The Shandaken town board voted on February 4 to raise the wages of paramedics in the hope of attracting more employees to the ambulance service.

The 30-year old Woodstock legislator will lead the majority Democratic caucus in a turbulent time. Mike Hein, Ulster’s first and only county executive, is on the way out after a decade at the helm. In the next few years, we’ll find out if Hein’s muscular style of governing is the new norm, or if the legislator will reassert some of its power.

‘We support the idea of allowing STRs, particularly if they’re owner-occupied. But there has to be a way to balance the positive aspects versus the negatives.’

Woodstock joins other communities in support of the Driver License Access Privacy Act, also known as Green Light NY, making its way through the state legislature.

‘Nobody can see the future. We’re looking at things now we couldn’t even think of in 1989…It makes for a lot on everybody’s plate…’

The Town of Shandaken is looking at several major infrastructure projects for 2019, and town supervisor Rob Stanley hopes to have a permitting process for short-term rentals in place by the end of the year.

A group of residents assembled to ask the board to pass the resolution, but their advocacy was unneeded: The town supervisor called it a “no-brainer.”

Topics discussed include construction, Comeau office rehab and short-term rental regulations.

Members of the Town of Olive planning board are trying to put the brakes on the town board’s disposition of flood-prone properties in Boiceville, saying the town needs to formulate a cohesive vision for the hamlet to prevent the dismantling of its commercial district.