The board decided to sue the Weeks family for, the town alleges, unlawfully expanding their sawmill onto an adjacent lot. It approved the demolition of an abandoned property at 508 York Street in Malden. And it approved a study weighing the various options available to it in regards to the Kiwanis Ice Arena.

For former assemblyman Pete Lopez, now EPA regional administrator, returning to family roots in Puerto Rico, was, as Yogi Berra used to say, deja vu all over again.

The Frisbee-loving, festival-going Saugerties native is the youngest official to hold the position in town history.

Saugerties’ new town board cleaned up shop at their January 3 reorganizational meeting at the Frank Greco Senior Center, designating citizens for town committees and divvying up liaison positions.

A new town council, a solar farm, projects to improve energy efficiency and cut costs, more reliable Internet and new safety measures are all in the cards for Saugerties in 2018, according to local officials.

They wanted to save money before the new federal tax bill sharply limiting deductions on state and local taxes goes into effect in 2018. According to the tax office, 489 Saugerties taxpayers made a total of $1,275,619.85 in prepayments.

Mike MacIsaac, the losing Democratic candidate in County Legislature District 1, was chosen by the town board to fill supervisor-elect Fred Costello Jr.’s vacated council seat starting in January.

Saugerties continues its gradual transition from a town where the Republicans almost always won local elections to a town where the Democrats increasingly win. The shift in the past five and a half years has been slow but steady. The odds are that it will continue.