Tangled Web

It's the Scottish poet Sir Walter Scott who said it best. "Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." It seems everywhere we look, we find evidence of the tangled web that covers the Town Supervisor’s Office. It has even spread to the Town’s web page, townofng.com. Someone recently made some changes to the page with regard to the powers and duties of the Town Board and Supervisor. Mr. Evers likes to think that he has far more authority than the law conveys on his office. In fact, however, a Town Supervisor has little authority as single board member.
Under Town Law, the Town Board is the Executive Authority of the Town.

S 51. General powers of town board. The town board of a suburban town shall be the legislative, appropriating, governing and policy determining body of the town and shall have and exercise all such powers and duties as are conferred or imposed upon it or are necessarily incidental thereto which are consistent with the provisions of this article.”

In other words, the Town Board functions as a body with the majority of its 5 members making all appointments, passing the budget, setting salaries etc. In fact the only unilateral appointment of the Supervisor is his secretary and then the salary is set by the Board itself. The Supervisor can within five days of his commenced term appoint a Deputy Supervisor after which such appointment is the prerogative of the Town Board.

So you can imagine the surprise some Board members must have got when they read the new powers of the Supervisor on the Town web page. First off, the page incorrectly states North Greenbush has a Charter. Sorry folks, that’s simply untrue. Cities under State Law can adopt a Charter, but towns cannot and North Greenbush has no Charter.

Then there’s the other missive. The Supervisor “directs the operations of the Police, Highway, Building and Tax Departments”. Sorry again, but the Town Board is the Executive Body of the Town. The Chief of Police directs the day to day operations of the Police Department and reports to the Town Board, the appointing authority of all its members. As for the Highway Department, last time we looked we have an elected Department Head in charge called the Highway Superintendent. Again, he provides monthly reports to the Town Board and directs and manages his department on a daily basis. The “Tax Department”, well the closest thing we have to that is an elected Receiver of Taxes. Perhaps the Supervisor has plans this official needs to know about? As for the other departments, each has an appointed department head or at least they are supposed to. The Building Department has a Town Engineer who is supposed to supervise all those employees administering the payments for Water Districts including the infamous Water 14. But because the Supervisor has been putting the screws to every attempt by the board to supervise the unionizing employees in that department, the Indians have no Chief and taxpayers have no protection from runaway contracts.

Last but not least is the clear impression the web page leaves as to the appointing powers of the Town Board. “It appoints members of the Planning and Zoning Boards.” How true, but unsaid is the fact the Town Board also has the power to appoint ALL other employees from clerks to code enforcement officials and inspectors. Mr. Evers ignored that little detail last year when he “appointed” a clerk in the Building Department who used to be his secretary. He didn’t bother to get Town Board approval when he did the deed and submitted the paperwork to Civil Service falsely stating that the “appointing authority” had made the appointment. That little detail didn’t bother those conscientious folks at Civil Service who simply approved it despite the lack of an action by the Town Board as appointing authority. Last time we looked, falsifying business records is a crime in New York State.

There may also be a few upset folks on that Civil Service list who never got considered for the post the town didn’t need in the first place. If they find out who they are, they have great grounds to sue the Town for improperly employing and appointing persons from Civil Service lists. It’s called “due process of law” and “equal protection of the law”. Don’t worry, such idealistic protections don’t appear to apply here in North Greenbush.