Town of Wellsville

Perhaps it's because vacancies in elective offices happen infrequently that there is confusion about how they should be handled, but that's no excuse for the level of ignorance displayed in the following article, starting with the headline:

BROWN SUBMITS RESIGNATION TO TOWN BOARD

Problem: resignations by town officials must be submitted to the Town Clerk, not to the Town Board. We've discussed this issue before.

There may be an opening on the Town of Wellsville board if the resignation of Councilman Peter Brown is accepted.

Brown submitted his letter of resignation for board consideration Monday, but it is not official until the board passes it next week.

“It's not official until we act on it. You never know, we may reject it,” said Wellsville Town Supervisor James Cretekos who was instrumental in getting Brown, a Democrat, to run for the board.

Wrong. Once a resignation is submitted to the town clerk, it is effective immediately if no effective date is specified. If a date is specified then the resignation is effective on that date. Or, if the date specified is more than thirty days beyond the submission date, then the resignation is effective upon the thirtieth day. In any event, the Town Board has no authority to accept or reject a resignation.

He went on to say he expects once the board approves the resignation, the supervisor can appoint someone to fill the position until the November election.

Nope. Section 64(5) of the Town Law provides, in part "Whenever a vacancy shall occur or exist in any town office, the town board or a majority of the members thereof, may appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy." (emphasis added).

It's possible Wellsville has adopted a local law pursuant to its home rule authority to supercede these provisions of the Town Law, but I doubt it. Time to dust off that Town Law Manual, folks.