Vacant village board seat won’t be filled until next year

CATSKILL―Customarily a body of five, the Catskill Village Board has been down to four trustees for more than six months and will stay that way until next year.

Village Attorney Wayne Thompson advised the board during Wednesday night’s meeting that, despite past practices, a special election to fill a vacancy can only be held on the third Tuesday of March, the standard village election day.

Thompson’s legal opinion on the matter was requested by the board that has been functioning minus one since the January 16 resignation of Daniel Ward.

“Our village charter does not allow appointments and our charter is not clear when it comes to special elections either, so we reached out to [New York Conference of Mayors] and to our village attorney for guidance,” said Village President Natasha Law.

The Village’s charter does offer guidance on how to handle other vacant offices, Thompson noted, but not for the position of trustee. In that situation, state law comes into play.

Ward, who stepped down after moving his residence outside of the village, did so 71 days before the next village election. Under New York State Village Law, his seat could have been placed on ballot had he resigned four days sooner.

Now, that seat will remain empty until the next village election on March 16, 2027.

In the past, the Village has held special elections outside of March to fill vacancies.

Most recently, in September of 2025, Thomas Boomhower was elected to fill the unexpired term of Trustee Jeff Workman who resigned in June. In July of 2021, a special election was also held following resignation of Village President Vincent Seeley six months earlier.