The Cornwall-on-Hudson Board of Trustees held its annual reorganization meeting on Monday. The first order of business was to swear in Trustees James Kane and Kenneth Schmidt. Mayor Brendan Coyne then re-appointed Mark Edsall as Deputy Mayor.
“Mark is an amazing help to the village and a great source of guidance to me,” said Coyne.
Much of the rest of the meeting was business as usual. Public officers retained their position for another year, as did appointed employees of the village.
Maser Consulting will continue to serve as the village’s engineering firm. The rate charged ranges between $65 and $200 an hour depending on the level of staff required to perform the work. Nugent & Haeussler was named as the auditor. A full audit is expected to take place in May.
One of the biggest changes of the evening was the re-hiring of attorney Joseph McKay, and his firm Catania, Mahon, Milligram & Rider, PLLC to serve not only the Board of Trustees and the Ethics Board, but the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals as well.
Richard Hoyt, Esq. and Kevin Dowd, Esq. previously represented the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals respectively.
“Before I came into office this is the way the village conducted business, so I’d like the board to resume that way of conducting business particularly because I have a strong relationship with Joe McKay and I think it will make for a smoother working of the village,” said Coyne.
The law firm will charge the village $175 per hour, the same rate the two sides have agreed upon the last three years.
In assigning committees on which the trustees serve, the only change Coyne made was placing Schmidt on the committees former Trustee Peter Russell had served.
The assignments are as follows:
Buildings & Grounds – David Carnright and Schmidt
Public Safety (police and fire) – Edsall and Schmidt
Insurance & Public Utilities – Carnright and Kane
Personnel & Labor Relations – Edsall and Kane
Public Works – Carnright and Edsall
Sanitation & Recycling – Kane and Schmidt
Recreation & Summer Youth – Carnright and Schmidt
Grants & Economic Development – Edsall and Kane.