Politics & Government

Orangetown Supervisor, Councilmen To Be Sworn In

Supervisor Andy Stewart and Councilmen Tom Morr and Paul Valentine will be among the officials sworn in as part of Orangetown's Reorganizational meeting 7:30 p.m. Tuesday In the Orangetown Town Hall.

Three new members of the town council and one new town justice will be sworn at the Orangetown Reorganizational meeting 7:30 p.m. tonight at Orangetown Town Hall.

The newcomers are Supervisor Andy Stewart, Councilmen Tom Morr and Paul Valentine and Town Justice Patrick J. Loftus, who will take their oaths of office along with Superintendent of Highways James Dean and Town Clerk Charlotte Madigan. Town Justice Richard C. Finning will administer the oaths of office.

Stewart will also give a state of the town speech.

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"It's the state of the town by a member of the public at this point," Stewart said. "I've lived in Orangetown a long time. It's not a dissertation. It's an orientation. It serves two purposes. One is a reflection on what's going on in the town. Another is giving people a chance to see how I think."

The full agenda for the meeting can be found here.

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St. Margaret Church Pastor Msgr. John O'Keefe will give the invocation, with Rabbi Daniel Pernick of Temple Beth Am giving the Benediction.

Stewart will also be officially announcing two appointments -- Allan Ryff as deputy supervisor and Suzanne Barclay as executive assistant to the supervisor. Ryff is a former town councilman who ran against then-incumbent Paul Whalen in a Rupublican primary for Supervisor. Barclay was former Orangeown Supervisor Thom Kleiner's assistant.

The actual meeting agenda is fairly light. The board will have a full meeting just a week later, on Jan. 10.

"The Jan. 3 meeting has more of a fun, festive ceremonial aspect to it," Stewart said. "There will be some housekeeping type of decisions by the board."

One item that has been a subject of discussion is the calendar for the town board meetings for 2012. Initially, a calendar with most of the workshops and meetings was on the agenda for the final meeting in December. Councilman Denis Troy was the only member of the 2012 board present with Tom Diviny absent and Stewart, Morr and Valentine not on the council yet, so the decision was made to keep Tuesday meetings for January and handle the rest of the schedule once the new board took office.

Stewart wanted the meetings moved from Tuesdays to avoid conflicts with school board and Rockland County Legislature meetings. Troy argued that the meetings should not be on Mondays, a point the new board discussed since that December session.

"There are enough holidays on Mondays and there is a sense of needing more time at the beginning of the week," Stewart said.

The solution listed on Tuesday's agenda is to hold the meetings and workshops on Thursdays starting with the police commission and workshop Feb. 9 and regular town board meeting Feb. 16.


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