Applications accepted for vacant board seat
Town Supervisor Bill McKenna is accepting applications for the Town Board seat left vacant by the death of Councilman Jay Wenk.
McKenna said letters of interest should be emailed to supervisor@woodstockny.org or mailed to the town office at 45 Comeau Drive, Woodstock, N.Y. 12498.
The supervisor said interested parties should apply Friday and that a decision could be made the following week.
The new member will be a appointed by a vote of the Town Board. The seat then will be on the November ballot, and the winner of that election will serve through the end of 2019.
Wenk, 91, died May 29 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He served on the Town Board from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2008 until his death.
Wenk was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II who became a vocal anti-war activist and was a member of the group Veterans for Peace. He also was known for declining to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance at Town Board meetings.
Councilwoman Laura Ricci said Wenk never played favorites as a public servant.
“He always fought from the heart,” she said.
“He always fought hard,” Ricci said. “I will miss his alternate and opposing viewpoints because I always think it’s nice to have somebody who’s thinking, not necessarily following the crowd, but an independent thinker.”
And even though both Ricci and Wenk ran for board seats as Democrats, she would be subjects to his “potshots” when they disagreed about an issue, she said.
“I knew he was doing it because of his strong beliefs, and I always respected that,” Ricci said.
A potluck event to celebrate Wenk’s life is planned from noon to 6 p.m. June 16 at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center on Rock City Road in Woodstock.