QUEENSBURY | Three new top executives in Warren County government were named March 16 — and one resignation was announced — as county supervisors held their monthly meeting.
Ryan Moore was tapped as Warren County administrator.
Moore served as Saratoga County deputy administrator from 2014 until 2015, when he moved on to take the post of budget analyst for Westchester County. Moore initially was hired in 2011 by Saratoga County government as a management analyst.
Moore was appointed by unanimous vote, although Glens Falls Supervisor Claudia Braymer (Ward 3) had earlier questioned the process leading up to Moore’s appointment.
“I do have concern about the pressure brought to bear on supervisors regarding the appointment,” she said, while praising Moore’s experience and professionalism, as well as hailing acting county administrator Kevin Geraghty’s interim tenure.
“I look forward to our county having a full time administrator supporting our department heads and their staff,” Braymer added.
Geraghty denied that any pressure had been exerted. The county’s representatives in the state legislature had reportedly praised Moore’s attributes, but no political pressure had occurred, Geraghty said.
Moore, 36, is to be paid $110,000 annually.
In another vote March 16, the supervisors appointed Christian Hanchett as the new county commissioner of social services. He takes on the role of Maureen Schmidt, who retired as of Jan. 30 after three and a half years in the post.
Hanchett, 53, has served in the county social services department since 2005. He is to begin the post at a salary of $95,000.
Two county supervisors voted against the appointment. A supervisor said several of their peers had questioned whether a comprehensive enough search had been conducted. Geraghty, however, said a thorough search had indeed occurred.
In addition, county public health assistant director Ginelle Jones was formally appointed the county’s interim director of public health upon the retirement March 30 of longtime health department director Patricia Auer.
This resolution calls for her appointment as permanent director, pending state Department of Health approval.
TENNYSON RESIGNS
County supervisors approved a settlement agreement with Jeffrey Tennyson after hearing of his resignation from the post of Warren County Superintendent of Public Works.
The resolution endorsing the settlement provided no details of the agreement. Even Tennyson’s name was not mentioned in the resolution, but supervisors confirmed it was regarding Tennyson’s employment.
Tennyson pleaded guilty a few weeks ago to misdemeanor DWI stemming from his Jan. 28 arrest in Glens Falls.
Tennyson, 45, had initially been charged with Aggravated DWI as well as Driving While Intoxicated after his blood-alcohol content level tested at 0.24 percent, three times the 008 percent threshold of legal intoxication.
Authorities said Tennyson was apprehended after Glens Falls police officers saw him drive into a curb in the early morning of Jan. 28. Tennyson had been suspended from his position following the incident.
Government watchdog Travis Whitehead of Queensbury objected to the lack of details in the resolution ratifying the undisclosed settlement agreement with Tennyson, as well as another resolution ratified this month endorsing a settlement resolving a longstanding legal battle with Magic Forest amusement park owner Jack Gillette.
“The public will be paying the bill — you can’t keep this information from us,” Whitehead said, noting he was filing FOIL requests to obtain the details on both settlements.
“We need to know this information now before these decisions are made,” he added, advocating public disclosure.
Whitehead also objected to the county fighting Gillette in state and federal court regarding his claims that his land was improperly used as a stretch of the Warren County Bikeway and a county-sanctioned snowmobile trail.
The Post-Star reported weeks ago that Gillette is to receive $150,000, although he has claimed his legal bills have cost him about $200,000. The dispute has been ongoing since 2011 — and Whitehead chastised the board for dragging out the court fight since then.
“Why use taxpayer money to go after an individual taxpayer,” Whitehead said. “It’s wrong — the county has deeper pockets.”
