ELDRED, NY — A former assessor was chosen to return as the Town of Highland Town Board on December 11 hired Lorry King to serve the remaining term of Renee Ozomek, who has submitted her resignation as of January 1.

The regular second Tuesday meeting was postponed because of the weather on December 9.

King, who was re-appointed to a second six-year term as Highland assessor in 2007 resigned, and Ozomek was hired a year later amid controversy over rising assessments.

King then said those increases were related to the certified district agreement that Lumberland and Highland settled on to stabilize the towns’ fluctuating school district tax loads. The agreement required 100% assessment valuations in both towns and annual revaluations.

King has since remained as assessor in the Town of Cochecton and New Paltz. She is leaving the New Paltz position to return to Highland.

Noting that the Town of Liberty recently had the same problem, Town of Highland Supervisor Andy Boyar said King was the only candidate to respond to the town’s help-wanted advertisement. Council members Jeff Haas and Jim Gutekunst conducted telephone interviews with King and she was approved unanimously by the board, 4-0.

Councilman Scott Hallock was unable to attend last week’s meeting.

Boyar said King would begin on January 15 provided the town receives evidence of her continuing education work being up to date and documents of state certification.

Charles Petersheim, who has recently been critical of town government management, said a face-to-face interview should have been done and charged that the board had hired someone who had been “sort of run out of town for raising everyone’s taxes.”

“That’s such a wrong statement,” Boyar responded, adding that he had contacted Cochecton and heard “nothing but the highest praise” of King’s work there. “I think we’ve made a very good choice,” he said.

Additionally, highway superintendent Tom Ebers reported that the town’s oldest truck has a broken steering box and special-order parts would not be available for a month.

His report preceded the board’s vote to seek bids for purchase of a 2015 Freightliner truck with body, plow and wing.

They also approved a motion to direct Boyar to initiate bonding paperwork to cover highway vehicle costs up to $265,000.

In other business, they accepted, with regret, the resignation of Claire Sullivan from the town’s board of assessment review and separately agreed to advertise for a replacement member.

They further agreed to authorize credit card payment of town and county taxes through the Allen Tunnell Program, to adopt a town social media policy (which has been posted on the town website for public review for a month without comment), to set the 2015 organizational meeting on January 6 and a regular meeting on January 13, both to begin at 7 p.m.