Town residents speak out against clerk appointment

October 14, 2025 | Register-Star

by Spenser Walsh

CLAVERACK - Some residents spoke out at Thursday's Town Board meeting against the appointment of William R. "Rich" Dickey Michael as the town clerk.

The board unanimously approved Michael's appointment at it meeting Thursday to fill the unexpired term of former Board Clerk Mary Hoose, who retired from the post in August, four months before her term ended on Dec. 31. 

Claverack Town Clerk Rich Michael looks on as a public meeting is held about his appointment on Oct. 9, 2025.

"What you did is completely unethical and you all know it," Claverack resident and town supervisor candidate Ilza Earner said at Thursday's meeting. "You're sitting here gaslighting us, the constituents of this town, that there was absolutely nobody else to put into the position of town clerk other than the candidate of your party who is running for that position."

Michael, who is running for town clerk in November's elections, began serving in the role after Hoose stepped down from after 33 years of service. Also at Thursday's meeting, the board voted to appoint Hoose to the deputy town clerk's position. Hoose will serve as deputy clerk alongside Deputy Clerk Vonda Teaney, according to the town website.

Michael was already serving as deputy clerk at the time of Hoose's retirement and he was moved up to the town clerk role because he already held the deputy position, Weigelt said at the meeting.

"Mary Jean [Hoose] is tier 1, so she should have retired a while ago. We finally talked her into backing off and taking retirement," Weigelt said at Thursday's meeting. "We said 'OK, who do we have to take the position in the interim until the election comes around in November' and [Michael] has been working with the town for years now as a deputy clerk, so he moved right up in there."

Appointing a town clerk candidate to the town clerk's position weeks before the election gives Michael a leg up in the race, Town Democratic Committee Chairperson Stephanie Sussman said to the board at the meeting. 

"You were supposed to have an independent person, not the candidate [running for town clerk] who will be on the ballot [in November] to make sure no one gets an unfair advantage in the election," town Democratic Committee Chairperson Stephanie Sussman said to the board at the meeting. 

Appointing Michael from deputy town clerk to town clerk was necessary to keep the office functioning until the position is filled by the person elected in November.

"If people still come into the office, they need to get their questions answered by somebody that's in there," he said.

"How can you put someone who's running in an election into that job?" said Claverack resident Susan Bane. "It looks like they have an audition for that job and other candidates don't have that opportunity." 

Weigelt also responded at the meeting to concerns raised Sussman and town resident Leslie Cattan also raised concerns about the board hiring both Hoose and Vonda as deputy clerks.

"Could you explain how we've had two [deputy] clerks, and now three [two deputy and one town] clerks, and I realized that everybody's part time," Cattan said. "How does that impact the budget and what was the decision making process?"

Because the deputy town clerks do not work on a full-time basis, Weigelt said the municipality needs two to serve in the position.

"[The deputy clerks] only work two days a week," Weigelt said at the meeting. "Mary Jean only wants to work a couple of days, but she was willing to come in in case [Michael] had any questions."

Having two part-time deputy clerks will not impact the budget because each works two days a week. Previously, the deputy town clerk worked four days a week, Weigelt said.

Teaney lives in Ghent and because town officials must live in the town they represent, would have been unable to be appointed town clerk, which left Michael as the only person with enough knowledge to assume the role, Weigelt said.

"[Rich] is who we have," Weigelt said Thursday. "He's been there for how many years, and he knows stuff."

In September, Weigelt said he did not recall the date Michael took over the town clerk's position from Hoose or the date the board voted to appoint Michael, as well as the results of that vote. He added, last month, that Michael had been working for the town on a part-time basis for over two years, doing "computer stuff and water collection," and, to the best of his understanding, no public meeting was required to confirm Michael to the town clerk's position.

"It does not have to be done during a public meeting; we can do that for anyone, if we have to," he said in September.

Any public body making an official decision in an executive session has to record and summarize the actions taken and the date the action was taken in its meeting minutes, according to the state's open meetings law. Any actions taken during regular sessions are also supposed to be documented, including any votes or resolutions.

Stephanie Sussman questioned the board Thursday regarding Michael never being listed on the town's website as the deputy town clerk. Weigelt said Michael does "all kinds of things" around the office.

Democratic town board candidate Peter Hoffman asked Town Attorney Robert Fitzsimmons what his legal advice was to the board about Michael's appointment.

"I found out about the issue when I read about it in the paper," Fitzsimmons said. "I counseled my client the next day, via email, that in order to officially make Rich Michael town clerk, they needed to do it by motion, and they should do it at the next meeting. I think they were under the impression that since he was already deputy clerk, he just ascended to clerk in the clerk's absence."

Town resident and Columbia County Democratic Committee Second Vice Chairperson Claire Ackerman said she was not satisfied with the board's explanations.

"I don't think the answers provided tonight by the town were sufficient in answering the constituents' concerns," she said.

Ackerman said she and other residents were still waiting to hear from the state comptroller's office about a complaint filed Sept. 20 by Sussman against the board, as well as a Freedom of Information Law request filed with the town Oct. 1 by Ackerman for payroll information.

Ackerman said when she and other residents get the results of those complaints, they will decide if they want to take further action.

While the Claverack town offices were closed Friday, the state comptroller's office Press Secretary Mark Johnson confirmed Friday the office received Sussman's complaint, adding there was no update on the status of it.