Planning appointments ruled illegal | Greene County - Hudson Valley 360

CAIRO — The Cairo Town Board rescinded a pair of December planning board appointments Wednesday after it was ruled that the appointments were illegal.

During the board’s final meeting of 2021 on Dec. 29, the town board voted 3-2 to reappoint Planning Board Chairman Joseph Hasenkopf to a five-year term and Planning Board Alternate Christopher Keff to a one-year term.

Outgoing Town Supervisor John Coyne and councilmen Stephen Kralovich and Tim Powers voted in favor of the appointments. Incoming Supervisor Jason Watts and Councilwoman Mary Jo Cords abstained.

In the aftermath of the appointments, Cairo Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea informed that board that the appointments were illegal and must be rescinded.

“Unfortunately, because the seats weren’t vacant at the time of the appointment, then there is no appointment because there is no seat to be filled,” Rappleyea said Wednesday. “Now after the first of the year, we can go back and do it properly. The only exception would have been if the entire town board were going to be the same from last year to this year. Then they could make that motion then because then you wouldn’t be basically tying the hands of a future board. Since we had some changes in the board and there were no vacancies in those seats, we have to go back and redo it.”

The board went into executive session to discuss planning board personnel. After the board returned from its executive session, the council voted 3-2 to replace Keff with former planning board member Richard Lorenz for a one-year term as an alternate. Watts, Cords and Councilman Michael Flaherty voted in favor of Lorenz’s appointment, while Powers and Kralovich were opposed.

The board also voted unanimously to reappoint Hasenkopf as the planning board chairman for a five-year term.

In the wake of the rescinded appointments, Kralovich said that the three board members who originally voted for the extensions on Dec. 29 believed what they were doing was proper.

“We were under the assumption that we could just continue their stay on the planning board,” Kralovich said Thursday. “We didn’t feel it was a reappointment; we thought it was a continuation. But later on it was determined that we couldn’t do that because we had a new member on the board coming on. If it had been the old board we could have done that. So it was just a misunderstanding at that point of why it couldn’t stand.”

Cords said Thursday that Coyne, who left office two days after the original appointments were made, wanted to ensure the planning board remained stable.

“The outgoing supervisor wanted to make sure that the person that he wanted on the board was still going to be on there the following year,” she said. “I don’t think he knew it was illegal, but I think he certainly knew it was improper. We (Cords and Watts) didn’t know it was illegal at the time, but we knew it was inappropriate. Because if that was the case we could put a whole bunch of people in office for upcoming years to make sure that people we want stay in there beyond our terms on the board.”

Coyne on Thursday declined comment on the planning board appointments.

Watts, who took over the supervisor’s post Jan. 1, said he wasn’t comfortable voting for the appointments Dec. 29.

“From my understanding from Steve (Kralovich) last night, they wanted to keep everything going and not have any disruptions and have everyone reappointed,” Watts said Thursday. “But I voted no because they weren’t doing everybody. Why not reappoint Robert Hasenkopf to the zoning board at the same time. I felt like if they were going to do one they should have done them all. I knew I was going to be coming in as supervisor and I needed to look into the situation.”

Watts said the planning board appointments Dec. 29 were not on the schedule heading into that night’s meeting.

“That wasn’t on the agenda,” he said. “There wasn’t even a resolution in the book for it. They just did it. We didn’t even finish doing interviews. There were more people to interview even. That’s why I couldn’t understand it. There were a lot of questions that arose from that.”

Powers said Thursday he believes the board was voting Dec. 29 to extend the planning board terms and that it would be appropriate considering they weren’t fresh appointments.

“It didn’t really catch me by surprise,” Powers said. “Myself and Mr. Kralovich clearly didn’t know that we weren’t able to do that. That’s why last night (Wednesday) when the town attorney came out and said that it had to be rescinded. That’s a common mistake that other town boards make and we both voted in the affirmative to rescind it.”

The board ultimately decided Wednesday to replace Keff with Lorenz, a former planning board member.

“I just liked his plans and when I spoke with him he seemed very knowledgeable about the planning board,” Watts said of Lorenz. “It was a tough decision, but I just thought his interest in the town was for everybody. Not that Keff wasn’t, I just liked Mr. Lorenz’s views and his outlook on the way he wanted things to be structured.”

Powers said Thursday that he disagreed with the decision to replace Keff.

“I just don’t understand why they opted to replace Mr. Keff,” Powers said. “It was a win-win for the town. He was getting more than enough training to do the job and he was very engaged in doing the job and was very well-liked by the rest of the planning board. And he wasn’t taking a paycheck. In my personal opinion, I think it was a political deal.”

Wednesday’s town board meeting, which was broadcast on Zoom due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, marked the first town board session with Watts in charge, a role he said he’s still growing accustomed to.

“This was my first meeting and I’m a businessman and I’m used to making decisions on the fly and I’m not used to reading stuff off a piece of paper,” Watts said Thursday. “It was definitely one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my life. I’m glad the first one is over and I’ve always gotten better with everything I’ve done, so I know it will get better as time goes on.”

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