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| District 7 County Legislator Kulzer to Resign December 27; Asks to Have Board Reappoint Him the Following Day 12/10/18 04:00pm By: Nick Altmire |
of the Lewis County Board of Legislators, Clerk of the Board Teresa Clark read into the record a brief line announcing that "pursuant to NYS Retirement System requirements," District 7 Legislator Gregory Kulzer will be resigning his seat on the board on December 27th and asked that the board convene a special meeting to reappoint him to the position on December 28th. The request comes after Mr. Kulzer announced in November that he would be retiring from his position as a Dairy Products Specialist, inspecting milk plants, for the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets. With both the county and the state using the same retirement system, Mr. Kulzer can not retire from his state job while still an employee in the retirement system. After retirement, any retiree in the system is allowed to take another job in the system, as long as the salary does not exceed $30,000 annually. Mr. Kulzer is resigning from the legislative board in order to retire from his state job, but would then like to continue his elected role as a legislator. District 7 includes a portion of Lowville, in addition to Turin and Martinsburg. A ruling from the state's highest court in September affirmed that Mr. Kulzer's employer, the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, could prohibit him from holding an elected public office. His employer contended that Mr. Kulzer’s elected position created the appearance of a conflict of interest. The case had been in the courts since 2015, after Mr. Kulzer challenged the policy as violating his constitutional rights, with the lawsuit filed through his union, the New York State Public Employees Federation, AFL-CIO. The ruling prompted Mr. Kulzer's decision to retire from the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets at this time. Normally, when an elected legislator resigns or is unable to complete a term, the political party's town committee in the impacted district would make a recommendation for appointment. That recommendation would then be referred to party's county chairperson for submission to the Board of Legislators to fill out the remaining term. It's unclear if this is how the process will work in this situation, as Mr. Kulzer is already elected to the position. The Board did not discuss the matter at Tuesday's meeting. A special meeting is scheduled for December 20th, to conclude any business for the year. Currently, there is nothing scheduled for December 28th. |
