By Joshua Walther
SCHOHARIE - On Tuesday evening, the Schoharie Village Board convened to discuss a potential contract with Evening Star Bookkeeping and announced a public hearing for a change to their lawn mowing code.
With the retirement of Village Clerk and Treasurer Leslie Price, which was first announced last month, the Board has decided to consider a contract with a local company named Evening Star Bookkeeping.
“Since we’re losing Leslie and we’re not sure how much we can pull from the pool of applicants, we just need the extra assistance while we transition,” said Mayor Colleen Henry.
The Board reaffirmed that they still plan to take on a new hire when they find a suitable replacement, so they would likely consider a temporary contract with ESB until that time.
A few residents of Schoharie were skeptical of the decision, with one person in the audience saying “Did you do any shopping around at all, or did you go with the first choice?”
Mayor Henry explained that they did reach out to numerous firms, but most did not want to take on a municipality, citing one that was promising but quickly cut contact after their discussions.
The Board noted that they will discuss a potential contract in an executive session at the end of the night, along with Mrs. Price’s reimbursement for unused vacation and sick time.
However, the second issue was brought up during the meeting by Mrs. Price herself, saying “I don’t understand why you’re looking at me and my time so closely when you didn’t do that with other retirees.”
“Billy and Ken were both approved at this table no problem,” she continued.
Mayor Henry was quick to ease the tension, saying “We just want to do our due diligence because you controlled the books.”
Board member Sal Medak also jumped in, saying “We just need the time to decide on it.”
“None of that was done with Billy or Ken,” Mrs. Price concluded before dropping the subject.
Finally, the Board dived back into the topic of lawn mowing, which dominated the meeting last month due to heightened grass around the Village despite everyone complying with the code.
Mayor Henry brought up the notion that they may change the code from an amount of mows per month requirement to a grass height requirement not to exceed seven inches.
The Board said that they will hold a public hearing to address the possible code change at their regular meeting in November before entering into the aforementioned executive session.
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