Tough town transition

It was likely that the poet John Godfrey Saxe first observed, “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.” When it comes to governing, it’s not just the process of making laws that’s usually unseen; at the local level there’s invoices to approve, employees to manage and a seemingly endless amount of paperwork. All of those processes occur quietly and constantly — at least they should when someone with experience is at the helm. The New Paltz town government is going through a transition, though, and there’s really no one at the helm at all. 

Neil Bettez stepped down as supervisor on May 3, and the transition to an interim replacement has not been a smooth one despite Bettez being willing to assist whoever is selected as successor. That’s largely because no one has yet been selected — or even interviewed. Bettez gave a month’s notice, but the other board members opted not to interview any potential replacements until after May 3 had already passed. That’s in contrast to the process for replacing Dan Torres; most of the interviews for filling that council seat occurred while Torres was still serving. Following tried-and-true recusal practices, Torres left the building during those interviews. 

Five candidates were supposed to be interviewed on May 16: Alex Baer, who as the appointed deputy supervisor has been filling in with supervisory duties on an interim basis without pay since May 3; Amanda Gotto, who last month was appointed to fill Torres’ seat several months after it was vacated; William Wheeler Murray, currently a trustee in village government; Jane Schanberg; and Dylan Moscoso. That meeting was cancelled, however, due to lack of quorum. There was no quorum because Esi Lewis was unable to attend, and Amanda Gotto submitted a resignation from the board a day earlier. Gotto said that this resignation was required by law in order to be considered for supervisory role. 

It’s not entirely clear if the law actually required Gotto’s resignation at this juncture. The law does include this clause: “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.” Kitty Brown asserted that Baer and the supervisor’s confidential secretary advised Gotto to resign. Baer’s recollection is that, not being fully-versed in all the municipal laws personally, that the opinions of several longtime employees were solicited, but that Baer’s advice was ultimately to do the research into the rules. 

Brown did consult with Lori Mithen, an attorney for the Association of Towns, and recounted part of that conversation as being that Mithen “did advise that it was not appropriate for a sitting town council member applying to fill a vacancy in the supervisor’s office, to simply recuse from interviews and that the council person should resign.” 

Attempts to contact Mithen directly were unsuccessful.  The individual who answered the phone advised that press inquiries must be submitted in writing via email.  Questions that were emailed Friday afternoon were not responded to by press time.

Another interpretation is that such a resignation must be tendered prior to taking the oath for the new office. One observer familiar with the relevant laws noted that, if appointments were effective immediately instead of when such an oath was taken, that theoretically individuals could be appointed to any manner of positions without their consent. 

This transition has been taking a toll on Baer, who reports having been working from 5 to 11 p.m. every day to plow through the basic tasks required to keep the town government running, after shadowing Bettez to learn about the various routine issues and ongoing projects. This also includes setting the agenda for meetings, but it’s unclear if Baer gets a vote as interim supervisor, because Bettez opted to appoint a deputy who wasn’t current a town council member. Baer also said that this work has been without pay, because no action has been taken in the town council to approve remuneration. 

All of this has led Baer to the decision to withdraw from consideration for the job on a more permanent basis — in this case, until the end of the year. Baer will not be interviewed at a town council meeting, nor by the Democratic committee, and has signaled that this stint filling in will end as of the next regular board meeting, on June 6. In order to keep the ship afloat, Baer did schedule two special meetings: on May 17 board members met to promote a new police sergeant, and on May 20 they took care of paying the monthly bills and most other issues that had been on the agenda for May 16 — except interviewing candidates for supervisor. 

Baer said that the plan to set aside just ten minutes for each candidate felt “perfunctory,” and that conversations with council members made it seem like a decision to appoint Gotto has already been made.