Windham Town Reorganizes

WINDHAM - The wheels of government wouldn’t have fallen off and chaos ensued on January 3 if Windham town officials, the night before, hadn’t held a reorganization meeting. 

But they did anyway, as they do at the start of every year, making all the designations and appointments required to keep things humming.

Most of the time, there are few if any changes, and getting their house in order in that regard for 2025 is not an exception.

First on the list of things to do was reinstating members of the local police department with many familiar names and one newcomer.

Town council members, upon the recommendation of police chief Richard Selner, welcomed back longtime, highly respected beat-walkers, brothers James Scarey III and William Scarey.

Mentioned in the same breath are law enforcement stalwarts Greg Thorp and father and son David Sherman and Sergeant David Sherman Jr. 

They will continue to be joined by Peter Varelas, Greg Paspalis, Charles Rion, Thomas Parquez and Reno Romito, along with Stephen Bence, recently added to the ranks.

The police chaplains are Father Jay Atherton, Pastor Cliff Cool and Pastor Ryan Dempsey, covering multiple spiritual inclinations.

Other appointments included:

—Dr. Nikolay Samedov (town health officer), Dr. Craig Stanger (medical director), Patrica Morrow (town historian);

Tal Rappleyea (town attorney), councilman Wayne Van Valin (deputy town supervisor), Troy Aplin (working foreman for the highway department);

Town clerk Bonnie Poehmel (Registrar of Vital Statistics), Sandra Allen (deputy town clerk and deputy registrar of vital statistics);

Dominick Caropreso (code enforcement officer/building inspector), town supervisor Thomas Hoyt and Jessica Leto (persons in charge of fixed assets).

Mountain Eagle (the official town newspaper), Key Bank of Windham, NBT Bank, Greene County Commercial Bank, National Bank of Coxsackie and Bank of Greene County (official town banks).

The five town council members divvied up responsibilities for oversight committees, as follows:

Audit (councilmen Van Valin and Kurt Goettsche), Communications and Webpage (councilmen Goettsche and Ian Peters);

Building and Safety (councilmen Van Valin and Stephen Walker), Fireworks (supervisor Hoyt and councilman Walker);

Highway (councilmen Walker and Van Valin), Union Negotiating (highway superintendent Gary Thorington, police chief Selner, supervisor Hoyt and councilman Peters;

Ambulance operations liaison (councilman Peters), Water Superintendent (Kyle Schwarz, Windham and Cedarwood Engineering Josh Vital, Hensonville); 

Town officer in charge of parks (supervisor Hoyt), town officer in charge of cemeteries (councilman Van Valin);

Planning board liaison (councilman Peters), Chamber of Commerce liaison (councilman Goettsche), Fire Commissioner liaison (councilman Goettsche);

Youth Officer (councilman VanValin) and Schoharie Watershed Advisory Council liaison (councilman Walker);

Town Planning Board and Architectural Review Board members include Thomas Poelker (acting chairman), Claudia Lane, Michael Triccoli, Lisa Jaeger and Nathan Holdridge. The recording secretary is Sandra Allen.

Windham Public Library trustees are Carol Spear (president), Sandra Schellhorn, Margaret Scarey, Cynthia Telles, Peter Peters, Wendy McInerny and Danielle Larsen. 

Board of Assessment Review (Albin Beckmann, Peter O’Brien and Richard Fournier, chairman).

Town clerk Bonnie Poehmel, in the Registrar of Vital Statistics yearly report, noted there were seven deaths and one birth recorded in the town in 2024.