Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Appointments Ethics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trustees accept resignations, appoint planning-board members and approve DPW payout with attorney review amid calls to restore ethics board
Summary
Ballston Spa trustees accepted resignations from two planning/zoning members, appointed several residents to planning boards (including Bob Busch and Chris Farrell), approved a DPW retirement payout for Michael Morrissey pending attorney review, and faced repeated public demands to reconstitute the village ethics board.
Trustees on Feb. 8 accepted resignations from several nonresident planning/zoning members, approved new planning-board memberships and approved a retirement payout for a departing Department of Public Works employee with a condition that the village attorney review contract consistency.
At the meeting, the board moved to accept the resignations of Karen Evanarius (Zoning Board of Appeals) and two planning-board members (names given on the agenda). The board then nominated and approved several appointments: Bob Busch (elevated to full planning-board membership), Chris Farrell (appointed as a full planning-board member), and Michael (Mike) Morrissey (appointed as an alternate planning-board member for the remainder of 2026). Trustees also appointed Lawrence Dibla as deputy treasurer/deputy clerk for the remainder of 2026. All motions reported were approved by voice vote at the meeting.
Public comment before the votes included multiple speakers urging adherence to the village code and prompt reconstitution of the board of ethics. Keith Lewis criticized the language of the DPW payout motion and warned that approving a personalized retirement payout and appointing the same employee to the planning board in the same meeting creates "the appearance of impropriety," asking whether the arrangement could be perceived as a "quid pro quo." Ben (Benjamin) Baskin and other residents called for immediate action to restore a functioning ethics board and for transparency on appointments and municipal processes. Several speakers urged that the draft zoning code review be completed by a lawfully constituted planning board.
On the DPW payout, the trustees approved a motion to grant Michael Morrissey his accrued comp time, vacation and personal time prior to retirement, with the condition that the village attorney review the action to ensure it is consistent with collective-bargaining (Teamsters) contract terms. The motion passed with trustee direction that the attorney review the payout language before execution.
The board also approved routine administrative items, authorized a modest fire-department purchase (total recorded in the motion as $1,535.40) and audited vouchers; the meeting adjourned at approximately 8:27 p.m.
The meeting record shows voices of residents calling repeatedly for the board to fill vacancies on the ethics board (citing code section 27-21 and requirements for five members) and to publicly solicit applicants. Trustees said they would continue the appointment process and work to fill remaining alternate and ethics-board positions in coming weeks.
