KNOX — In split votes Tuesday night, the town board appointed Daniel Driscoll and Debra Nelson to the planning board.

The appointments followed an unprecedented public forum on Feb. 4 where six of the seven applicants for the unpaid posts were interviewed by town board members. Nelson was out of town at the time and so was interviewed by board members in closed session before Tuesday’s meeting.

As he had on New Year’s Day, the new supervisor, Vasilios Lefkaditis, argued for “new blood” on the planning board. On Jan. 1, Robert Price retained his long-held chairmanship of the planning board despite Lefkaditis’s plans to replace him in that role.

And on Tuesday, Driscoll was re-appointed to the seat he’d held for 40 years. A retired engineer, Driscoll helped shape Knox’s original comprehensive land-use plan, currently under revision. He co-authored with Lindsay Childs of Guilderland a regional planning manual and he helped found what is now the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy.

Price and Driscoll sat in the front row, facing the dais, at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Citing the November election in which Lefaditis ousted the long-time supervisor, Lefkaditis said the election results showed “people’s desire to bring in new blood.”

Lefkaditis said that the planning board members are appointed rather than elected and, if the same people are reappointed, the applicant pool would be reduced, eventually to zero. “We alienate the community,” he said.

“My thinking is Dan brings experience and knowledge about the planning process that is very important,” said Deputy Supervisor Amy Pokorny who made the motion to appoint him. She has been working on master-plan revisions and said Driscoll has been helpful with that. She made a similar argument about the New Year’s appointment of Price as chairman.

Councilman Dennis Barber told Lefkaditis, “I think everything you said is the reason to have Dan on the board.”

“My voting for Dan, I feel the same way as going for Mr. Price,” said Councilman Eric Kuck. “I could care less about time in office. I’m looking at qualifications of candidates.”

Councilman Earl Barcomb, who stepped down from the planning board after being elected to the town board, causing the second vacancy, said he and Driscoll didn’t always vote the same way, which he termed “healthy.”

Barcomb went on, “Dan is probably the most open-minded person. He puts a heck of a lot of work in.”

“I fought long and hard with this town,” said Karl Pritchard who owns and runs Pritchard Enterprizes, repairing and selling Subarus. “I grew up in this town. No one cared what the town board did…It didn’t affect us,” he said from the gallery.

Pritchard went on, “Farmers have lost their farms because of taxes. The board is supposed to help the community.”

Lefkaditis agreed, saying he keeps hearing about how people value agriculture and open land yet there are no farmers on the planning board. Referring to one of the applicants, he said, “Kenny Saddlemire is a lifelong farmer. Practice what you preach.”

“Are they afraid of voting against the person?” asked Ed Ackroyd, a retired business owner, from the gallery.

“Say thank you and move on,” urged Lefkaditis of how to handle Driscoll’s application to retain his seat on the planning board.

Another applicant, Dee Woessner, spoke from the gallery, responding to Lefkaditis’s assertion that applications would fall off if Driscoll were reappointed. “The only thing that would discourage me from applying is if you didn’t pick the best people,” said Woessner. “You’d be crazy not to appoint him,” she said of Driscoll.

“Opportunity instead of the same old, same old,” urged Lefkaditis.

“You’re choking us right the hell out with all your stupid regulations,” said Robert Stock, a Knox native and farmer, from the gallery.

You say you love farming, said Lefkaditis, “Now is your chance to prove it.” He urged Pokorny to amend her motion to appoint Saddlemire instead.

“I appreciate Kenny Saddlemire’s application…but I stand by the motion,” responded Pokorny.

Lefkaditis then turned to the gallery of 30 or so onlookers to ask for a “show of hands.”

Barcomb quickly called the question, ending discussion and requiring an immediate vote.

All four council members voted for Driscoll. Lefkaditis voted against the appointment.

Next, a vote on Saddlemire was taken to fill the second vacant seat. Lefkaditis and Barber voted for Saddlemire’s appointment and the other three board members voted against it.

Barcomb then made a motion to appoint Nelson, seconded by Pokorny.

“She’s extremely like-minded,” said Lefkaditis stating that Nelson and Driscoll both had “ecological backgrounds.” Barber and Lefkaditis voted against appointing Nelson; Pokorny, Barcomb, and Kuck carried the vote.

Driscoll’s term will end on Dec. 31, 2017. Nelson’s term will end on Dec. 31, 2022.

The other applicants, besides Driscoll, Nelson, Saddlemire, and Woessner, were Ernie Cupernall, Todd LaGrange, and Doug Roether.

Lefkaditis then brought up having an alternate planning board member to serve in case of conflicts of interest. A public hearing on creating the position will be held before the April 12 town board meeting.

Bills sent back

Lefkaditis then questioned planning board members on proposed amendments to the town ordinances controlling light and noise. After nearly an hour, both proposals were sent back to the planning board for revisions.

Longtime planning board member Robert Gwin drafted the amendment to the light ordinance and Driscoll drafted the amendment on noise.

“It sets the standard for everyone,” said Gwinn, whether a new business or new house construction, “to be compliant with dark skies.”

