Town of Newburgh Supervisor Gil Piaquadio, Councilman Scott Manley, Councilman Anthony LoBiondo and Town Clerk Lisa M. Ayers will serve once again heading into 2024. Along with the swearing in of the elected officials on Monday, January 8, the town conducted its annual reorganizational meeting.

Each meeting for the town will begin at 7 p.m. and be held at town hall. Regular town meetings will be held on the second Monday of each month unless otherwise noted and workshop meetings will be on the fourth Monday of each month. The meeting schedule is available on the town website for review.

Mark Taylor was appointed as Attorney for the Town for 2024, and the firm Thomas, Drohan, Waxman, Petigrow & Mayle LLP will be the town’s Labor Attorney for 2024. Mark Hall will serve a two year term as highway superintendent and MHE Engineering were appointed the town’s engineers.

Jones Hacker & Murphy LLC, Federal Appraisal LLC and Lawrence Farbstein Industrial & Utility Consultant Inc. were appointed as the town’s Tax Certiorari Attorneys and Consultants. Douglas E. Goodfriend of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliff was appointed as the town’s Bond Council while Munistat Services Inc.was appointed as the town’s Financial Advisor.

Town Clerk Lisa M. Ayers was appointed as Registrar of Vital Statistics, with Rachel Vazquez serving as Deputy Registrar. Ayers was also appointed as the FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) Officer, with Dawnmarie Busweiller as Deputy Freedom of Information Officer for 2024. Saziye Mustafa was appointed as Court Clerk for Judge Jude Martini and Abigail Puntar was appointed as Court Clerk for Judge Richard Clarino.

Gerald Canfield was appointed the Town Safety Officer and Confined Space Officer for 2024. The Zoning Board of Appeals appointed Greg Hermance with a term set to expire in December 2028 and James Eberhart with a term set to expire in December 2027. Paul J. Zalanowski was appointed to the Board of Assessment Review for 2024, with his term to expire September 2028.

Allen Nakagawa, Richard Pisani, Richard Tuttle, Walter Miller, Lawrence Schott, Roger Wieringa, Duewayne Jackson, Jorge Santana, Wallesca Penz, Angelo Hernandez and Kevin Espinal were appointed as court officers. Joseph Dubaldi and Steve Williamson were appointed as bingo inspectors, and Mimoza Vezuli was appointed as School Crossing Guard. Lorimer Erdaide was appointed to Parking Enforcement and Melissa Cross was appointed to matron.

The Mid-Hudson Times was designated the official publication for the town, while Councilman Manley was appointed as Newburgh’s official delegate for the Association of Towns. Councilman Ruggiero will serve as an official alternate delegate should it be necessary. The town’s establishment of reimbursements with receipts include $80 per day for the New York State Association of Towns Annual Conference and $40 per day for others.

Class, TD Bank, M&T Bank, Orange County Trust and Webster were appointed as the town’s official bank depositories, with the town supervisor also being authorized to sign checks, drafts and notes. The town supervisor is also authorized to pay electric, internet, cable, telephone and other utilities, debt services and umpires/referees/scorekeepers and police department cash allotments prior to audit. The supervisor will also be authorized to approve budget transfers up to $7,500.

The 2024 mileage reimbursement in accordance with IRS Schedule was $.67 a mile. The town board also approved a resolution during their work session for a Blanket Undertaking, or insurance, which would secure the town against losses caused by officials or other employees who failed in their roles and duties.

For the 2024 supervisor appointments, Melisa Clark-Dawson was appointed as the secretary to the supervisor, Councilman Manley remains deputy supervisor and is also assigned a full-use take-home vehicle. Alan Crawford was appointed as the town historian and the town supervisor was appointed as the marriage officer.

For 2024, Councilwoman Elizabeth Greene will serve as liaison to the town’s ambulance corps, the assessor, personnel, recreation and the fire bureau. Councilman LoBiondo will serve as liaison to the town clerk, buildings and grounds, receiver of taxes, the justice court and the Chadwick Lake Trail. Councilman Ruggiero will serve as liaison to the Consolidated Water District Distribution & Supply, the highway department, animal control, sewer, fleet and affirmative action. Councilman Manley will serve as liaison to accounting, the zoning board of appeals, the planning board, the police department and code compliance and Supervisor Piaquadio will serve as liaison to data processing.

For 2024, Councilman Ruggiero will oversee the traffic safety committee, Councilman Manley and LoBiondo will oversee the Orange County Transportation Committee, Councilwoman Greene will oversee the Orange County District Attorney and Volunteer Fire Districts committees and Councilman Lobiondo will oversee the town’s parade committee.

The town clerk’s office appoints Dawnmarie Busweiler as First Deputy and Rachael Vazquez as Second Deputy for 2024. For the Receiver of Taxes office, Donna Cucchiara was appointed as First Deputy and Priscilla Weed as Second Deputy.

For 2023, Supervisor Piaquadio noted accomplishments by the town that included maintaining an Aa-2 Rating with Moody, created a budget for 2024 with a zero-property tax increase, hired five police officers, promoted one police sergeant, promoted one police detective, hired two court officers and many more. Piaquadio extended his thanks to the town employees that made these accomplishments possible.