At its most recent meeting, the Woodstock Town Board appointed Deputy Supervisor Reggie Earls to fill the seat vacated by Jay Wenk’s passing, delved further into short-term rentals and heard a pitch for a town takeover of the library.

A committee chaired by Woodstock Councilman Richard Heppner has proposed to the town board that short term rentals, such as AirBnb, where the owner of the property is not on site require a special use permit from the Planning Board, as well as having the available of a local emergency contact.

Town of Shandaken resident Harris Cohn told the town board on June 4 that dwellings in the R1 residential zone “should not be handling transient people,” whether in the form of bed-and-breakfast businesses, short-term rentals such as Airbnb, or wedding venues. He has been disturbed by trespassing on the part of renters occupying nearby homes.

The town will get electricity for the Youth Center, Rock City Road bathrooms and the Supervisor’s Cottage from Hopewell Junction-based Natural Power Group Inc, a company owned by Sarah and Harry Terbush with plants in Wallkill, Wappingers Falls and Salisbury Mills.

A standing room only crowd came out to the West Hurley firehouse Monday evening, May 7, to discuss their local fire commissioners’ proposal to purchase two new fire trucks.

Commissioners are looking at spending $94,000 for a used engine ladder truck, plus $51,000 for a used pumper tanker, then selling a tanker for revenue so the amount they’d need to use from an existing reserve fund would end up in the $40,000 or under range, after reimbursement from the existing tanker’s sale. A public meeting will be held May 7.

Under proposed regulations, all those who operate a short-term rental must register with the town whether they are on-site or not. The noise law includes regulations for “unreasonable noise” as well as construction noise, car alarms and pets. Town officials say it shouldn’t affect the local music scene.

Work is expected to begin soon on a project to revamp drainage and resurface Mill Hill Road from the Landau Grill to just before the Woodstock Playhouse with hopes of completion before the busy summer tourist season.