Members of New Paltz town and village boards are no longer in agreement about how to handle regular joint meetings. Those on the town council would like to have fewer of them, having decided that bimonthly should be sufficient unless there’s something urgent that must be addressed. Some village representatives believe that this could lead to the poor level of communication that was in evidence when past leaders didn’t like each other all that much.
Supervisor Neil Bettez framed what was actually an announcement as a “discussion,” which led to some confusion once it became apparent that a decision had already been made and transmitted to the mayor. The monthly meetings have been happening alternately on town and village meeting nights, and there’s been some frustration about what’s put on joint agendas and what isn’t. Items on the joint agenda are sometimes purely informational, and haven’t always been relevant to both groups of elected officials at all. At the same time, presentations that could more efficiently be made at joint meetings, such as the ones on natural resources inventory, are sometimes scheduled for individual board meetings instead. Bettez observed that it can be a challenge to reach quorum for both boards, since these are meetings on nights when some of the elected officials may have other obligations.
KT Tobin, who just finished a term on the village board, was present and cautioned against reducing the number. Tobin recalled a tense period from about ten years ago, when there was rancor in place of cooperation and the community of New Paltz was as a result split into town and village. That’s particularly bizarre, given that every single resident of the village is and always has been a resident of the town, as well. The fact that there are different priorities is inevitable; villages are chartered because a smaller number of people within a town wish to do things differently than town leaders desire. Much of the rancor Tobin recalled transpired during a time when the idea of consolidating the two overlapping jurisdictions was being explored. Tobin’s recommendation was to leave the monthly meetings in place, but cancel them when they were not needed.
Trustee Alex Wojcik raised a concern that it would be far harder for clerks to keep track of bimonthly joint meetings than monthly ones, and to communicate that schedule to members of the public. Bettez suggested that this could be addressed by using a calendar.
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