SALAMANCA — The Salamanca Town Board will meet in special session next Tuesday at 7 p.m. to vote for a second time to appoint a supervisor to succeed the late Michael Phillips.
The town board named Tim Jackson to the vacancy after a 3-2 vote at the Jan. 18 reorganization meeting where Deputy Supervisor Kevin Rider cast the tie-breaking vote. The other candidate was James Crosby, the town building code enforcement officer.
After the Olean Times Herald inquired Friday whether New York Town Law prevented a deputy supervisor from casting a vote, one board member, Diana Brodie, said the town board had appointed Rider acting supervisor through Jan. 31, believing that he would be able to cast a vote.
On Tuesday, Brodie said after a series of telephone calls with Town Attorney Kathleen Moriarty and town board members, it was determined that despite being named acting supervisor, Rider was not eligible to vote “because he is not a board member.”
Brodie and Ann Marie Biscup voted for Jackson, while the other two board members, Larry Stewart and Wayne Riddle, voted for Crosby.
Brodie said Stewart had raised the issue of Rider’s tie-breaking vote on Friday, saying that under Town Law, he did not believe that Rider could cast a vote — even to break a tie vote.
New York Consolidated Laws states under Town Law: “During the absence or inability to act of the supervisor, or while the office of supervisor is vacant, the deputy supervisor shall preside, when present, at the meetings of the town board and shall be vested with all of the powers and may perform all of the duties of the supervisor under this chapter or any other law, except that he shall have no vote in his capacity as deputy supervisor on matters coming before the town board…”
Newly appointed Town Clerk Shelly Bryant confirmed to the Olean Times Herald Friday that the vote was taken in executive session, which is permitted under the state’s Open Meetings Law. She also confirmed the deputy supervisor voted to break the tie vote over the supervisor’s appointment.
On Monday, Jackson said questions over his appointment was causing the town board to schedule a special meeting where his appointment will be rescinded and he will then be reappointed.
Jackson said he had spoken to Crosby about the situation, and that Crosby had agreed he would not ask to be considered for appointment as supervisor at the special meeting.
“Kevin (Rider) believed he was voting as acting supervisor, not the deputy supervisor,” Jackson said. “The board will have to convene a special meeting and vote again.”
By Tuesday, the town board had decided to hold the special meeting, rescind its earlier appointment of Jackson and then appoint him until after a special election in November. The winner of the election will fill the remaining three years of Phillips term.
Phillips had just been re-elected to a third term as supervisor in November. His wife, Donna, had been elected town clerk.
The couple were killed when they were struck by a car while crossing Route 353 in front of the Town Hall on Dec. 15. Kevin L. Donaldson Jr., 27, of Cattaraugus has been charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated.
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
