New Plattekill Town Supervisor Dean DePew Sr. appointed Councilman Wilfrido Castillo Jr. as the new Deputy Supervisor during the January 3 reorganizational meeting at the Town Hall.

DePew had served as the Deputy Supervisor for two years under one-term Supervisor Jennifer Salemo, who chose not to run for re-election in the November 2023 general election.

DePew won a two-year term as the town’s top official by beating Michael Lembo 1,104 to 806 in November.

Castillo won a four-year term on the Town Board in November.

Castillo was appointed to the town board in 2021 and elected to fill out the unexpired term in 2022.

A Plattekill resident since 1959, Castillo was a member of the Plattekill Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) for 17 years, including 11 years as its chairman.

DePew said the board is currently interviewing candidates to fill his vacated town board seat for one year. The appointed board member would then have to run for election in November to fill out the remaining year of the term through the end of 2025.

“I don’t want to commit to anything, but I would have to imagine that it’s going to be pretty soon,” DePew said of the board’s timeline for appointing a new board member.

DePew said the board was currently looking to hire a Town Assessor. The town had been sharing an assessor with the Town of Gardiner, but DePew said Gardiner “chose to take a different path,” which has left the Town of Plattekill needing to hire a new assessor.

“We do have a couple of applicants for consideration and we’re still accepting applications,” DePew said.

DePew said the position might not be full-time since under the previous agreement with Gardiner, the assessor worked three days in Plattekill and two days in Gardiner. He said the town had been without an assessor for “approximately a month.”

Among the appointments approved by the board were Kellar, Kellar & Jaiven, Jacobowitz and Gubits and Roemer Wallens Gold and Mineaux as the Town Attorneys and RBT CPAs, LLP as Town Accountants.

Barton & Loguidice, McGoey, Hauser & Edsall Consulting Engineers and Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. were appointed Town Engineers.

DePew was appointed Budget Officer and Purchasing Officer. He was also appointed as a delegate to the Association of Towns of New York State, and DePew and Castillo were appointed as alternate delegates to the association.

Oscar Lopez was appointed Chief of Police, and William Smith was appointed Deputy Chief. Lori Scarano was appointed Clerk to the Chief of Police.

Bruce Jantzi was reappointed to the ZBA, and Larry Lindenauer was reappointed as ZBA Chairperson.

Richard Gorres was reappointed to the Town Planning Board through 2030. He was also reappointed Chairperson of the planning board.

Councilman James Fazio was appointed as the board’s liaison to the planning board, and Castillo was appointed liaison to the ZBA.

Janice Stryker was appointed ZBA and Planning Board Clerk. Dawn Meresca was appointed Assessor Aide/Building Inspector Clerk.

Highway Superintendent Robert Wager Sr. was appointed the Public Works Officer.

Wager appointed Linda Byrnes as Clerk to the Highway Superintendent, Buildings and Grounds Clerk and less than half time clerk.

Maureen Corcoran and Dawn Kain were appointed as the Clerk to the Justice.

Town Clerk Sarah Nelson was appointed Records Access Officer, Registrar of Vital Statistics and Town Publicist.

Nelson appointed Kelly Hoell as Deputy Town Clerk.

Jennifer Weber was appointed Bookkeeper to the Supervisor, Tiffany Galligan as Clerk to the Supervisor and less than half time clerk, Edward Diller as Code Enforcement Officer and Safety Inspector and Greg Hermance as Fire and Code Enforcement Officer.

Andrew McKee was appointed Town Dog Control Officer, and Bethany Odell was appointed as his volunteer assistant.

Libbie Werlau was appointed Town Historian.
The Southern Ulster Times was designated as the town’s official newspaper.