For Immediate Release: April 19, 2001
Contact:
Victoria Hristovski | Director Public Information | Adirondack Park Agency
contact@apa.ny.gov | (518) 891-4050
RAY BROOK - At this month’s regular meeting at the headquarters in Ray Brook, the Agency’s administrative staff was recognized for their dedication and skills in celebration of Secretaries Day (April 25th) and several individuals from local communities and the state were named to the Earth Day Honor Roll for their contributions to the Adirondacks.
Among the Honor Roll inductee is: Nellie Staves, of Tupper Lake; Willsboro Supervisor Teresa Sayward; Heidi Kretser and Bill Weber from the Wildlife Conservation Society at Paul Smith’s College; Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Joseph Boardman; James Tinney, DOT Region 7 Landscape Architect; Stuart Buchanan, Department of Environmental Conservation Regional Director, Region 5; Gary Gunther, Environmental Facilities Corporation, and Walter Andrews, Chief of the Water Protection Branch of Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 for the EPA Wetlands Protection Program. Their names and a synopsis of why they were chosen will be prominently displayed at the Adirondack Park Agency’s headquarters in Ray Brook until Earth Day 2002. Secretaries for the APA and Visitor Interpretive Centers were individually honored with awards for their dedication and professionalism in honor of Secretaries Day, April 25.
During the Administration Committee meeting on Thursday, April 12, Jeff Anthony and Dean Long of the Saratoga Springs based LA Group, updated committee members on the progress of the towers policy. The LA Group is working as a consultant to the Agency to update the current towers policy. Committee members held a lengthy question and answer session with the two representatives and said they were happy with the update and the LA Group reps. knowledge and presentation of information.
At the Local Government Services Committee on Thursday, members heard an informal presentation on the Town of Lake George Comprehensive Plan. Lake George Supervisor Lou Tessier, Code Enforcement Officer Mike Lanfear and Stuart Mesinger of Chazen Companies of Clifton Park discussed the town’s new comprehensive plan to the Agency as one of several local planning projects underway. Committee members were also given a brief report of the fourth annual Local Government Day which took place at the Hotel Saranac on March 22 and 23. Thanks to the partnerships of 10 organizations, this was the most successful Local Government Day to date and was very well-attended despite the snowy spring weather. One hundred sixty people from 32 communities and 11 counties, and representatives from 14 other organizations attended this year’s event. It was also noted during the Committee meeting that Chairman Richard H. Lefebvre was appointed to the Governor’s Quality Communities Task Force and that the Agency would be an active participant in the working group in that program. At the commencement of Friday’s Agency meeting, Chairman Lefebvre welcomed new staff member Sunita Halasz. Sunita is working as a Project Representative for the Resource Analysis and Scientific Services (RASS) Unit at the Agency. Sunita joins staff after working as Project Coordinator on two EPA-funded watershed projects with the Agency since July 2000. She completed her B.S. at Cornell University in 1998 in Plant Pathology and received an M.S. from Cornell in 2000 for her forest disturbance study at the William C. Whitney Wilderness. Sunita and her husband Steve live in Saranac Lake and are avid hikers, rock climbers, and ski-orienteerers.
"Sunita is a wonderful and talented addition to the staff and we hope her stay here will be lengthy and happy," Lefebvre said.
Also on Friday, the full Agency Board approved a variance request in Lake Luzerne and the creation of a private airport in Essex.
The next Adirondack Park Agency meeting will be held on May 10 and 11. On the 10th, commissioners will meet at the headquarters in Ray Brook, and on the 11th, they will meet at the Paul Smith’s Visitors Interpretive Center.