Saugerties seeks councilperson
The Saugerties Town Board will be interviewing candidates for an open board position created by the resignation of Paul Andreassen last month.
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Boyer appointed new Ulster County public defender
Boyer has spent 15 years as an assistant and senior assistant public defender in Ulster and Dutchess counties. More recently, she served as principal law clerk in the State Supreme Court. The lone nay vote on the appointment came from Legislator Mary Beth Maio, who cited Boyer’s support for bail reform.
Andreassen vs. O’Dell for Saugerties town justice
Seeking a third full term as one of two Saugerties town justices, Claudia Andreassen is being challenged on the November 3 ballot by Stan O’Dell, who is seeking his first elective office. Both candidates are registered Democrats. Their names will appear on five different lines.
Saugerties police officer Donald Tucker retires
The Saugerties Town Board accepted the second resignation for retirement of patrolman Donald Tucker at its regular meeting on Wednesday, October 14. Tucker had previously retired about six years ago after reaching the rank of first sergeant in the local police force, said supervisor Fred Costello.
Saugerties is updating its master plan
The Saugerties Town Board continued with its hybrid meeting format, with the board members assembled in the town hall for the October 7 meeting, while the session was transmitted to the public via Cisco Webex.
Early voting starts tomorrow
In New York State, early voting runs for nine days, from October 24 to November 1. Ulster County will hold host voting at five polling places. Unlike on Election Day itself, when voters need to report to a specific polling place in their voting district, during early voting voters can use any polling place.
It’s Michelle Hinchey versus Rich Amedure for State Senate seat
State Senate District 46, which stretches from northern Ulster County to the Capital Region, is up for grabs. Democrats, who already have a decisive majority, are hoping 32-year-old Michelle Hinchey, daughter of the late U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, can turn the district blue and achieve a veto-proof supermajority. She supports a slate of progressive legislation, including expanded healthcare, marijuana legalization, and new taxes on the wealthy. On the GOP side, retired state trooper Richard Amedure of Rensselaerville hopes to hold the line. Amedure pledges to advocate for small businesses and family farms, and criticizes the state’s bail-reform and discovery-reform laws as “devastating” to “our communities and law enforcement.”
Saugerties village to upgrade telephone system
“It’s in the cloud, and we would never drop a call, or lose a call,” said the village treasurer. “The phone system would always be up and running.”
Voter registration deadline is October 9
The deadline to register to vote for the 2020 general election is Friday, October 9. You can pick up a voter registration form at the Ulster County Board of Elections, 284 Wall Street, Kingston, as well as any local post office, library, city or town clerk’s office. For more info, or to download a registration form, visit elections.ulstercountyny.gov/voter-registration.
Ulster exec’s budget includes no tax increase or layoffs
Ryan’s 45-minute speech on the 2021 budget contained no single mention of two elements by which the county’s financial projections will sink or swim: the necessity of substantial federal aid to cash-strapped local governments, and how this particular local government will manage its budget in case the on-going pandemic delivers a second lethal hit to local; sales-tax revenues in the coming months. Instead, Ryan touted the hold-the-line, no-layoffs budget under the banner of a “people-first” approach to county governance.