ELLENVILLE – With the election of current Village Manager Elliott Auerbach to the position of Ulster County Comptroller, the Village of Ellenville is suddenly left with a vacancy they're going to need to fill — and, apparently, a lot of questions about the future of Ellenville's governmental structure.

According to Ellenville Mayor Jeff Kaplan, Auerbach's departure provides the opportunity for the village board to make a change to the village manager's position — namely, he's suggesting that it become a part-time position, and that the village dissolve the treasurer position in favor of that of a Village Comptroller. Additionally, he also suggested that the village take on the Local Development Corporation's Economic Development Officer Dan Hauspurg in a grant-writing and administration capacity.

On the switch to a part-time manager, Kaplan said in an interview on Monday, "In my take of things, it seems to me that the hands-on manager's position that we now have on a day-to-day basis to oversee the department heads can be done in less than full time."

Kaplan explained that the experience of Ellenville's manager running for political office enabled him to see that the heads of the village's various departments were able to get along with a manager operating in a diminished capacity, "but they still may need a coordinator," he added.

Furthermore, taking a cue from Ulster County's new charter-style of government, Kaplan said he would also suggest that the village dissolve the Village Treasurer's position in favor of creating the position of a Village Comptroller.

"The mixed role of the relationship between the manager and the treasurer, I think, can be done more efficiently if one person held the financial aspects of those jobs," said Kaplan, adding that he would want the person in that role of handling the village's finances "to be more than just sort of a bookkeeper and be more of an adviser on the financial end."

"I think having now viewed the finances we get and continue to get that I would like to have somebody in that position that is an advisor and not just giving us the data," he said.

As to where that leaves current Village Treasurer Linda Polkoski, Kaplan said, "I personally would be happy to see her apply for that position, but we will probably, I would assume, put that position out for proposal — publish it for people interested in taking that position."

"Some things work very well, some things could work better. It has nothing to do with the individuals; it's really just the positions," he added.

The proposed change in governmental structure comes at the end of a difficult year for the Village of Ellenville, having suffered an unexpected $1 million shortfall in February. Making matters worse, the village then experienced a $100,000-plus budgetary mix-up, leading to the expenditure of the village's $75,000 contingency fund, and a troubling fiscal road until the end of the budgetary year in May.

Mayor Kaplan said that by changing the structure of the positions, he hoped to also save the village some money in terms of salary. Currently, the village spends $130,000 a year combined to pay for the two positions—not including benefits—and Kaplan said he hoped that the two new positions would cost somewhere closer to only $100,000 a year.

At this week's village board meeting, the mayor and the rest of the village trustees voted to advertise for the manager and comptroller positions. When asked when or if the village treasurer's position would be dissolved, Mayor Kaplan replied that he and the rest of the board would wait and see who responded to the advertisements, and then they would decide accordingly.

In terms of just who might fill these newly established roles should they indeed become a reality, Mayor Kaplan said that while he had a few people in mind for the manager's position, he was only one vote on the board, and that it would be unfair at this point to discuss specific names. He also added that he would be open to looking at candidates from across the nation, not leaving the choice restricted to the local area.

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