One Last Act

On several occasions in the past, Gossips has criticized former mayor William Hallenbeck for being lax in making appointments to the City's regulatory boards. There were vacancies he failed to fill on the Zoning Board of Appeals and on the Historic Preservation Commission. The Historic Preservation Commission would have been without a chair for the past five months if Rick Rector had not, on the advice of counsel, continued on the HPC despite the fact that Hallenbeck had neither reappointed him nor appointed a replacement. But contrary to form, Hallenbeck was swift to reappoint Carmine Pierro to the Planning Board, which he did on the day before his last day in office.

Pierro, former Fifth Ward alderman and longtime aide to former mayor Rick Scalera, has chaired the Planning Board since February 2015, when Don Tillson resigned. Pierro's term ended on December 31, 2015--the same day Hallenbeck's term as mayor ended. On December 30, Hallenbeck reportedly reappointed Pierro as a member of the Planning Board for two more years. Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton announced on December 21 that she was appointing Tom DePietro as chair of the Planning Board. According to Gossips sources, it was not her intention to reappoint Pierro, who some believe should not serve on the Planning Board--even as a member--since he no longer lives in Hudson. The word is that attorneys are looking into the legality of Hallenbeck's eleventh hour reappointment.
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