RENSSELAERVILLE — After its building inspector resigned, the Rensselaerville Town Board will hold a public hearing to allow candidates to be pulled from all of Albany, Schoharie, and Greene counties.

The town board held a special meeting on Aug. 7 to interview candidates for the position but instead decided to continue receiving applications until Nov. 6, with the hopes of increasing the number of applicants.

The town’s former building inspector, Mark Overbaugh, submitted his letter of resignation in June, citing an unnamed town board member as the source of stress for him at his job over the last few years, which he wrote affected his health. The town board appointed Edwin Lawson, the code-enforcement officer for the neighboring town of Westerlo, as the temporary building inspector and code-enforcement officer.

Town attorney Thomas Fallati said at the Rensselaerville board’s Sept. 13 meeting that the positions of building inspector and code-enforcement officer fall under the category of a town officer, and therefore would be subject to residency requirements set by state law. But Fallati said that a town ordinance, which he had drafted, would supercede the state law, and allow applicants to be from anywhere in the county or adjoining counties. The board approved a public hearing for the bill, known as Local Law 4 of 2018, on Sept. 26 at 6:45 p.m..

Town Councilwoman Marion Cooke asked about enacting the law after advertising for applicants only from the town.

“Even if we don’t need it, we have it,” said Supervisor Steve Pfleging. Councilman Jason Rauf added that the law would allow the search to be expanded if not enough candidates apply.

Resident Marie Dermody asked from the gallery how this bill would be communicated to the public. Pflefing said it would be put on the town’s website or bulletin board. Cooke added that it be sent out by email as well.

Volunteers still paying

A two-year process of transferring the former Rensselaerville Volunteer Ambulance station to the town is being delayed while awaiting a reply from the New York State Attorney General’s Office, said Gerald Wood at the board meeting.

Wood, a former Rensselaerville councilman, is one of three emergency medical technicians who agreed to continue to volunteer without an ambulance, treating patients at the scene until the county ambulance arrives. The others are Marion Overbaugh and Chip Decker.

While Wood said the transition process began about two years ago, the 45-year-old volunteer ambulance station officially shut its doors last June. An aging and shrinking group of volunteers was the reason it couldn’t stay open. Instead, the paid Albany County Sheriff’s Emergency Medical Services team took on duties full-time there, as it has done in other towns.

Wood told The Enterprise that the volunteer ambulance squad is still paying for the former station with funds saved during its operation, despite the county ambulance collecting revenues from transported patients.

Gerald Wood’s son, Dennis Wood, the lieutenant in charge of Albany County’s EMS division, said that the county has received only the ambulance from the volunteer squad, and that the building will go to the town to be used as a public safety building and other multiple uses, including as a satellite station for the county ambulance.

At this point, Dennis Wood said, everything has been done on the county’s end and now has been turned over to the state. The process can take a long time, he noted, pointing out that the transfer of Voorheesville’s volunteer ambulance station to the county has just been completed after the closure was announced two years ago.

Other business

The Rensselaerville board also:

—Heard from Brian Dunn, who was appointed the superintendent of the Middleburgh Central School District this past winter. Dunn discussed his goals of improving graduation rates from 82 to 90 percent and increasing the number of students graduating with advanced Regents diplomas, which involves passing the statewide Regents exams in specified subjects with a score of 65 or higher;

— Heard from town assessor Donna Kropp that homeowners over the age of 65 are now required to apply for Enhanced STAR (School TAx Reduction) exemptions rather than qualifying automatically;

— Heard from recycling coordinator Jon Witbeck that commingled recycling fees have dropped from a recent high of $120 to $55 a ton;

— Heard from Pfleging in an update on a potential leak that the dam wall at Lake Myosotis is in good condition but that there is a crack in a pipe that will need to be repaired; and

— Agreed to appoint Diane DeSantis as the planning and zoning board clerk and, if she is not available, appoint Caroline Ballard in her place, and reappointed Scott Whitbeck to the Board of Assessment Review.