Chester honors former councilman, longtime court clerk at board meeting

A tree and plaque at Chester Town Hall will memorialize former Councilman Larry Dysinger as the town’s board also marked the retirement of longtime Court Clerk Kathy Moran, even as members pushed ahead with a slate of land-use and infrastructure decisions.

At the April 8 Town of Chester Town Board meeting, the board voted to honor Dysinger, who died Dec. 8, 2025, at his Chester home after a long battle with a rare cancer. Resident Tracy Schuh said she hoped the dedication could coincide with Arbor Day, linking the tribute to the living memorial the board chose and to the town hall grounds where the recognition will stand.

Dysinger had already been remembered at a Dec. 10, 2025 board meeting, when the town opened with remembrances and a moment of silence after his death. The new vote added a more permanent mark of his service, and officials described the tribute as fitting for someone who had clearly mattered to Chester.

Moran’s retirement after 34 years of service drew its own recognition. Her family attended the meeting, and Town Justice Sharon Worthy-Spiegel praised the steady work of a court clerk, saying the person behind the bench is often what keeps a court running smoothly. The honor underscored how much of Chester’s continuity has depended on public employees whose names are not always tied to headline-making decisions but whose departure changes the shape of daily town business.

That theme of transition carried into the rest of the meeting. Councilman Tom Becker said the county had removed the main building at Camp LaGuardia and planned to turn the 258-acre Chester-Blooming Grove site into a park, keeping attention on one of Orange County’s longest-running public-property transformations. The county approved a $600,000 supplemental appropriation in 2025 for engineering and design work for recreational improvements, part of a broader push by County Executive Steve Neuhaus and the Orange County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation. Camp LaGuardia opened in 1918 as a women’s prison and later served as a shelter for homeless men during the Depression.

The board also returned to the question of whether residents who do not want new cellular end-point water meters should be allowed to opt out for a fee. Becker floated a $20 per-quarter charge, but other board members asked for more explanation and urged him to wait until the next meeting. He later withdrew the motion. The issue has been debated since at least September 2025, when residents raised concerns about electromagnetic field radiation and an earlier opt-out proposal was set at $75 per quarter.

The meeting ended with the board extending the town’s building moratorium through June 22, with members expressing optimism it may be the final extension before Chester completes its comprehensive plan and zoning amendments. The town’s planning rewrite, which moved toward adoption in 2025, included a public hearing on Oct. 22, 2025, and continued to frame the board’s work as it balanced remembrance, turnover and the next phase of policy decisions.