MIDDLEBURGH — Several elected officials in a small Schoharie County village made a misstep during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic: they didn’t take an oath within their first 30 days in office.
Neither Mayor Patricia Bergan, nor Deputy Mayor Timothy Knight nor Village Trustee Bob Tinker were officially sworn into office. The procedural no-no was discovered during routine record checking before the recent resignation of Bergan for unrelated reason. It effectively restricts the village board from appointing a new leader and passing major local laws until the mix-up is remedied by state legislation.
Knight and Tinker are serving in a de facto capacity, as was Bergan prior to her departure. Under regular circumstances, Knight would’ve likely been appointed to serve the remainder of her term by now.
“Things happen,” said village Attorney Fred Mauhs. “[There are] a lot of really urgent issues before villages and cities, and sometimes the things that don’t seem so urgent, don’t get the focus.”
Unprecedented the situation is not. Among modern examples, a Morristown supervisor and two councilors in 2016 were forced to step down after failing to take respective oaths of office. The goof-up resulted in an emergency appointment from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to give the St. Lawrence County town a legislative quorum.
Per public officers law, oath ceremonies can be administered by a number of officials, varying from clerks to judges. Once it’s over, officials are required to file a notarized document within 30 days as proof of the procedure.
The coronavirus pandemic is among several points of blame for the procedural breach, Knight said. After a thrice-rescheduled election on Sept. 15, 2020 — the longest delayed election in modern Middleburgh history — Village Hall was inconsistently open due to COVID-19 exposures. Furthermore, a new clerk was adjusting to her role at the time and there was little guidance from any officeholders at the time, the deputy mayor added.
Bergan ultimately stepped down due to the campaign-promised fulfillment of several public works projects and the stress of the job impacting her “health and well-being,” according to a letter submitted to village trustees at the board’s early May meeting.
Knight pledged that he will push to codify oath procedures on a municipal level once the current mishap is remedied.
“There were ultimately a lot of things going on at that time that led to this issue and ultimately, the buck stops with us,” Knight said. “This was a collective oversight of the entire board.”
Village officials are currently following the advice of the New York State Conference of Mayors, which has advised the board against acting on “significant, non-routine discretionary final proposals” such as local laws. Day-to-day administrative operations are expected to continue without much of a dent.
“I know if this dragged on to the point where we start considering our budget, and we needed to pass a law to waive the tax cap, this would start to become an issue,” Knight said. “However, I really hope that we’re not still talking about this in October.”
With the help of Assemblyman Chris Tague, R-Schoharie, and state Sen. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, Knight hopes Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign off on the two appointments within six weeks or less.
Tague expects to have a local bill crafted at some point this week. The state lawmaker typically deals with local bills regarding personnel changes in the retirement system and payroll changes for first responders.
He foresees a “good possibility” the bill will sail through committee for a vote on the floor.
“The main thing is that these folks were elected to pay attention to the people that these folks serve, so regardless of what party you’re in, we have to get it taken care of so they can go out there, fill out their term properly and make sure business can be done,” said the Republican assemblymember.
Knight, a self-described conservative Democrat, was already yearning to become mayor long before the sudden recent leadership shift. The SUNY Oneonta adjunct instructor announced his candidacy for mayor in October of last year, expecting that Bergan wouldn’t run again based on discussions with the village leader.
“I’ve been deputy mayor for a year and a lot of the pieces were kind of lining up where I’m really interested in the work and find it really very fulfilling,” Knight said. “I thought it was the next logical step.”
Tyler A. McNeil can be reached at 518-395-3047 or [email protected] Follow him on Facebook at Tyler A. McNeil, Daily Gazette or Twitter @TylerAMcNeil.
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