GUILDERLAND — The two Republicans elected to the five-member town board want to change the way the all-Democrat board make appointments.

In a letter to The Enterprise editor this week, Councilman-elect Mark Grimm called for applications from anyone interested in serving on one of the town’s many boards. "In keeping with our campaign pledge to open up government," he writes, "we wish to publicly solicit applications for those positions."
David Bosworth, a lame duck board member and chair of the town’s Democratic party, said that he was voted in on a similar campaign pledge in 2000, a pledge that he says the current board has lived up to. "I think there’s an open process," he said.

A person who is interested in serving on a board will typically submit a résumé to the town supervisor, Ken Runion, who then distributes information to the board members, Bosworth said. Runion could not be reached for this story.
The board, then, votes to appoint people based largely on their experience, he said. "We look for people who can work together and contribute," said Bosworth.
"I said we need a change and the voters agreed," Grimm said on Monday. "I think we could improve all the committees."
"It’s not a new issue," Bosworth said of keeping a political balance on the boards. "It’s something we’ve been concerned with since we came here in 2000." Previously, for more than a century, the town had been run by Republicans.

Grimm doesn’t know what to expect, but hopes to be able to offer some applicants to the board, he said.
"I don’t envision anything other than an advisory role," Bosworth said when asked what his role might be in the appointments on Jan. 3. "I have no official role. It’s different when you’re not a voting member."