KNOX— The envelope please.

In this case, the sealed envelope contains the names of the two individuals Town Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis  claims the town board — he excepted —  has already decided to appoint to the planning board, no matter what.

“You’re going to do what you want anyway,” he told last Tuesday’s board meeting.

To prove his contention, Lefkaditis announced  he would give this reporter an  envelope containing his predictions, to be opened only after the board reorganization meeting in January when appointments will be announced.

But The Enterprise has returned the envelope to the supervisor, unopened,  in the interest of objectivity.

The supervisor’s unusual stratagem came after the Oct. 11 town board meeting’s long and  contentious discussion about the best way to evaluate candidates for the planning board: publicly or privately?

One seat is vacant because of the death of longtime member Daniel Driscoll; the other seat will open on Jan. 1 when Betty Ketcham’s term is up.

In the end, Lefkaditis found himself to be a minority of one as the other four board members voted to invite candidates to a closed session of the town board, as allowed by law, at which each will be individually interviewed and will be asked the same questions, as well as some queries submitted by residents.

Lefkaditis — who has often said he favors a more open style of town government — had argued  for another public forum, like the one the board conducted in February at which six of seven applicants for the planning board were interviewed by town board members before an audience of residents who were invited to comment.

Lefkaditis said that event “got rave reviews.” Councilman Earl Barcomb said, “I heard the opposite...we must travel in different circles.”  It was Barcomb who had first suggested the open format, likening it to the school district’s meet-the-candidates format for would-be board members.

However, despite the open interviews,  the board’s final decisions frustrated Lefkaditis’s wish to introduce “new blood” to the planning board. The late Daniel Driscoll, who had served on the board for 40 years was reappointed in February for two years, the shorter of two open terms, and Debra Nelson was named to a seven-year term.  Lefkaditis had advocated  for the appointment of Ken Saddlemire, who is currently conducting a write-in campaign for an open town board seat in the Nov. 8 election.

At last week’s board meeting, an ongoing discussion  was renewed. Its subject: What qualities should a planning board member bring to the job? Lefkaditis has emphasized the public nature of the job, and therefore the need for someone who is good at speaking in a public setting.

The rest of the board, as well as planning board Chairman Robert Price, has discounted that ability in favor of other qualities, such as the ability to thoroughly research issues that come before the board.

Lefkaditis said to Price, who was seated in the gallery at last week’s meeting, “You know the kind of firepower that comes at you on the planning board.”

Dee Woessner said “being able to speak in public is not necessarily part of the planning board...These people are computer literate and know how to search records.” Woessner, a member of the the Knox Conservation Advisory Council., filed a suit this month successfully challenging Saddlemire’s Republican line for a town board seat; Saddlemire had been nominated by Lefkaditis at the Democratic caucus.

Woessner, who had applied for a planning board seat in February, said she had been through the process of multiple candidates answering the same questions. “After a while you sort of run out of things to say,” she said.

Councilman Dennis Barber told Lefkaditis, “We were elected, not the public: you have got to get that straight.”

The flashpoint issue resulted in the only split vote of the evening. All the other resolutions of the evening were passed by unanimous vote.

Other business

Among  other business, the board:

—  Approved extending the Bond Anticipation Note  with Key Bank after learning from Lefkaditis that he had secured  the BAN in the amount of $479,981 at a rate of .88 percent.  He reported that represents a 44 percent  decrease in the rate from last year’s 1.57 percent, resulting in a savings of $3,300 in interest this year and further savings over the duration of the bond;

— Discussed various options for creating a skating rink after a resident and his son who loves hockey pled for such a facility. The board agreed to ask the Knox Volunteer Fire Company to hose land available to the town on Route 156 to create a rink, but authorized no expenditure by the town other than a maximum of $300 for liability insurance. Maintenance will be done by town volunteers;

— Discussed with Dog Warden Louis Saddlemire the subjects of dog licensing, control, rabies vaccinations, and the creation of  a stray-dog shelter.  Saddlemire  says he picks up as many as 30 dogs a year. Each dog, if the owner is not immediately found, must be taken to the shelter in Menands at a cost of $65 per night to the town. The board agreed to spend up to $6,500 to build a small town shelter to house stray dogs; and discussed issuing a survey of  town residents to determine the town’s canine population and to increase the number of licensed dogs, the survey possibly to be done in conjunction with a rabies vaccination clinic. The town currently has 135 licensed dogs.

