Above photo: Former Schoharie County Sheriff Ronald R. Stevens was honored at the Feb. 20 Board of Supervisors meeting. Photo by Chris English.
SCHOHARIE COUNTY — The superlatives flowed when former Schoharie County Sheriff Ronald R, Stevens was honored at the Friday, Feb. 20 county Board of Supervisors meeting.
Stevens retired after deciding last year not to run for election again after 15 years as Sheriff. A lengthy resolution read at the meeting by Supervisor John Leavitt of Carlisle lauded Stevens for his hard work, dedication and other virtues.
"When one person in the course of his job and in the course of his life embraces and enhances the well-being of a community to the extent that Ronald R. Stevens has, it is important to take pause, acknowledge and give thanks," the resolution stated. "If we were all about lauding the accomplishments of Ronald R. Stevens, then we would barely know where to start."
It continued: "During his tenure he provided the Schoharie County Sheriff's Department, as well as many local and state agencies with a wealth of law enforcement knowledge, leadership skills, contacts with many outside agencies and always a can-do attitude. In both the course of his professional and personal life, he has touched the lives of countless citizens in every corner and reach of Schoharie County."
The document commended Stevens for helping guide the county through the 2011 floods and other crises. "Sheriff Stevens was never one to seek reward or recognition for his accomplishments, rather deflecting recognition to the favor of his men and others," it read.
Stevens attended the Feb. 20 meeting and expressed gratitude to the BOS and others present for the kind words and copy of the resolution.
"Thank you very much, you are all true friends," he said.
Stevens has been succeeded as Sheriff by Albro Fancher, who like Stevens had a long and distinguished career with the New York State Police before deciding to pursue the Sheriff's job.
In other actions from the Feb. 20 meeting, County Administrator Bryan Best announced during his report that highly-regarded county Director of Planning and Community Development Services Shane Nickle would be retiring effective June 14 after three years on that job. Before assuming the director's role, Nickle was a planner and then a senior planner and has 30 years of service with the county in all.
"Shane is basically irreplaceable," Best said. "It's a big loss to the county but we will do our best to make the transition."
Best continued in his report that Requests for Proposals for an outside vendor to run the county's transportation system have been released and proposals are due back on March 18. Earlier in the meeting, a motion by Supervisor Jeffrey Haslun of Richmondville to make some temporary county transportation employees permanent was approved.
The county is currently operating its own transportation system directly, but Best said the hope is to have an outside company take over again on Jan. 1. If that happens, the employees made permanent would hopefully transition into working for the new agency next year.
"We're having some shortfalls, we don't have a full staff of drivers," Haslun said of the current situation.
On another topic, Best said he continues to be concerned about the financial state of the county and will be asking department heads to take a hard look at all vacancies to see if they really need to be filled or can be left vacant.
The BOS approved several other resolutions at the Feb. 20 meeting. One appointed five people to the county Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Directors. Appointed were Supervisors Donald Airey and Alicia Terry (to terms expiring Dec. 31, 2026); Richard Prokop (at large, term expiring Dec. 31, 2027); Brendan Scoralick (Farm Bureau, Dec. 31, 2028) and Claude Coons (Grange, Dec. 31, 2026).
Agricultural Preservation member Karl Westphal was appointed to the county Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board for a term to expire Oct. 1, 2029.