Saratoga County committee picks directors for veterans services, animal shelter

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

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County supervisors this month will name new directors for veterans services and the county animal shelter.

The county board’s Personnel Committee, meeting Wednesday in Ballston Spa, recommended Felipe C. Moon of Charlton, a retired U.S. Army major, be named the county’s new director of veterans services. Moon would replace Andrew Davis, who resigned in January to take a private-sector job.

Moon is currently government operations leader for the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York, a job that included setting up 17 shelters during Hurricane Sandy. In the Army, he served as a company commander in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and later oversaw civil affairs missions in that country. He also served in Kuwait and with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum.

Moon was selected from among 34 applicants for the position, which oversees a small department that helps arrange services for the county’s approximately 17,000 veterans. He would be paid an annual salary of $54,852.

The committee also recommended the appointment of Christina M. Abele of Halfmoon as the new supervisor of the county animal shelter in Milton. She would replace longtime shelter director Dan Butler, who is retiring this week.

Abele has been a volunteer at the animal shelter for the last five years and has also volunteered at the Estherville Animal Shelter in Greenfield. She has also organized five pet adoption clinics in Halfmoon since 2009.

Abele, who graduated from Siena College in December, will earn $62,413 in the new position.

The county received 62 applications for the position, which involves overseeing the shelter for abandoned and stray dogs, cats and other domestic animals on County Farm Road.

The two proposed appointments will go to the county Board of Supervisors for final action at its March 19 meeting in Ballston Spa.