— Heard from Youth Council Director Maryellen Gillis, who continues to work toward a major upgrade and expansion of town park facilities. She asked that a formal committee be established. She was invited to recruit and name such a committee. The board decided that, rather than a general letter of support from the board to accompany grant applications, the town would create a template letter that would then be customized to each application  made on behalf of the town park project;

— Heard town residents who live near the Helderberg Rod and Gun Club on Quay Road register several complaints about the club, including that they must live with the noise of firing-range gunfire at “all hours.” They showed the board photos illustrating their complaints and also warned that the accumulation of lead in the ground from spent bullets may someday entail a large expense to the town if any future lead cleanup is mandated. They also observed that a school bus passes the club daily;

Councilman Earl Barcomb, who at the September town board  meeting volunteered to speak to the club, reported the club’s hours of operation and that it has 225 members, some of them family memberships. The board agreed that further dialogue with the club is needed and that any  New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regulations of such facilities should be observed;

— Heard Highway Superintendent Gary Salisbury report that his department  is waiting for a check  from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the latest in a series of payments made by the agency to the town  in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

— Authorized the transfer of $7,427 from the  workers’ compensation surplus in the 2016 budget to the highway department to go toward equipment purchasing;

— Authorized the town attorney to write  a letter to the Albany County Highways Department requesting  that action be taken to remedy dangerous driving conditions dangerous  at the intersection of Beebe Road  (Route 259) and Knox Cave Road (Route 252).  Both are Albany County roads.(Go to altamontenterprise.com for a report on accidents at this interesection);

— Deputy Supervisor Amy Pokorny discussed with the board and audience members initiatives the town can take to earn credit toward a possible $100,000 grant from the Climate Smart Community Grant Program administered by the Capital Region Economic Development Council: adopting a unified solar permit to expedite residential solar installations; building a town charging station for electric cars; and benchmarking the town government’s energy consumption. Saddlemire urged the town to inform residents who are seeking a solar permit about possible problems presented to firefighters by rooftop solar installations .   Concern was also expressed about whether there are enough battery-powered cars to justify a charging station that might be used more by non-residents than residents;

— The board approved a resolution enlisting the town in the energy benchmark program, which calls for towns to monitor and report energy use by town government with the aim to reduce energy use and cost, the resolution specifying that participation shall be at no cost to the town. The town’s Conservation Advisory Council will administer the program;

— The board also approved the adoption of the Unified Solar Permit, to expedite permitting for residential solar installations and, separately, agreed the supervisor should draft a letter to residents applying for a permit, to inform them of firefighting concerns. Pokorny  will do further research about charging stations. The town, she said, has now taken three climate-smart actions of  a total of four required by the $100,00 grant program ;

— Discussed partly in open session and then in executive session the retention of  an appraisal expert  at a rate of $250 per hour to review a claim from the village of Altamont that the Knox assessment of a reservoir it owns in Knox is too high. Altamont currently pays taxes to Knox on the reservoir’s assessed value of $1.6 million. (See related story at altamontenterprise.com);

— Discussed the 2017 preliminary budget proposed by the supervisor.  Pokorny noted the reduction in the amount budgeted for the highway department and asked  Salisbury if  the department’s allocation seemed enough to him. He said it did.; and

— Unanimously approved the 2017 preliminary budget. The public hearing on the budget will be held  Nov. 9.