“I am happy to hear that there are two people willing to go onto the zoning board from the planning board,” Schuylerville Mayor Dan Carpenter said after the Wednesday May 8 village board meeting. “And I am very happy to announce that we have two interested people to replace those people on the planning board.”
At July’s meeting, the village plans to accept the resignations of Leona Colvin and Bruce Ricketson from the planning board and to place two other people on the planning board, the mayor said.
With the new zoning code adopted by the village earlier this year comes the need for an official Zoning Board of Appeals.
The village had been trying for a number of weeks to find people to fill the positions, and in May released an announcement asking for members. Colvin and Ricketson will move to the ZBA, and the mayor said a third person has stepped forward to complete the ZBA.
The mayor is withholding the names of the new people until the appointments are finalized next month, he said. Village Clerk Cory Heyman says that interested people should still reach out to the village board, as more volunteers could be used.
The village has also been struggling to make sure the planning board has been holding official meetings properly and keeping minutes. Planning boards are required under open meetings law to hold their meetings publicly and keep minutes.
In emails seen by FoothillsBusinessDaily.com, Village Clerk Cory Heyman asks Planning Board Chair Bob Foster for a list of meetings held and their related minutes going back at least a year.
Foster told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com last week that he has not been holding meetings by sending emails between board members, which would fly in the face of state law, but also that the board does not hold many meetings to begin with. The board is scheduled to hold one meeting a month, but then only if an application comes before them. Heyman said the village does not have minutes from two meetings over the last year.
In an email to Heyman, Foster asked for time to figure out what the issues were with the minutes. Heyman said in an interview today that she still has not received them.
[Read more about Schuylerville Planning Board disagreements here.]
Adam Myers, the newly appointed code enforcement officer, drew kudos from the board and staff at the board meeting for the work he has been doing.