The Pelham Town Council re-appointed Joseph Battaglia as assessor following a brief discussion led by Town Supervisor Dan McLaughlin at Monday’s monthly meeting. Battaglia is currently serving a six-year term that expires in October. The council also celebrated a county award given to its reconfigured emergency medical services, which are run in conjunction with the Eastchester Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
The 5-0 vote to extend Battaglia to another six-year term came one month after McLaughlin’s first attempt to re-appoint the town assessor faltered. At the council’s April 7 meeting, McLaughlin said, “We have to re-appoint the assessor.” McLaughlin brandished a copy of an article in Talk of the Towns, a trade publication, to support his motion. The article, written by the director of communications for the New York State Assessors Association, urges town officials not to leave decisions about assessors to the last minute.
Councilwoman Maura Curtin expressed concern about moving so quickly, months before Battaglia’s term would expire. “I’m just wondering why we’re doing this in April,” she said at that meeting. Curtin also asked McLaughlin for a copy of background materials that had not been circulated to everyone on the board prior to the meeting.
At Monday’s meeting, McLaughlin said he wanted to re-appoint Battaglia quickly to avoid a protracted search for a replacement. “It’s difficult to find an assessor,” he said. McLaughlin recounted how he and Deputy Supervisor Rae Szymanski interviewed three people for the job when Battaglia was hired in 2019. He and Szymanski described it as a time-consuming process that they did not want to repeat.
McLaughlin also addressed Curtin’s concern about committing to another six-year term, saying the board had the power to fire Battaglia after he served two years of the term. As a local government official, the assessor does not have the employment protections that most civil servants have, he said. The board unanimously approved the re-appointment, effective in October.
Earlier in the meeting, Town of Pelham EMS Manager Mark Baumblatt surprised the council with the news that the town’s emergency medical response services had been named EMS Agency of the Year for 2024 by the Westchester County Regional EMS Council. Baumblatt recounted how the town’s EMS services had responded quickly last year to a report of a woman choking in Pelham Manor, helping to save her. Last month, EMS staff saved a Pelham Manor firefighter who went into cardiac arrest on a call.
“We brought him back,” Baumblatt said.
The EMS team also coordinated with the fire departments of the Village of Pelham and the Village of Pelham Manor in April to mount a “high-angle” ladder rescue of a worker who was injured on the top floor of Pelham House, the new apartment building under construction across from the new Village of Pelham Municipal Center on Fifth Avenue.
The next town council meeting is scheduled for June 2.
Steven Shekane • May 8, 2025 at 10:49 pm
I really don’t understand the logic behind Councilwoman Curtin’s desire to delay a decision. It must be political given Mr. Battaglia is a registered Republican. Why would the Tiwn want to replace him when it invested tine and money to train him and he is still in his first term in the role.
A very large number of people, including Ms. Curtin, fully supported the extension of Dr. Champ’s contract well before its expiration. If you have a talented individual then hold on to them. That was the argument with respect to Dr. Champ. Why is this different?