Former Rochester town supervisor hired for planning, zoning and code enforcement position in New Paltz

Many of the people in local government volunteered for a time on one planning board or another. That’s true for three of those on the New Paltz Village Board right now, and it’s especially true of the individual they have hired to oversee planning, zoning and code enforcement in the village: Mike Baden, who until recently was working as a town supervisor over the ridge in Rochester. 

Before running for that elected office, Baden was a member and eventually chair of the planning board in Rochester, but that alone would not be enough to qualify for the position. The job description — approved at the county level — calls for a bachelor’s degree in planning or equivalent experience, and mayor Tim Rogers wanted to make sure that the record of this job interview reflected that experience. Over 21 years in local government, Baden headed up a comprehensive plan review in Rochester, and then was involved in a key next step that is sometimes missed, namely adjusting all the zoning code to match the updated plan. Baden also has 15 years of experience on the county’s planning board, including serving as chair for two separate stints, and is chair of the committee working on reforming the county’s resource recovery agency. Other highlights include running planning training sessions at the county and state level, and receiving an award in 2011 from the state’s planning federation. 

Outside of that work, Baden spent 40 years utilizing a SUNY New Paltz theater arts degree to manage the lighting and staging of a variety of large corporate events, including budgeting. Baden was also a member of the Rondout Valley school board, but had to step down because a narrowly-tailored state law precludes anyone from serving as a school board trustee and town supervisor at the same time. 

Stana Weisburd, one of the village trustees who has been on a planning board, said to Baden, “I feel like we won the lotto.” 

That sentiment seemed to be shared all around, as trustees all agreed to provisionally hire Baden at a salary of $77,000, with a start date of May 28. It’s a provisional appointment because taking and passing a civil service test for the job is needed to make it a permanent position. No such test has yet been created for this new job. 

“Wait until Lauren Thomas takes your photo,” said Rogers, noting that the esteemed Hudson Valley One photographer “makes everyone look good.” 

Even wells get inflation

The cost of everything has gone up in recent years, including the cost of adding new wells to the Village of new Paltz’s water supply. Mayor Tim Rogers would like to see the reimbursement for that project keep up with rising costs. The well project is part of larger plans to reduce dependence on the Catskill Aqueduct, because that dependence has made it more difficult for New York City workers to rehabilitate the giant pipe that extracts billions of gallons of Hudson Valley water from the region each year. However, the amount that was promised — $2.3 million — is no longer enough to pay for four wells by the water treatment plant and two more adjacent to Moriello Park, and city officials are now signaling that they only want to cover the four off Mountain Rest Road. 

Rogers believes that another $1.5 million would get the job done as originally agreed upon. The mayor would also like to fix an oversight in the original agreement because “I was a baby mayor;” it does not address the borrowing costs to pay for these projects up front, since the money will only be reimbursed once the work is complete. Rogers estimates that debt service of about $100,000 has been the result of “just waiting for reimbursement.” The mayor has learned that intergovernmental agreements signed on behalf of other local municipalities even cover staff time for administering such issues. “A few thousand dollars to us is very different than for the people of New York City,” Rogers said.
— Terence P Ward

Project manager leaving

Autumn Seguin will be leaving Village of new Paltz employment. The project manager, who also handles administration for the village board, planning board and zoning board of appeals, will be entering the 3D printing program and SUNY New Paltz. Seguin was presented with flowers and praise at last week’s meeting.
— Terence P Ward