WESTERLO —  A town board seat vacant since the resignation of member Theodore Lounsbury early this year has been filled.

At its meeting Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to appoint Joseph Boone, 49, to complete Lounsbury’s term, which would have ended Dec. 31.

Boone was recommended to the board by the town Democratic Committee. In addition to Boone, Michael Sikule and Doyle Shaver were interviewed by the committee.

Asked if he plans to run for a full four-year term in the November general election, Boone said he had made no decision “but I can’t discount it.”

He said the committee had not asked him in his interview with them if he could make a commitment to run for a full term.

The town is a Democratic stronghold, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans 4-to-1 among registered voters. All but one of the town board members — Amie Burnside, a Republican elected to the board in November and the top vote-getter in that election — are Democrats.

Boone is enrolled as a member of the Independence Party, according to Albany County voter rolls.

After the vote to appoint him, Boone left the room to take the oath of office administered by Town Clerk Kathleen Spinnato. He then took his seat at the table, behind a name plate kindly provided by fellow board member Burnside, who improvised using  note paper.

Boone is virtually a lifelong resident of Westerlo. His parents moved the family to Westerlo from Delmar when Boone was one-and-a-half years old.

A graduate of Berne-Knox Westerlo schools, he and his wife, Taffey McClure-Boone,  have two sons currently enrolled in the high school.

Boone has not held public office before. Asked by The Enterprise why he had decided to apply for the board seat, he said, “I was interested in contributing to my community and helping to improve it.”

He said “it’s too early to tell” what his priorities may be as a board member, but he cited two issues before the board he considers to be important: the expansion of broadband connection in the town and the planned renovation of the town hall.

Boone served in the United States Navy for six years as a cryptologic technician. He has been employed since last year in the inside sales department of Hannay Reels.  

Previously, he worked for 13 years for an upstate furniture manufacturer , and before that for a Norfolk, Virginia military contractor, first as a field service engineer and then  as a program manager.

Boone’s brother, Gerry Boone, is a large landowner in the town. He raises prize Charolais beef cattle on his Golden Acres Farm.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard a report from Planning Board Chairwoman Dorothy Verch. A subcommittee of that board has been meeting for the past four months, exploring ways to expand and improve broadband internet connectivity in the town.

Mid-Hudson Cable is currently the town’s service provider.

The Broadband Research Committee is composed of all the planning board members plus several interested residents, one of whom, Leonard Laub, remarked to the board, “All of Westerlo should have decent internet connection.”

The committee’s report detailed its efforts to expand broadband service to eight residents who live along Route 402, as well as the negotiations  with Mid-Hudson Cable — to-date unsuccessful —  to achieve that goal.

The report also detailed a presentation made  to the committee by an alternative provider, SLIC Network Solutions. Spectrum,  a new provider, resulting from the merger of Time Warner, Bright House, and Charter Communications, will also be invited to make a presentation, the report said;

— Heard from Westerlo Fire Company  member Tom Diederich that the department has been awarded a $124,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase new self-contained breathing apparatus to replace the aged equipment the department now uses. He noted that  the company has been unusually successful in obtaining large grant funding.

In 2012, the company received a $429,000 Department of Homeland Security grant to help it recruit and retain members; and the board

— Deferred further discussion of a proposed solar moratorium to a board workshop scheduled for Aug. 16.