At its reorganizational meeting on Jan. 1, the new town board of Berne removed several long-standing employees from their posts, stoking the ire of residents. Some of the board’s decisions are illegal, The Enterprise has learned.

Joel Willsey, Councilman Berne Town Board

The Berne Town Board ousted Emily Vincent, a Berne farmer, before she completed her term on the town’s planning board, breaking the law, to appoint Thomas Spargo as chairman. Vincent should be reinstated.

The same day he set a hearing for a law that would make Berne a firearm sanctuary, Town Supervisor Sean Lyons posted a photo of himself displaying the hand-signs of a far-right militia group that has been described as “anti-government” and is connected to a failed 2017 bomb plot in Oklahoma.

The new Berne Town Board is proposing a law that would make Berne a “Second Amendment Sanctuary Town.” The bill outlines a series of state and federal regulations, such as registering firearms, and says, “Any such ‘Unlawful Act’ is invalid in Town of Berne and shall not be recognized by Town of Berne ….”

Seeing nearly 200 patients in its first month of operation, the Hilltowns’ sole medical provider, Hilltown Healthcare, is off to a running start.

Berne just passed a law that paves the way for industrial-scale solar facilities to plant their roots in the town, while ensuring that the privilege won’t be abused with restrictions surrounding land use. 

Berne Highway Superintendent and GOP Chairman Randy Bashwinger says proposed road evaluation is “yet another” political move by Democratic board member Joel Willsey.

Thanks to more focused revenue projections and a dip into the fund balance, Berne’s 2020 budget promises less spending and lower tax levies.

ACCESS Hilltowns will soon house a caseworker who will be able to support residents who have been victimized by a crime.