Joel Willsey, Berne Town Board

A recording of an executive session held by the Berne Town Board was made public after Councilman Joel Willsey, a Democrat who claims he was harassed by the GOP-backed board members in the April 29 session, made a motion for its release. 

The Berne Town Board voted at its Aug. 26 meeting to not take part in a regional shared-services agreement that would have formalized the already common practice of using other towns’ highway-department resources. The surprising vote appeared to be an attempt to spite the town board’s lone Democrat. 

Kathleen E. Moore, Berne

Laurie Searl, Berne

The Berne Town Board voted, 3 to 2, to approve a new labor union contract that guarantees a 10-percent raise by 2022 for the town’s highway workers, in addition to new longevity pay bonuses. 

The Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church will be featured in the New York Land Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House program this year, held virtually on Aug. 27 between 1 and 2 p.m.

HILLTOWNS — Joseph Salzer Jr., who built the home his family lived in and made his mark on the Capital District and beyond as a carpenter, died on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020 at the Springside Nursing and Rehab Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was 82.