MONTICELLO — Doug Solomon was unanimously approved as Village of Monticello mayor during the regular board meeting on Tuesday night.

Trustees Jill Weyer and Larissa Bennett both voted in favor of the appointment, although trustee Carmen Rue was absent.

In his first act as mayor, Solomon named Aleta Gomez to fill the trustee position that he had vacated.

Gomez is currently running for county legislature in District 9 against Alan Sorensen. She said she would resign as village trustee if she won the election. “In the meantime, this is a good way to serve the village and gain experience helping the residents of Monticello,” said Gomez.

Solomon also appointed Bennett as his deputy mayor, a position she was appointed to, and removed from, by former Mayor Gordon Jenkins.

“I'm familiar with the responsibilities of this position,” said Bennett, “I think Doug will do a good job and I'm anticipating good things to come.”

Jenkins was present at the meeting on Tuesday and, during his five minutes of public comment, wished his former colleagues good luck in their efforts, although he questioned whether Solomon would be able to handle the office of mayor while simultaneously being police chief in the City of Beacon.

“You know, I'm pretty good at multi-tasking,” Solomon said while speaking to reporters after the meeting. “The village mayor has never been a full-time job. Manager [David] Sager does a lot more running day-to-day operations in the village.”

This is the first time the village has had a full board since Jenkins was removed from office in April by the State Appellate Division for exhibiting what they described as “a pattern of misconduct and abuse of authority.”

Solomon hopes that closing the book on this chapter in Monticello history will mean the return of cooperation and stability that's necessary to accomplish the work ahead.

“In the coming weeks we'll put forward a vision,” said Solomon, “This is a clean slate for us to create a village where people want to visit, shop and raise their families.”