Town of Windham Reorganizes

By Michael Ryan

WINDHAM - Nothing is broke so it won’t be fixed as government leaders in Windham reorganize for the coming administrative year.

Town council members, at a meeting on Tuesday night, attended to all the appointments and designations needed to conduct daily business.

It is an annual task that usually results in few if any differences and 2024 will be more of the same with one or two barely noticeable exceptions.

Town clerk Bonnie Poehmel also serves as Registrar of Vital Statistics, performing both jobs without a deputy although that will now change.

Poehmel received a letter from the State Department of Health in November, advising her that she is “required” to have a backup.

No sooner said than done. Poehmel recommended that town councilman Kurt Goettsche, who sits to her immediate left at town board sessions, become her right hand man. It was approved by the board.

Going methodically down the list, council members reduced the number of Police Department chaplains from 3 to 2, renaming Pastor Ryan Dempsey and Pastor Cliff Cool, eliminating a third reverend no longer in the area.

Otherwise, the new police chief, Richard Selner, presented a familiar lineup of part time officers to serve the community including father and son patrolman David Sherman and Sergeant David Sherman Jr.

Joining them on the force are patrolmen, Greg Paspalis, James Scarey III, William Scarey, Peter Varelas, Cody Rogers, Charles Rion, Thomas Parquez, Marino Romito and Greg Thorp.

Councilman Stephen Walker will continue his role as liaison between the town board, the police department and the court.

Other appointments/designations include DEPUTY TOWN SUPERVISOR (councilman Wayne Van Valin), TOWN HEALTH OFFICER (Dr. Nikolay Samedov), MEDICAL DIRECTOR (Dr. Craig Stanger);

TOWN HISTORIAN (Patricia Morrow), TOWN ATTORNEY (Tal Rappleyea), and WORKING HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT FOREMAN (Troy Aplin).

As part of the reorganization process, council members also received the annual Dog Control Report from mountaintop dog control officer Bruce Feml who works for several municipalities.

Feml’s reports are merely a factual stating of incidents but serendipitously offer a poignant and charming glimpse into country life.

Flipping through the pages in no specific order reveals that Feml, last July, wrote that a Mitchell Hollow Road resident called to report, “a cow has

been braying for days.”

“She is concerned the animal is hurt or stuck,” Feml wrote. “Since I only take care of dogs, I called Windham police.

“An officer will check into it. [The officer] called back to advise that he did not hear nor see any cows” in the vicinity.

In May of 2023, Feml wrote that he got a call from a resident of Windham stating there was a cat stuck in a tree at a local business.

Feml, who deals strictly with dogs, wrote of the caller, “he was advised to leave the cat alone, it would come down by itself.”

The same resident called later the same day with Feml reporting that the resident told him “he got a tall ladder and got the cat out of the tree, but then the cat ran off” concluding it was a feral feline.

Also in May, Feml writes that he “investigated an animal cruelty report regarding two goats. The goats are old and have arthritis, but they are receiving proper care.”

Feml, in June, wrote that the Windham police “requested the pickup and disposal of a dead dog found in the home of an elderly resident who had been taken to the hospital this morning. Dog was picked up and taken to the Greene County vet for cremation.”

Returning to the month of May, Feml wrote that he had received a lost dog report from a local resident who was missing two French Bull dogs, adding that the resident “called later that day to advise her dogs had come home.”

On a less pleasant note, Feml, on New Year’s Day, 2023, wrote, that he had received a complaint from a resident, “in regard to feces everywhere on the town walking path.

The resident “wants me to enforce the law for dog owners to pick up their dog feces,” Feml wrote, noting, the resident was “advised there is no town law regarding this matter and he should take his complaint before the town board.”