The first meeting of Gardiner’s Town Board for 2018 took place on January 2, opening with the swearing-in of newly elected municipal officials by town justice Bruce Blatchly: town supervisor Marybeth Majestic, town clerk Michelle Mosher, superintendent of highways Brian Stiscia and councilmen David Dukler and Warren Wiegand. Wiegand was the only “new/old” addition to the lineup, having served on the Town Board previously and been returned last November to the seat formerly held by John Hinson. Unavailable for the joint swearing-in ceremony, reelected town justice Robert Rich took his oath of office on a separate occasion.
Known as the Organizational Meeting, the first Town Board meeting in January is dedicated primarily to pro forma housekeeping, achieved by the passage of a long list of resolutions reauthorizing the salaries of town employees, contracts with outside consultants and the like. One item that deviated from routine on last Tuesday’s agenda was approval of a brand-new municipal employee. The board voted to accept the supervisor’s request to hire Maureen TerBush Vickner to take over the part-time position of clerk to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.
Majestic explained that Donna Smith, who took over the clerk position last June upon the retirement of Margarete Wagner, had only “volunteered for six months,” and that time was now up. The supervisor described TerBush Vickner as “a highly qualified person” who had retired from a career with the Department of Transportation and was “well-versed in SEQR [State Environmental Quality Review]…inspections and road reports.”
Wiegand, who served as a Planning Board alternate during his hiatus from the Town Board, endorsed the clerk choice, noting that TerBush Vickner had worked in the past with Planning Board chair Paul Colucci. He added that the new hiree had attended the last Planning Board meeting, recorded it and “seemed very interested…. It was the usual spirited meeting, and she was not deterred by that.”
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