BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ELECTS NEW CHAIR
Carole Osterink
ccSCOOP Editor
01-05-10 - 11:35 p.m. - The Columbia County Board of Supervisors today elected Roy Brown (R-Germantown) to succeed Art Baer (R-Hillsdale) as its new chair. In a roll call vote, all of the supervisors present for this afternoon’s organizational meeting voted yes, exception for William Hughes (D-Hudson-4) and Edward Cross (D-Hudson-2), who both abstained. Before announcing his abstention, Hughes accused the Republicans of getting together and deciding who would to be the new chair without consulting any of the Democrats on the Board of Supervisors.
In his first address to his fellow supervisors, Brown identified three areas of focus for the coming year: economic development, tourism, and departmental efficiency. He called for collaboration among departments and agencies in the county and the City of Hudson to bring new business opportunities “to Hudson and to Columbia County.” In talking about collaboration and cooperation, Brown spoke of the need to “change the culture of the community" and said that tourism would also “benefit from more collaboration." He called upon department heads and employees to work with board to be more efficient and cost effective.
Brown then named his deputy chairs: Larry Andrews, Ghent Town Supervisor, and Bart Delaney, Hudson Fifth Ward Supervisor—both Republicans. |
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After a brief recess, during which supervisors were sworn in by County Clerk Holly Tanner, the organizational meeting resumed with resolutions appointing people to various positions in county government. Hughes called for a roll call vote on the resolution appointing Robert Fitzsimmons to the position of County Attorney. Before casting his vote, Hughes said that “given the gravity of the accusations against Fitzsimmons,” Daniel Tuczinski should continue in the position of County Attorney “until things are resolved.” Hughes was referring to an ethics complaint filed against Fitzsimmons with the Board of Supervisors’ Ethics Committee by leaders of Columbia County Democratic Committee and Taghkanic Democrats. The complaint alleges that Fitzsimmons, who as Deputy County Attorney represents the Board of Elections in the lawsuit initiated by the Republican County Chair Greg Fingar, violated provisions of the County Code when he, as attorney for the Town of Taghkanic, “involved himself in the drafting of a resolution criticizing his own client, the BOE,” “has not exercised good professional judgment solely for the benefit of his client,” and “has been overly influenced by members of the Republican Party which has compromised his loyalty and his judgment to the BOE.” The complaint calls for “a full ethics investigation into . . . the conduct of Attorney Fitzsimmons” and “a more broad inquiry into the propriety of county attorneys representing both county agencies and individual towns and villages.”
In spite of the allegations made by the ethics complaint, the resolution appointing Fitzsimmons as County Attorney passed, with Robin Andrews (D-Claverack) abstaining and Hughes and Cross voting no.
Also at the organizational meeting, Virginia Martin was reappointed as Democratic Commissioner of Elections and Jason Nastke, the former mayor of Valatie who was elected in 1999 at the age of 19, was appointed Republican Commissioner of Elections.
At the end of the meeting, Hughes expressed his disappointment that the "partisan politics of Albany" had spread to Columbia County, noting that Democrats had not been given any leadership positions and Brown had not continued the bipartisan spirit of his predecessor, Art Baer, by appointing a deputy chair from each party.
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