadnt received votes from the other three Democratic board members until now.
He had been assigned as an alternate in April.
Michael Cavanaugh, a long-time zoning board member and recently-appointed planning board member resigned this month from public office.
He told The Enterprise that he just had too many time conflicts because he has been traveling regularly for work into New York City and Long Island for a project that "has no end in sight," Cavanaugh said, adding that he anticipates it going on for another year.
After being on the zoning board of appeals for 10 years and only missing one meeting, and then being on the planning board for six months and missing three meetings, Cavanaugh said, "It’s embarrassing."
"Unfortunately it was too much," Cavanaugh said of his schedule. He said he’ll miss being at the monthly meeting.
After the board accepted Cavanaughs letter of resignation, Councilwoman Deborah Baron said that she thought one of the points of establishing alternates this spring was for situations such as these, so that an alternate planning board member, who already knows whats going on, can step up into the position when a vacancy is created.
She said that she would like to appoint Voss.
Councilman Richard Reilly said that he was comfortable with that appointment as well, adding that he felt Voss was qualified.
Voss had previously lost the planning board spot to Cavanaugh in a 3-to-2 vote last September, along party lines.
This spring, the board passed a local law to allow for alternates. In April, at the time of appointing the alternates, there was also a vacancy on the planning board.
Gleason and Clark had wanted to appoint Voss as the permanent planning board member. But Reilly, with the support of the other two Democrats, said he wanted to appoint Kevin Kroencke as the permanent member, and Voss as the alternate. Clark agreed to this arrangement, with a final 4-1 vote.
Reilly had told The Enterprise in April that people have "legitimately had concerns of having him [Voss] as a planning board member." Reilly was not willing to elaborate more on what those concerns were but he had said, Voss serving as an alternate creates an opportunity for everyone to gain "a sense of what he will bring to the board...and for him to alleviate concerns they have."
"If Chuck does a good job, and there’s a vacancy, I don’t see why there will be a problem," Reilly had said of moving him up.
This week, Reilly told The Enterprise that he had talked with the chairman of the planning board, Robert Stapf, who said Voss was doing a good job, and, Reilly said, "That was good enough for me."
"It’s hard to articulate in an article one single concern," Reilly said, but he said he spoke with Stapf who told him that Voss has brought "no agenda of any kind to the board."
Reilly told the town board that, while he is in support of appointing Voss, he doesnt necessarily want to establish a rule or precedent that an alternate is guaranteed to move into a vacancy.
Gleason said that, while she wasnt in favor of creating alternates to begin with, now that the town has them, the town board should use them to the best of its ability.
With Vosss appointment, the town now has a vacancy for planning board alternate.
Councilman Scott Houghtaling commented that the board had done a lot of interviewing this spring for the vacancy and for alternate positions on the zoning and planning board, and, after choosing three people, he said he didnt see any of the remaining applicants jumping out at him as perfect for the now-vacant alternate spot.
Councilwoman Baron agreed.
Clark said that the board is now accepting new applications.
Other business
In other business, the town board:
Appointed Peter Barber as the towns code violation prosecutor;
Agreed to write a letter to Albany County in support of reducing the speed limit on Route 308 to 45 miles per hour; and
Decided that before the town begins interviewing applicants for animal-control officers, the board has to define the program. Highway Superintendent Darrell Duncan recommended that a few board members meet with Kevin Schenmeyer, the sole remaining animal-control officer, to hash out what duties animal control will perform. Schenmeyer has been keeping a log of his activity, which showed that some calls could be handled over the phone, Duncan said.
