A day after professing allegiance to county legislature chair Tracey Bartels in her run for re-election to the body’s top job, 13-term Kingston legislator Dave Donaldson ended up being elected chair himself. He beat Heidi Haynes (R-Hurley/Marbletown) by a 13-10 vote at the legislature’s reorganizational meeting on Jan. 8.
The town hopes to receive Climate Smart bronze or silver certification. Actions it has taken toward that end include preparing plans to reduce emissions from municipal sources, an assessment of the town’s vulnerability to climate change and enacting community choice aggregation legislation, which changed the default electricity supply option for residents to renewable sources.
Just two weeks after it went into effect, state lawmakers are weighing changes to New York’s historic bail reform law, which effectively ended bail in most cases. The main change cited was the need to give judges discretion to require bail when the defendant was deemed to be dangerous.
A veteran prosecutor with expertise in sex crimes and domestic violence cases will serve as Ulster County’s new chief assistant district attorney. Incoming DA Dave Clegg announced this week that he had appointed Katherine Van Loan to the number-two spot in his office.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan has weighed in on the 2020 Democratic primary throwing his support behind fellow veteran and thirtysomething Pete Buttigieg.
Some represent the final steps in multiyear projects addressing flood damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee way back in 2011. Another is a streetlight replacement project that was begun by former councilwoman Jen Metzger, now serving in the State Senate.
Nearly half the members of the Democratic committee in New Paltz are “severing their relationships” with that group, citing backroom politics and age discrimination, according to a statement released by the now-former committee members.
Issues that most urgently need addressing in 2020, in her view, begin with fixing the gaps, contradictions and vague terminology in the Zoning Code that have hindered town officials’ ability to regulate short-term rentals and other tourist accommodations, as well as replacing a decrepit, dangerous bridge on Clove Road and scoping out how to enhance the capacity of the sewer infrastructure in the Gardiner hamlet.
Major construction along the Broadway corridor, more civilian oversight of city police and new laws to fight rising rents are part of Kingston’s 2020 agenda, according to Mayor Steve Noble and leaders of the Common Council.
A newly minted county court judge will soon preside in Ulster County Court, but not — for now at least — the one voters elected in November.