The first meeting of the new administration of Town of Shawangunk Supervisor Ken Ronk Jr. on January 4 featured his call for a long-term capital plan for the town’s highway department and a slew of appointments to kick off the New Year.

Following a presentation by Highway Superintendent Rich Blazewski about the dire need to have new trucks and equipment for his department, Ronk urged that a long-range plan be put together to ensure the department had the equipment it needed.

“We really need to put together a capital plan for the next five to 10 years,” Ronk said. “Obviously, we don’t have to follow that plan to a ‘T’ as emergencies come up like we have now. But at least then we’ll have it on paper as we look for grants and other sources of funding.”

Ronk also said implementation of a maintenance replacement schedule would lower the cost of repairs on trucks and other equipment in the future.

Ronk said he had already discussed his plan with Blazewski and asked him to provide a priority list of needed equipment.

Blazewski said he’d like to buy a new truck every year for 10 consecutive years to keep the fleet up to date.

“The current way of doing business is we’re running the trucks until they’re scrap,” he said. “I know I’m asking the taxpayers for a lot of money, but we’re bleeding. And we’re bleeding unnecessarily.”

Among the appointments approved by the Town Board were making Councilman Alex Danon the Deputy Supervisor, Richard Hoyt was named Town Attorney and Cooper & Arias was approved as the auditing firm for the town’s 2023 records.

McGoey, Hauser & Edsall Consulting Engineers were appointed Town Engineers, Hoyt was appointed the attorney for the Wallkill Water & Sewer District and Brinnier & Larios was named town engineers for the water and sewer district.

John Calaca was appointed as the Town Building Inspector/Fire Code Enforcement Officer/Stormwater Officer and Craig Ross was appointed the part-time Fire Inspector.

Kyle Williams was reappointed as the Town Historian and Town Clerk Jane Rascoe was appointed as the Town Tax Collector, Registrar of Vital Statistics, the Public Access Officer and the Handicapped Permit Parking Issuing Agent.

Dave Haldeman, Hal Choney and Dave Thompkins were appointed for two-year terms on the Town Environmental Management Commission (EMC). Haldeman was appointed chairperson for the EMC.

Haldeman was appointed as the town’s representative on the Ulster County EMC. Watkins was appointed as the town’s representative on the Ulster County Planning Board and Richard Barnhart was named the alternate.

Dennis Arluck was appointed as the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).

Peg Hillriegel was appointed to a five-year term to the Assessment Board of Review.

Mark Watkins was reappointed as Chairman of the Planning Board.

The town is also looking to fill a number of positions. There are currently three three-year terms available for the Planning Board and one three-year and one two-year term to fill on the ZBA. There is also one five-year term available on the Town Assessment Board of Review. The town is also accepting applications for its Dog Control Officer.

Anyone who is interested in applying for any of the positions should email their resumes to Rascoe at townclerk@shawangunk.org.