SALAMANCA — As members of the Salamanca community process the unexpected deaths of two well known and respected residents, the town of Salamanca’s government faces the task of moving forward without its supervisor and town clerk-elect.
Mike and Donna Phillips, who were struck and killed while crossing the street Friday by the Salamanca Town Hall, would have been a husband-and-wife supervisor and town clerk, respectively, beginning Jan. 1.
Mike Phillips was recently reelected to his third term as supervisor in an uncontested race and Donna Phillips defeated incumbent town clerk Rosemary Shadden for the clerk’s seat.
Donna Brodie-Anderson, a town councilwoman, told The Press on Saturday that deputy supervisor Kevin Rider will be filling in the supervisor’s position until the end of the year.
“We are all coming together — we have to because there is town business to do,” Brodie-Anderson said. It’s anticipated the board will decide how it wishes to proceed at its next meeting on Dec. 27.
“When the office of supervisor becomes vacant or if the supervisor is unable to act, the deputy would fill in in their stead,” confirmed Michael Brisky, Republican commissioner for Cattaraugus County.
Although not a voting member of the town board, Rider “has all the powers and duties of the supervisor as deputy,” Brisky said, including paying bills, writing checks and conducting payroll.
Come the beginning of the year, the town board will have the right to appoint a supervisor and clerk, Brisky said. Those appointees will serve in that appointed position until the end of 2018.
An election for the positions will be held in 2018 to fill those offices for the remainder of the terms, Brisky said. The Phillips couple were elected in November to four-year terms that would have commenced Jan. 1, 2018. The terms expire at the end of 2021.
Mike Phillips would have begun his third consecutive term in the supervisor’s role, having been elected to the position in 2009 and running successfully for reelection in 2013. Brisky said Mike Phillips won the supervisor seat in 2009 by three votes.