MONTICELLO – A new chapter began in the Town of Thompson on January 6 as Scott Mace was sworn in as Town Supervisor before a packed room of family, friends, and residents at Town Hall.

“Thank you all for coming. The support tonight, this year, everything, I really appreciate,” Mace said after taking the oath of office, administered by Town Justice Richard Baum. “Somebody congratulated me and said, ‘Got some big shoes to fill.’ I said, ‘Well, I wear a 14, so I think I’m good.’ I’ve never been afraid of hard work.”

He later told the Democrat, “We face many obstacles that we need to work together as a community to overcome, the biggest of which is the loss of casino revenue with the new casinos coming to NYC. We need to find better ways to continue to provide a high level of service.”

Benjamin Apppointed
to Council

Moments later, during the board’s reorganization meeting, Councilmember Melinda Meddaugh moved to appoint former Highway Superintendent Richard Benjamin Jr. to fill the vacant council seat left by Mace’s election to Supervisor.

Mace, appearing caught off guard by the motion, said, “We haven’t had a discussion on this stuff.” He pointed to how another municipality handled a similar situation.

 “[The Town of] Lumberland, they advertised for candidates, they interviewed candidates, and then they made a decision as a board,” Mace said.

Supervisor Mace later told the Democrat that he had intended for the board to follow a transparent appointment process for filling his former council seat — soliciting resumes, interviewing candidates, and making a collective decision, as was done when hiring the town assessor. 

Instead, he said, “seconds into my first meeting, I was blindsided by the appointment of Rich Benjamin,” and added that no prior discussion had taken place with him despite speaking to board members just days earlier. After the meeting, when he raised concerns about communication, Mace said he was told, “It’s political, get over it.” 

He added, “I am over it, but I do expect better from the Board in the future. If not, the people who suffer are the residents of Thompson.”

The board voted 3–1 to approve the appointment, with Mace casting the sole no vote.

Benjamin, already present at the meeting, took his seat on the dais and began voting on official motions, despite there being no oath of office administered or recorded that evening seen in public.

According to New York State Town Law 25, “Before he or she enters on the duties of the office… every town officer shall take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office,” which must then be filed with the town clerk. Also, Public Officers Law 10 states that an appointee is not entitled to perform official duties until they have taken and filed that oath.

Failure to do in a certain timeframe may result in the office being considered vacant, and votes cast without that requirement fulfilled could be subject to legal scrutiny.

Before turning to department heads, Supervisor Mace also appointed Councilmember Melinda Meddaugh as Deputy Supervisor for the year 2026.

The board made motions to reappoint Town Clerk Marilee Calhoun, Town Attorney Michael Mednick, and other department heads.

Ateres

The most detailed discussion of the night centered on the town’s continued plowing of the roads in the Village of Ateres.

The formation of the Village of Ateres followed public hearings in August 2023 and the joint approval of the petition by then-Thompson Supervisor William J. Rieber Jr. and then-Fallsburg Supervisor Katherine Rappaport. The new Thompson village – located near Kiamesha Lake – was officially incorporated under New York State Village Law.

Newly-appointed Councilmember Richard Benjamin Jr., who previously served as Highway Superintendent, said that across the state, most townships take care of small villages like Ateres through intermunicipal sharing agreements, calling such arrangements ‘completely common.’

The matter was listed on the January 6 agenda under “Review & Approve – Village of Ateres Intermunicipal Agreements,” which included four proposed shared service arrangements. The intermunicipal agreements proposed that the Town would assist the Village of Ateres with sanitary sewer services, including maintenance and oversight of sewer infrastructure.

The Town would also act as registrar of vital statistics on the Village’s behalf, as permitted under New York State Public Health Law. Additionally, the Town Assessor’s office would provide assessment services and access to equalization data. The Town Highway Department would handle snow removal.

Mace told the Democrat that intermunicipal agreements with the newly formed Village of Ateres were necessary to continue services the town had long provided. These included snow removal and road repairs, which had historically been funded through village residents’ taxes. He said the town has similar arrangements with other municipalities and the county, helping to save taxpayers money.

Mace explained that Highway Superintendent Hayden Carnell supported continuing the services, and that terms had been negotiated with the village. However, Mace said the prior Town Supervisor pulled the proposed highway agreement after the last election while maintaining other agreements for assessor, registrar, and sewer services.

Mace said doing so could have created a safety issue and added, “If anyone is discussing political payback, I would point to the pulling of the agreement, not this Board voting in favor of providing highway service.”

These types of agreements are allowed under New York State Town Law 284, which permits towns and villages to enter into cooperative arrangements to deliver municipal services when both parties are legally authorized to perform them independently.

During the meeting, Benjamin said, “They’re [the Village of Ateres]  actually paying taxes for snow. And listen, you want everybody to be safe. It’s fire protection, emergency services. Other people use the roads.”

Carnell explained that the only additional service under the new agreement was a section of Fallsburg Road located within the Village, which had been included in the mileage calculations. “When I did our annual budget, it was budgeted as if we were doing it,” he said. “So it is not going to impact us for salt or fuel or anything like that—that was budgeted for the year.”

When it came time to vote on the winter maintenance for the village, Councilmember Melinda Meddaugh voiced her opposition and voted no. “We don’t do it for the Village of Monticello, we should be consistent,” she said.

The board voted collectively on the other intermunicipal agreements, including registrar and assessor services, as those functions were already being carried out by the town.

Mace also advised residents to avoid relying on Facebook for town-related topics, citing a pattern of negativity that, he said, began before he took office.

 “You cannot trust it or the motivations behind it,” he told the Democrat. Instead, he encouraged constituents to contact his office directly for accurate information or clarification at supervisor@thompsonny.gov or 845-794-2500 ext. 306.