The Ulster Town Board last week held a special meeting with a single agenda item, one which could remove the oversight of day-to-day operations from the supervisor – or deputy supervisor – and restore the committee system of governance.
At the special meeting held at noon on Friday, June 28, town attorney Jason Kovacs explained how the resolution came about and why it might make sense for the town moving forward.
“In January of this year, as you have done every January for the last nine or ten years you delegated the daily operation of the Town of Ulster to the town supervisor,” Kovacs said. “This past April, this town board voted to rescind that delegation of authority to the supervisor and to delegate authority for all the daily operations of the town to the deputy supervisor.”
Kovacs added that when town supervisor James E. Quigley, III chose to withdraw his intent to resign in early June, it changed for some the nature of the authority being given to the deputy supervisor, including deputy supervisor Clayton VanKleeck.
“So now we have a conundrum,” Kovacs said. “Last week, we had a resolution to the town board that would have rescinded the transfer of authority to the deputy supervisor and given it back to the supervisor.That resolution was defeated.”
The resolution that would have ceded day-to-day authority back to the supervisor fell by a 3-2 vote at a contentious town board meeting held on Thursday, June 20. VanKleeck voted in favor of that resolution, Quigley against.
Since then, Kovacs said, the two have found middle ground in the resolution presented at Friday’s special meeting.
“I think the record should reflect that I have spoken to the deputy supervisor and the supervisor on numerous occasions in the past week or so,” Kovacs said. “And my understanding is there’s a bit of a reprise de l’harmonie, if I can use that word…Resumption of harmony to this. And the two of you have generally agreed on the terms of this current resolution.”
In effect, Friday’s resolution rescinds both the January and April resolutions, and in its place grants authority for day-to-day operation in the town to the town board. The measure passed unanimously; Quigley was not in attendance.
Kovacs said that the new system not only mirrors operations in most other towns across the state, it’s also how it used to be in the Town of Ulster.
“Based on our record, this is generally how this town operated prior to about ten years ago,” he said. “The town board is the executive and legislative authority of the town. And the town supervisor, he’s not an executive. He’s not the CEO of the town. He’s not the mayor. He is the chief financial officer, and he is the de facto administrator of the town. But I think this resolution would kind of accomplish the goals of restoring authority properly to the town board.”
That Quigley and VanKleeck would agree to anything might have come as a surprise to those in attendance at the June 20 meeting, where the deputy supervisor shared his perspective on Quigley’s decision to not step down, and framed it in the context of what he said was a pattern.
On June 28, Kovacs said he believed restoring the town board’s authority will help bring municipal leaders together for the best interests of the town.
“I think this is a way to resolve the current imbroglio,” he said.
VanKleeck agreed.
“We are a board that is involved, we’re willing to take on committee assignments, we’re willing to come in for the meetings,” he said. “We’re willing to go to the law library and look something up. We’re willing to put our time in. This is a board that will step up and do the job, do the committee assignments and be able to answer the questions for the department heads, with the supervisor, to expedite. This is no desire to slow this operation down.”
Whether board committees will be reestablished and other aspects of the town board having the authority for day-to-day operations is expected to be discussed at the next town board meeting, scheduled for Thursday, July 18.
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