The Adirondack Council

News Release

For Immediate Release, February 5, 2002

ALBANY -- The Adirondack Council today praised Gov. George Pataki for filling a long-standing vacancy on the Adirondack Park Agency Board of Commissioners, and for reappointing three sitting members whose terms had expired. The Council urged the Senate to approve the nominations.

"We are extremely pleased that the Adirondack Park Agency will now have a full slate of commissioners for the first time in four years," said Adirondack Council Acting Executive Director Bernard C. Melewski. "We urge the Senate to confirm all four nominations. The agency has an agenda packed with important policy decisions in 2002. From Sonar to cell towers, it needs all the help it can get.

"We also want to urge the Park Agency to appoint a replacement for former APA General Counsel Charles Fox, who left the job in 2001 when he became an advisor to the Governor," said Melewski. "The general counsel is a key staff advisor to the board of commissioners and chief of the agency's legal division. It's too important a job to be left open for months."

Newly appointed to the APA board of commissioners is Deanne Rehm, former Bolton Town Supervisor. Melewski said Rehm would be the first commissioner to represent the southeastern sector of the Park since Jack Ryder of Lake George stepped down in 1997. The current vacancy for a Park resident was created when former Chairman Gregory Campbell, of Keeseville, resigned in 1998.

Also slated for approval by the Senate are current commissioners William Kissell, of Lake Placid, James Townsend, of Rochester, and Frank Mezzano, of Lake Pleasant.

The nominations were approved on Jan. 15 by the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. They must pass the Finance Committee, and then a vote of the full Senate. The final two votes are expected to occur today.
The Adirondack Council was critical of the Governor in its State of the Park 2001 report (p.3, thumbs down, Seat Still Empty) for allowing a vacancy to exist for so long.