In 2011, the Knox board passed a resolution to require new construction — both homes and businesses — to use only full-cutoff light fixtures, inspired by the Dudley Observatory’s interest at the time in using Knox with its rural dark skies for star observation. Full cut-off light fixtures, first produced by General Electric in Schenectady over a half-century ago, keep light from escaping up, focusing it, instead, on the ground, which reduces sky glow and saves energy.

Places as diverse as Calgary in Canada, the Lombardy region of Italy, and Flagstaff in Arizona have ordinances to prevent light pollution, which can wreak havoc with the natural world (reproductive cycles, for example, are affected by light) and affect human hormones and behavior as well.

“Who determines what’s a nuisance or annoyance?” asked Lefkaditis.

“The zoning administrator,” answered Price, explaining, “If someone has a light shining in their window and bitches about it…the building administrator negotiates between the two parties.”

Gwin said that currently and for the past 40 years, the Knox law specified no glare beyond the owner’s property line. “We’re adding guidance,” he said. “This amendment would make it clear we’re not regulating Christmas lights.”

“This is going to pit neighbor against neighbor,” said Lefkaditis.

After a lengthy back and forth, Lefkaditis recommended, and the board agreed, sending the draft back to the planning board to make it apply to businesses, not homeowners, and to spell out exemptions for security lights and farmers.

On the noise ordinance, Price explained it applied only to site-plan approval — not to noise caused, for example, by tractors or snowmobiles — and the burden would be on the applicant to meet the requirements. “You have to make sure the noise will not disturb your neighbors and prove it,” he said.

“Have you considered the cost?” asked Lefkaditis.

“Who cares,” responded Price, indicating the applicant pays any cost.

“I care,” said Lefkaditis. “I’d like to see business grow….So the answer is, the cost wasn’t considered.”

“What was considered was the health, safety, and ambience,” said Price.

Driscoll then answered a series of technical questions from Lefkaditis explaining, for example that the decibel levels — 40 at night and 50 during the day — were based on research done by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

While Driscoll’s voice and demeanor remained calm during the sometimes intense questioning from Lefkaditis, Price at one point came near shouting.

Lefkaditis was positing that a security alarm going off would be in violation of the proposed amendment, triggering someone to file a complaint.

“What are you talking about?…You can. But why would you do that? You’d look like a jerk,” Price scoffed.

“Would you make an exemption for security systems?” asked Lefkaditis.

“Yes, absolutely,” answered Driscoll.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Heard from Liam Hanley about his Eagle Scout project;

— Heard from Albany County Deputy Sheriff Amy Kowalski about a Youth Council overnight;

— Heard from Lefkaditis that Patricia Lightbody has volunteered to be a Community Service Coordinator. She’d work with the town justices to find service projects for youth found guilty of minor offenses, said Lefkaditis, adding, “I don’t think you should give a kid a criminal record.” Barcomb asked if she could coordinate “a list of needs” that could be fulfilled by “good kids,” too, like Scouts or Honor Society members, seeking to provide community service. Town attorney John Dorfman said he would talk to the town justices and probation department about it;

— Heard from Brian Clary of Bethlehem on his concerns about the Kinder Morgan pipeline slated to pass through Albany County. Councilman Kuck had similar concerns, focusing on the company’s poor maintenance and safety record. “We are getting zero benefit from it, “ said Kuck since none of the gas is going to New Yorkers. “We are shouldering all the hazards.”

Lefkaditis said he could share a detailed map of the pipeline’s proposed right-of-way with interested residents as well as a letter of denial, stopping short of posting the letter on the town’s website. “Some people are for it,” Lefkaditis said of the pipeline, noting they could make money selling a right-of-way. Ackroyd said from the gallery that pipelines contribute to taxes, supporting town and school.

Clary urged those who are opposed to contact their elected representatives soon as the pipeline plan has not yet been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “We have maybe a year before FERC makes a decision,” he said;

— Unanimously appointed Mackenzie Hempstead to be the minutes recorder to the zoning board at $13.27 an hour; Kathleen Putzig as town historian at $726 annually; Mark Young as a part-time landfill attendant at $12.73 an hour; and Laure-Jeanne Davignon to the Conservation Advisory Board with a term expiring at the end of 2016, and Peter Shunney to the same board with a term expiring at the end of 2017;

— Heard from Lefkaditis that the highway garage is now buying heating oil on state contract for $1.02 a gallon, 39 cents less than previously;

— Learned that, after a brief hiatus, Knox is currently accepting electronic waste at its transfer station. Pokorny went over a chart showing five vendors that had responded to requests for proposals from the town of Bethlehem. Although Knox handles a much smaller volume of recyclables, Pokorny said, “It gives some idea of various services and pricing structures.”

“My recommendation is JGS,” said Kuck. “They’ve always stood by us.”

Highway Superintendent Gary Salisbury agreed. “JGS is a smaller company…but they take care of you,” he said; and

— Rescheduled a tour of town facilities for Feb. 27 at 9:30 a.m., starting at the town hall.