Erin Enouen, who had served as a town council member and deputy supervisor, was sworn in as Town of Rochester supervisor to fill former supervisor Mike Baden’s position until the end of the year. Enouen was appointed by the town board late last month and has served as acting supervisor since Baden stepped down for personal reasons on April 27.

Town Clerk Kathleen Gundberg administered Enouen’s oath of office at Thursday evening’s town board meeting in the Harold Lipton Community Center in Accord.

“I knew it was a really big job — and now I know it’s a really big job,” Enouen said after being sworn in, recalling her past week as acting supervisor. “I really, wholeheartedly want to do right by everyone in this town.”

Enouen will serve as supervisor through Dec. 31, unless Rochester voters elect her in November to fill the remainder of Baden’s term.

“I’m hoping that this is not just until the end of the year,” she said.

The remaining town board members voiced their support for Enouen in her new position.

“I think Erin’s done a tremendous amount for this town,” council member Michael Coleman said.

The new supervisor got right down to business, proposing several methods to improve town communication internally and externally. First, Enouen suggested having a form sent out by the town board to give departments, boards and commissions the opportunity to submit monthly updates to liaisons.

“I would like there to be more open communication between the commissions, the boards and the departments,” she said.

Enouen also proposed establishing a policy dealing with daily correspondence between the town board and the public. Though there are procedures for specific interactions, such as filing complaints about officials, Enouen said having a general policy for day-to-day communications could mitigate confusion and blame.

“We’ve never had a communication policy,” she said. “I think it’s really important that people who contact the board get acknowledged and get a response, and, without a policy, I have felt like I don’t know how to do that.”

The board responded positively to the recommendation.

“I think we should air on the side of over-communicating,” Coleman agreed.

Council member Charlotte Smiseth offered to contact nearby towns to see if they have policies for general communications, and council member Emily Dindial offered to work off policy models. Dindial also suggested creating a town board email that would connect all board members, as well as the supervisor.

The board also agreed to create a form for applying to fill the town board seat left open by Enouen’s promotion. The form would assess the candidates’ eligibility and ask questions related to the candidates’ priorities and ideas for the town. The board will begin seeking someone to fill the seat immediately.