North East organizes for 2013

NORTH EAST ­­— The Town Board held its annual organizational meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 2. The “reorg meeting” is designed so the board can get its municipal house in order for the upcoming year.First on the to-do list was for town Supervisor John Merwin to appoint his deputy supervisor. For the second year in a row he appointed Councilman Steve Merwin to the post.The board also voted to keep its meeting schedule the same for 2013. Town Board business meetings will be held on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, located at 19 North Maple Ave., Millerton.The official newspaper was appointed. The Millerton News won that honor; the Poughkeepsie Journal was appointed as the alternate official paper in case a daily paper is needed to post municipal notices.Other appointments were made: Warren Replansky was reappointed as attorney to the town; Morris Associates was reappointed as the town engineer; Sickler, Torcia, Allen & Churchill was reappointed to provide the town accounting services.Lorna Sherman was reappointed as the town’s bookkeeper and budget officer; Donna Morrison as the assessor’s aide; John Lloyd as the real property data lister; Lisa Cope as the secretary to the Planning and Zoning boards and as secretary to the Building Department; Ken McLoughlin as building inspector and code enforcement officer for administrative and zoning matters; and Mike Segelken as deputy building inspector and zoning enforcement officer for building/fire inspections and field work.Town Clerk Nancy Davis-Vialpando appointed her deputy town clerks: Pat Boice was reappointed as deputy clerk No. 1, for taxes while Ellen Owens was reappointed deputy clerk No. 2, for office assistance. Davis-Vialpando was reappointed registrar of vital statistics and Owens as deputy registrar of vital statistics.Zoning Board of Appeals appointments were made. Julie Schroeder was reappointed as chair; Jon Arnason was appointed to a term ending Dec. 31, 2017.Planning Board appointments were also made. Dale Culver was appointed to another term, ending Dec. 31, 2019. He was also reappointed chair.Julian Strauss was appointed to a term on the Ethics Committee, ending Dec. 31, 2017. Petrina Lopane was appointed to a term on the Agricultural Board, ending Dec. 31, 2015.Ray Kilmner was appointed as highway motor equipment operator (MEO) foreman; Sean Morrison was appointed assistant highway MEO.Jim Rielly was reappointed the dog control officer. Michael Williams was appointed town historian.A resolution was passed to fix the salaries of all elected and appointed officers and to establish the wage rates for other personnel. A separate motion was passed to authorize the town clerk to open competitive bids on behalf of the Town Board.Mileage rates were established to compensate personnel who drive while on town business; the rate set is 56.5 cents per mile.The emergency interim successors were appointed by the supervisor, who stressed the appointments were determined by seniority and required by the county. In order, those to succeed the supervisor are: Councilmen Merwin, George Kaye, Ralph Fedele and Jim Campbell.Board members were also authorized to attend the annual Association of Towns meeting, and a delegation was designation for that meeting.Lastly, the board adopted the rules of procedure for Town Board meetings for 2013, which remained unchanged from 2012.

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