The road to elevating McCague to the office of acting mayor wasn’t short. Trustees Randy Holcomb and Ellen Barnes were both adverse to the idea, preferring the board stay in its current state with McCague as deputy mayor and four trustees on the board.

Now that McCague has been appointed for two terms, one ending Dec. 3 and the second covering 2019, he will appoint the next trustee to take over his former trustee position on the board.

A good faith stipulation was added to the motion to elevate McCague to acting mayor. The trustees plan to compromise by having McCague appoint the new village trustee based on at least three of the four of them agreeing on a candidate. McCague will appoint this trustee at a board meeting in the future.

Trustees Douglas Schutte and Holcomb voted to accept McCague as acting mayor. Trustee Barnes did not vote in favor, and McCague abstained. Before the board’s vote to appoint McCague as acting mayor, there was confusion regarding state opinions on how to act after a mayor’s resignation. Dozens of people encouraged the board to accept McCague as acting mayor.

Holcomb and Barnes were adverse to the idea because Barnes said there had been a previous lack of information shared beyond the mayoral seat, something Schutte attributed to Birrittieri when she was in office. All four board members pledged their willingness to work together now that she resigned.

Village Attorney John LaMancuso started the discussion to appoint an acting mayor by saying there is no official statute that describes how a village board must operate in the case of a village resignation. He cited various opinions, including that of the state Attorney General’s Office, that said an acting mayor should be chosen immediately after the resignation of the former mayor. Barnes said the New York State Conference of Mayors said the deputy mayor could retain his authority as deputy before the next general election and would become an acting mayor in the case of an emergency to coordinate resources.

Barnes said the village does not have the authority to call for a special election, leaving some residents frustrated that they would not be able to elect the mayor who will be in office for next 14 months. If Birrittieri had resigned a couple weeks earlier than she had Oct. 5, votes for a new mayor could have been cast in the upcoming general election.

The same frustration regarding a lack of an election goes for the appointment of a new trustee, but precedent for the appointment of trustees can be found as recently as the first terms of Barnes and McCague. Since a special election could not be called, the options presented were Holcomb’s motion to leave the board as is while Schutte’s eventual motion to appoint McCague succeeded. It originally failed, with Holcomb being opposed to the appointment along with Barnes. Both McCague and Schutte were opposed to leaving McCague as deputy mayor.

Some residents said it was unwise to pass up on McCague as acting mayor as many cited his knowledge and experience. Another resident urged the board to compromise because a leader provides stability and continuity. The group attending the meeting had its share of those who were confused there wasn’t more specific state law that would direct the board on how to proceed.

“I need to see the difference,” said Barnes, the remaining hold-out on appointing McCague. She referenced the lack of inclusivity she felt as a board member and said she did not feel comfortable appointing McCague because she said enough time hadn’t passed to see if information would be shared freely among trustees.

The decision to pass two appointments for McCague, one that makes him acting mayor until Dec. 3 and another that makes him acting mayor until the end of 2019, was encouraged by Holcomb and other members of the audience. If McCague only would have been appointed until Dec. 3, he would have appointed another trustee and potentially lost a re-appointment as acting mayor for 2019, excluding him from the board entirely as he would have not had the ability to default to his trustee seat. With Monday’s set of appointments, McCague will remain on the board as acting mayor until a mayor is installed after the 2019 general election.

Due to the Veterans’ Day holiday, the next village board meeting will take place Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 6:30 p.m.