MONTICELLO — Doug Solomon's term as Mayor of the Village of Monticello runs through March 2020. But now that he is the provisional chief of the Newburgh Police Department - and on track to be permanent chief later this year or during 2019 - it could mean Solomon would eventually step down from the mayorship before his term is up.

That's because Newburgh requires its highest level employees to be full-time residents - and Solomon has previously stated that he would relocate for the job. For now, Solomon would only say that he is taking things “day by day.”

Solomon - most recently the police chief for the City of Beacon - is scheduled to take a new civil service exam on March 17, one with a higher standard than the one he took in 2002 to become chief of Monticello's police department. He was chief of the City of Beacon police force from 2012 through 2017, when he resigned to accept an offer from Newburgh. The 24-year veteran of the Village of Monticello's police force said previously that he would ultimately step down as mayor and move to Newburgh.

Michael G. Ciaravino, city manager of Newburgh, could not be reached for comment on Monday about whether Solomon would need to relocate sooner or later.

In the event Solomon steps down, the trustees are mandated to appoint a new mayor from among the board to serve out the balance of his term. Right now, though, the board isn't making any plans for that possibility and there has been no talk about Solomon's future during the last two board meetings.

In other Monticello political news, trustee Aleta Lymon is up for re-election on March 20th while deputy supervisor Jill Weyer has announced that she is not running again. That leaves Lymon, Gary Sommers, Rachelle Massey (a former trustee appointed by former Mayor Gordon Jenkins), Michael Banks and Stephanie L. O'Brien as the candidates running for two seats.

At the most recent meeting, the board heard a presentation on the County's “Grow the Gateways” project, a plan prepared to help Monticello and Thompson seize the opportunities provided by the area's recent and expected future economic development. The “Gateways” are defined as the corridor that runs from Exits 107 to 104 along Route 17.

George Nikolados, a trustee who also owns the Miss Monticello diner, was appointed by the board to participate in the ongoing work of the “Gateways” committee. Nikolados said the idea for the corridor is a great opportunity and that there's an urgent need especially for East Broadway. That's a particular area where developers have to deal with “confusing, overlapping properties owned by the village and the town,” according to Travis North, who gave the presentation on behalf of the County's Planning Department. North said that unified zoning between the Town of Thompson and the Village of Monticello would likely attract more developers, adding that joint code enforcement between the town and village is being explored.

North said that the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has partially funded a business plan for the restoration and reopening of the long-shuttered Broadway Theater and that a developer has expressed real interest in the property. North called the 830-seat theater “a catalyst project” which could bring more people back to Broadway with live theater, movies, music, arts groups, town hall meetings and more. North added that the theater property also includes two storefronts for local business.

In other board activity, Police Chief Robert Mir reported on information gathered in January. He said that the department responded to 982 service calls; 62 investigative cases were opened, 51 arrests made and responded to 23 motor vehicle accidents. Mir also said that he attended an information program earlier this month about “FirstNet,” whose mission is to deploy, operate, maintain, and improve the first high-speed, nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety. Mir said he will bring the program to the Board for consideration, noting that “all 50 governors” have signed on to it and want local departments to adopt the network that's operated by AT&T. Mir also said there's a plan underway to place a few officers on bicycle patrol and expects to have three to five officers on bicycle patrol by the end of this school year.