Ted Remsnyder reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Patrick Ciccone, the chair of the Town of Durham Historic Preservation Committee, recently testified against the town board in a lawsuit about a proposed housing development in the town. said he was not reappointed to his post after he gave a sworn affidavit in a lawsuit against the town board and a proposed housing development in the town. Durham Town Supervisor Shawn Marriott then sent a letter to Ciccone on Feb. 27 telling him that his term on the Durham Historic Preservation Committee had expired at the end of 2019. “Effective immediately, that holdover status will not continue and you will not be reappointed,” according to the letter. “Please immediately return all town- and DHPC-related materials, etc., to the town hall within 24 hours.” Marriott, though, won't own up to why he removed Ciccone from the board. “I can confirm that he was not reappointed to the position,” Marriott said. “He was not fired, he was not reappointed to his position as chair. It was due to personnel matters that I cannot discuss.” Ciccone disagreed. “I was not an employee of the town,” he said. “I was an appointed expert on this commission. The town openly discusses all appointments in public, so they can’t hide behind calling this a personnel matter.” The lawsuit that Ciccone participated in was filed in November in New York State Supreme Court by the Cornwallville Residents for Rural Preservation, a group opposed to building 12 homes in Cornwallville. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.