The Altamont Enterprise is reporting the Berne Town Board December 9, voted to advertise for the positions of dog-control officer and code-enforcement officer, in response to resident resistance to the board’s appointments. Supervisor Sean Lyons said resident feedback compelled the board to act. Cheryl Baitsholts, who served as the town’s dog-control officer for 13 years before being replaced, said she is considering applying but has not made a decision yet. In January, the town board, now under GOP control for the first time after decades of Democratic rule, appointed Jody Jansen as the dog-control officer, replacing the much-beloved Baitsholts, of Rensselaerville, who said she received no notice of her dismissal. Baitsholts’s removal was a violation of Civil Service Law as the position is a competitive class. The board also appointed Chance Townsend to the code-enforcement officer position. He previously served the town in that role in 2018 and into early 2019, when he resigned over frustrations with the then Democrat-controlled town board. Both appointments were controversial: Jansen had no known background in animal control and did not have the resources that Baitsholts, who operated her own kennel, had. And Townsend lacked proper certification and a habit of evicting people from their homes, even though he has no legal authority to do so. Read the full story in The Altamont Enterprise.