We’re told the Town Clerk got a bit testy at last week’s Town Board meeting when Supervisor Mark Evers was questioned by C.B. Smith about a response he received from the Town Clerk regarding waivers from the State Retirement system that may have been requested for town employees.
Mr. Smith apparently asked the Supervisor if he had requested a waiver for anyone which would allow in rare cases, a State retiree to receive a salary in excess of $25,000 from a municipality while collecting a State pension. The waivers are rarely granted and then only in cases where the municipality can prove hardship of some kind.
When asked by Mr. Smith, the Supervisor said he had requested waivers which led Smith to ask why the Town Clerk responded that no such records exist? That’s when Town Clerk Kathryn Connolly injected herself into the conversation by attacking Smith, first by claiming his foil’s were “harassment” and that he had sent numerous foils to her office in effect inundating her.
Smith quipped back that he had sent only two foils and that foils are part of the law and should not be considered acts of harassment. Clerk Connolly said she is too busy with other work to deal with Smith and that unless the Town Board wants to “order her” to answer his foils instead of her other work, he would have to wait.
FOIL stands for Freedom of Information Law, which is established by law to allow anyone to access records from government. Smith has used the law to uncover all kinds of shenanigans including a no show job scandal in Rensselaer County, (something Clerk Connolly likes to accuse Smith of having while employed in the Town).
The exchange ended with Clerk Connolly claiming she misread the date of the request which explained her error. It is not known whether the two have made up but we certainly hope so. The chemistry does, however, make for a good read in the North Greenbush Pipeline from time to time. So to the Town Board’s 6th Board member, as she is referred to off camera, we can only say, “curses, foiled again!”
Our thanks to a reader who submitted this photo of the town clerk.
2 comments:
KATE AND CB...HUMMMM I GUESS POLITICS DO MAKE STRANGE BED FELLOWS.......
Why of course she's complaining and picking arguements...its just too draining for most of those town hall employees to follow the law and serve the oath they took. Oh, or did she forget to sign that?
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