The law will make it easier for residents to build accessory-dwelling units that are up to 1,200 square feet of living space, in what is at least partly an effort to keep senior citizens in the town. 

BETHLEHEM — To help the Bethlehem Public Library navigate the outcome of the overwhelming defeat of its $37 million proposed capital project last winter, four candidates are vying for two seats of the library’s board of trustees. 

The seats come with a five-year term on the seven-member board. 

An internal investigation into Westerlo Town Clerk Karla Weaver found she had bullied and intimidated other town employees, falsified documents, and orchestrated a Freedom of Information Law campaign designed to bog down the town supervisor’s office. 

The Rensselaerville Water and Sewer Advisory Committee is holding a community meeting on Thursday, May 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hilltown Commons Guggenheim Theater to get input on preferred well sites for a new public water system. 

Berne Councilwoman Melanie laCour voiced her concerns at the board’s May meeting about the fact that the town’s ambulance expense was left out of the 2025 budget, making it unclear how the town will pay for a $225,000 expense at the end of the year when all revenue is already attached to other expenses and there’s little left in savings. 

The Knox candidates are in, with town Clerk Traci Delaney (formerly Schanz) running for town supervisor on the Republican line, and former Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education member Chasity McGivern challenging her on the Democratic line. 

Berne’s election this year will be reformative, since every town board seat is up for grabs along with other high-profile positions like town clerk and highway superintendent. 

The Bethlehem Public Library’s $5.2 million proposed budget for 2025-26 would raise taxes by 2.61 percent for a total of roughly $120,000. 

Albany County, in one of its first acts as owner of the property, has fixed up the road leading up to Switzkill Farm as it prepares for more improvements down the line. 

Although an old agreement is still in place and would remain so indefinitely, the town of Berne is considering signing a new contract with the cable company, Spectrum, that would keep the franchise fee the town receives from the company the same but would remove an obligation for Spectrum to build new infrastructure in areas that meet a household-density threshold.