New “alternate” landlord-tenant council member named in New Paltz

Village of new Paltz trustees appointed Ellen Kolber to the Landlord-Tenant Relations Council, in a move that appears to ignore Village law. Kolber was interviewed during the September 8 board meeting, asking questions about such topics as how one forces rental owners to wheel the garbage containers to the street rather than expecting tenants to complete that task. When trustees prepared to approve appointing Kolber to the council, Village staffer Ariana Basco pointed out that only Village residents may be appointed to a seat representing tenant interests, but that there was a “precedent” for appointing someone who lives elsewhere in the Town. The council is comprised of three persons representing tenant interests, three for the landlords and a neutral party who chairs the meetings. As the law is presently written, landlord representatives may live anywhere in the Town as long as they own property in the Village, but the other members must live in the Village. In response, trustees voted unanimously to appoint Kolber as an alternate member, despite the fact that there is no mention of alternate members for this body in Village code at all.