New Paltz Town Board members would like to meet with their village colleagues when they need to take a vote together, but not just for the heck of it. It’s become a challenge to get enough members of the Town Council to show up for joint meetings with the Village Board to take any action, but in many cases no votes are being held regardless. Speaking about the fatigue of sitting through long meetings without a clear purpose, council members agreed to propose that they scale back joint meetings from monthly to bimonthly — and to cancel them, if a specific vote is not required.
Monthly joint meetings were implemented by Town Supervisor Neil Bettez and Mayor Tim Rogers in response to years of sniping and poor communication between the two overlapping governments. Current council members do not see this suggested change as signaling a return to the bad old times, though; Bettez said that they have always had it within their power to call a special meeting for action when it’s needed.
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