At last Wednesday night’s New Paltz Village Board reorganizational meeting, Mayor Tim Rogers appointed trustee Alexandra Wojcik to be his deputy mayor. Trustees passed their required reorganizational resolutions with one vote and no discussion and confirmed the official banks and newspaper, among other actions. Appointing the village clerk is among that standard list, but the name was left as “to be determined.”
When New Paltz Village Clerk Alberta Shaw was asked what would happen if voters approved making village elections a partisan, county-run affair, the response was that it would eliminate a lot of extra work that crops up every two years. Voters approved that proposition in May of this year.
Mayor Tim Rogers advised later that village treasurer Nancy Branco “has always been paid an extra stipend to manage the clerk’s office,” and that together with the deputy clerks there should be no interruption in service to members of the public. Asked if the plan is to return to a combined clerk-treasurer position as a way to reduce personnel now that elections are no longer under local control, Rogers responded that “not having to administer elections definitely helps reduce the clerk’s office responsibilities.” Asked if eliminating the position of village clerk was something that was considered when promoting the idea of taking village officials out of the loop on running village elections, Rogers wrote back, “We try to be mindful of various pros and cons when considering all changes.” Whether it’s seen as a pro or a con, reducing the work force was never broached as an issue when the election question was placed on the ballot.
Join the family! 
