At the request of outgoing Town of Shawangunk Highway Superintendent Joe LoCicero, the Town Board appointed Rich Blazeski as the deputy highway superintendent at its Aug. 12 meeting.

Blazeski was endorsed at the Town of Shawangunk Republican Caucus for highway superintendent in July when LoCicero unsuccessfully challenged veteran Supervisor John Valk for the town’s top position. Valk edged LoCicero by a narrow 184 to 181 vote.

Blazeski will not be paid as deputy since there isn’t money budgeted for the position in the highway department budget. Since Blazeski is currently running unopposed, he would assume the highway superintendent’s position on Jan. 1, 2022, barring a massive write-in challenge in November’s election.

LoCicero, who has been the highway superintendent for five years, said he wanted to have Blazeski as his deputy during his final months on the job to make the transition as smooth as possible for the likely incoming highway superintendent. LoCicero, whose term is up at the end of 2021, is confident Blazeski has what it takes to succeed him as the man in charge of the town’s highway department.

“He has a great personality,” LoCicero said. “He’s an upfront kind of guy. He’s well-spoken. He’s very involved in the Pine Bush Fire Department, which makes him invaluable. He knows the emergency services side. He understands that roads need to be opened. He’s going to do a great job. I see great things for him.”

The 56-year-old Blazeski, a Pine Bush resident, retired after 25 years as a New York City fireman. He and his wife, Allison, own Watswyck Farm, a 50-animal cow and calf operation and a hay and corn business. The couple has four children.

Blazeski is looking forward to learning the ropes under LoCicero. However, he said he’s not taking anything for granted.

“I would rather stay humble,” Blazeski said. “The election is in November. Meaning it’s not over ‘til it’s over.”

LoCicero said he enjoyed his tenure as the town’s highway superintendent, but has no regrets that he gave up the job for the opportunity to run for supervisor.

“It’s been a great time and I enjoyed it immensely,” he said of running the town’s highway department. “I honestly didn’t want to go, but I had other aspirations that unfortunately didn’t work out. But I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying in the community and I’m only a phone call away for him (Blazeski) at any given time. I’m going to stay very, very busy within the Town of Shawangunk for at least the next two years and then we’ll see how things go.”

LoCicero is the Wallkill Fire Chief and the president of the Wallkill Central School District Board of Education.

“I’m sure I’ll get involved in other organizations,” LoCicero said. “I’ll spend my time doing other things in the community and just help out. That’s what I like doing.”

Valk supported the idea of Blazeski coming on board early as an unpaid deputy superintendent.

“This is a nice transition so he can learn the job beforehand,” Valk said. “And it doesn’t cost anything because we never budgeted a salary for it.”

In other news, the board voted to hire Albany law firm Roemer, Wallens, Gold and Mineaux to represent the town in labor negotiations.

The board also accepted the resignation of Dog Control Officer Justin Arnold.

Police Chief Gerald Marlatt reported that the long-awaited new police car had finally arrived. The old police vehicle will be used by the town’s building department.

Town resident Jan Kallberg urged the board to adopt a noise ordinance following a disturbance in downtown Wallkill on Saturday, July 24. He said more than 100 people assembled on Main Street not far from his residence and made a racket well into the early morning.

“There were cars parked on Church and all the side streets,” he said. “There were a number of young people making noise and speeding around here until 2:10 (a.m.) in the night. It was super loud and they were chanting obscenities. I think we need an ordinance that says there has to be quiet from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. If people want to play Led Zeppelin until 11 p.m., so be it.”

Kallberg said he complained to officers from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Department, but he was told they were powerless to quiet things down without a noise ordinance in place.

Due to a manpower shortage, no town police were on patrol that night.

“I have to say anything after 11 o’clock (at night) is too late for anybody,” Valk said.

Marlatt said the noisemakers were students celebrating their high school graduation. He said the event was posted on social media, which led to a big crowd.

“The Sheriff and State Police responded, but they said the only thing they could do was try to shoo people out,” Marlatt said. Since the Town of Shawangunk doesn’t have a noise ordinance there was little the police could do to quiet the crowd, according to Marlatt.

Though some towns have local noise ordinances, Marlatt thought a more effective measure would be to have a county-wide noise ordinance that can be enforced.

Marlatt suggested discussing the issue with Ulster County Legislator Ken Ronk, who represents the Town of Shawangunk in the county legislature.