This past November also brought a change of leadership to the New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce. For Peter Ingellis — the Chamber’s director of membership and development — the news of his promotion came as a surprise when the board of directors appointed him the interim president until a replacement for the outgoing president Michael Smith could be found. In December, Smith was named vice president of community relations for the Nevele Resort, Casino and Spa.
One of the worst crimes to hit New Paltz in recent years came to a close this past November. Joseph Rodriguez now faces 25 years to life in state prison after he was convicted of second-degree murder in the June 2012 slaying of two-year-old Asia Medina Pérez. A seven-woman, five-man jury handed up the verdict against Rodriguez on Thursday, Nov. 14, following six days of often-horrific testimony and 12 hours of deliberations. Rodriguez, 44, was accused of the brutal beating death of his wife’s niece back on June 20, 2012.
In the midst of all the pain, passion and big events, town voters also got out to the polls in November in a competitive race between incumbent Democratic Supervisor Susan Zimet and Randall Leverette, her Republican challenger.
Leverette, the chairman of the soon-to-be defunct Police Commission, gained a following with independents and sympathetic Democrats fed up with Zimet. While he’d won the Republican endorsement already, Leverette’s supporters essentially hijacked the New Paltz Democratic caucus meeting in September. Democrats supporting his bid nominated him as their party’s candidate.
But Zimet held onto enough of her core constituency and Democratic power base to win the nomination and keep her seat. She won the election 1,508 to 1,310.
Other local races weren’t as close. In a three-way race, incumbent Jeff Logan kept his Town Board seat, and former school board member Daniel Torres won the other Town Board seat. Challenger Ray Lunati fell behind the flock.
Also, Highway Superintendent Chris Marx and Justice Jonathan Katz retained their seats as well against their respective challengers.
Village of New Paltz
The Village of New Paltz resembled more of a political satire than a functional government for most of 2013. Things got off to a tumultuous start when, at the midnight hour, four board members voted in lockstep to reduce mayor Jason West’s salary from $35,000 back to $21,500 just before they adopted the budget — something that West had no idea was coming. This resulted in greater tensions between West and his four other board members, as well as West’s decision to sue the Village Board, claiming that it was illegal to reduce his salary midterm and stating that they had held illegal meetings to make this move without his knowledge or ability to respond.
Trustee Sally Rhoads, once West’s greatest supporter and the one who pushed for him to get the raise and have the position be acknowledged as “full-time,” was the one who proposed the salary reduction, stating that she did not believe that he was doing a “full-time” job. She also resigned as his deputy mayor after he called her and several other members of the joint town and village finance committee “liars” when they reported how much they estimated to save if the town and village would consolidate.
That said, in the midst of a hostile environment, West, who originally proposed daylighting the stream that ran underneath the Peace Park from Plattekill Avenue across the Village Hall parking lot and into the tract of undeveloped land known as “the Pit,” did finally get his board to agree to the project. He teamed up with SUNY New Paltz, village engineers and the Department of Public Works, and showed that opening up the stream and landscaping it would not only be an act of green engineering, but would also be cheaper than digging up the broken pipe underneath and repaving it. The project was completed this fall and has increased the size of the Peace Park, as well as serving as a natural retention pond and flood-prevention tool.
During the village elections this past May, trustees Stewart Glenn and Brian Kimbiz declined to run for reelection. Several people came forward to throw their hats into the ring, including former deputy mayor Rebecca Rotzler, local businessman Jonathan Cohen, former School Board president Don Kerr and then-chairman of the Planning Board Tom Rocco. Rotzler and Rocco were the highest vote-getters, and West immediately appointed Rotzler as his deputy mayor — a position in which she had served alongside him during his first term as mayor.
Rotzler concurred with West that in their estimation, the consolidation proposal, otherwise called a “coterminous” government, did not convince them of any financial savings nor of any quality-of-life improvements. At a joint meeting from which they were both absent (West was away due to a family emergency), the town and village boards voted to hire then-village planner Curt Lavalla to lead them through a joint Master Plan. When West returned, he fired Lavalla, whom he had originally touted as a great candidate for the newly created position.
Soon after, he met with his board to let them know that he needed to take a one-month paid medical leave. Although he had implored them to keep the matter private, the reasons behind the medical leave were soon leaked to a daily newspaper, much to the mayor’s dismay. While on leave, Rotzler took over the helm, and when West returned, the issue of hiring someone to do a joint Master Plan came up again. Rhoads and trustee Ariana Basco first implored Rotzler and then West to reinstate Lavalla as the village planner, believing that he was doing a great job and was in the midst of several major projects.
That didn’t happen, but the Village Board, with Rotzler and West strongly opposing the proposition, did decide to go ahead and hire a planner to work on a joint Master Plan on behalf of the town and village for $1,000 per week for no more than 52 weeks. It was West and Rotzler’s contention that this was not “best practice” — that the Village Board should go out to bid, whether or not they ended up hiring Lavalla or someone else.
While full-on consolidation might have stalled, New Paltz’s town and village officials are moving forward with a joint master plan.
New Paltz schools
For New Paltz public schools, 2013 began with a sober moment of reckoning and soul-searching following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School one month prior.
Panicked parents packed into the board rooms, asking for buzzer systems, more cameras and more stringent security measures — or alternatively saying that panic was leading to some rash decisions.
In New Paltz, Newtown’s tragedy eventually morphed into buzz-in systems parents see on the school doors today.
New Paltz’s school board was looking to play it safe with their budget in early 2013. They sought to stick to the 2 percent tax cap. They ended up with a $52.2 million budget that didn’t exceed the cap.
May’s election also saw New Paltz with a three-way race for the school board. Tim Rogers and Julie Tresco ended up winning over Max Maurer.
Along with the budget, school officials won over voters with a $500,000 proposition to enhance school security.
While the budget vote was coming to a head, New Paltz Board of Education members first started discussing a potential capital improvement project. With a plethora of alphabetical options to choose from, the board got bogged down in details until November. Talk of shutting down one or two of the schools had the public a little worried. But in November, board members decided to keep all four buildings.
Now they’re looking at a narrower offering of plans, which range from $30.5 million to $84.5 million.
In July, school board members shook up their leadership structure by electing Stephen Bagley as president and Ruth Quinn as vice president.
As it was for the town and village, Park Point New Paltz — and whether it should get a PILOT — was a big issue at the school board this year. Board members debated staying neutral on the project, which might not have a large impact on the schools.
In the end, in December, they decided to just say no to all future PILOT agreements that could impact the school district.
Parents also had a big say in 2013. Frustrated with the darker side of the Common Core Standards, and the aggressive push to test students, parents lobbied Albany to loosen its standards. In late October, Commissioner John B. King Jr. announced that the state would allow for fewer tests each year. New Paltz schools rolled back testing to the newly allowed minimum.
