New Paltz Town Supervisor search begins in earnest

In less than a month, New Paltz Town Supervisor Neil Bettez will be leaving the supervisor’s office on Clearwater Road for a job that will be located at the DEC office on South Putt Corners Road. There are two groups that are deeply involved in getting that chair filled again: the four remaining members of the town council, and the 19 members of the town’s Democratic committee. While these are separate processes, both the outgoing supervisor and the local Democratic chair hope that the same individual will be picked both times, rather than face multiple transitions in the town’s top job. 

Council members will review applications as they are sent to assistant@townofnewpaltz.org, and can schedule interviews of those candidates. New York State Town Law §64 covers the details in paragraph 5: “Whenever a vacancy shall occur or exist in any town office, the town board or a majority of the members thereof, may appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy.” The vote to replace Bettez can’t occur until the current supervisor’s resignation is effective, which is expected to be on May 3. A town council member could be appointed supervisor; the relevant sentence of the law reads: “A person, otherwise qualified, who is a member of the town board at the time the vacancy occurs may be appointed to fill the vacancy provided that he shall have resigned prior to such appointment.” In other words, that individual would need to step down prior to the vote appointing them to the job. The antiquated use of “he” as a generic pronoun stands out here, as it does not apply to any of the sitting council members. 

According to Kitty Brown, one of those tasked with making that interim appointment, the job of supervisor is a busy one. In addition to overseeing twice-monthly evening meetings, it falls to the supervisor to handle employee issues, negotiate and enforce labor contracts, meet with members of the public and comply with a wide variety of regulatory and other deadlines necessary to the smooth operation of the town government. 

Whosoever is appointed by town council members will only have the job until the end of the year, some seven months. That’s also pursuant to state law; voters must be given the chance to pick a supervisor as soon as is practicable. Since it’s too late for anyone to collect signatures on petitions, Democratic committee members will be selecting a candidate to run on that party line in November. Committee chair Evan Holland-Shepler is confident that the Democratic candidate will win that election, which would be in keeping with a trend that’s been in place in New Paltz since before the turn of the century. That vote will be to fill the unexpired term, comprising 2025. Whoever wins the 2025 election will serve for three years, due to a transition necessitated by a state law change shifting many local elections to even-numbered years. 

Holland-Shepler agrees with Bettez that the steep learning curve to this job makes it preferable to select the same individual for the ballot as is picked to keep the seat warm in the interim. The party chair has laid out a process to make that possible, but it depends in part on getting the same residents to apply for the job twice. Council member Brown was not aware of any applications submitted for the interim appointment as of Friday, April 12. 

According to Holland-Shepler, the Democratic party process begins with an open application period, which runs through May 1. Those wishing to be considered should email a resume and letter of interest to newpaltzdems@gmail.com, or use the online application form to transmit that information. Interviews will be held with committee members, and questions will also be asked at a candidate forum on May 11. 

Committee members are constrained from formally nominating a candidate until June 26, but plan on making an informal endorsement on May 15. As it happens, May 16 will be the first town meeting after Bettez resigns. An emergency meeting could be called sooner than that to pick a replacement, but the deputy supervisor (former council member Alex Baer) is expected to keep up with the administrative work in the meantime. That informal endorsement is intended to signal a preference, which may or may not be reflected in that separate appointment process. 

In summary, any town resident who wants to apply for the job should prepare an updated resume, and write up a document explaining their understanding of the role and how they would tackle current and future issues in the town. These should be emailed to assistant@townofnewpaltzorg, and then again to newpaltzdems@gmail.com. Prospective candidates should expect to be asked questions in both private and public by a number of their neighbors as the process unfolds.