Board Meeting Cancelled

The Town Board has agreed to cancell tonight's Board meeting due to the weather.

Water Vote Topic of Board Meeting
Tonight's Town Board meeting will include an agenda item that will in effect lay the groundwork for the required public vote on Mr. Evers proposal to have the town borrow $830,000 to fund the overspent, still unfinished, Water District 14. That vote, which is the second attempt by the town board to hold the referendum, is scheduled for January 16th and will allow all deed holders in North Greenbush to decide on the borrowing proposal.

The scheme, if we may call it that, is to transfer payments certified to Water 14 and "transfer" the debt to a town wide water district in the belief that the entire town benefits from that work and therefore the entire town should pay or bear the costs.

This would in effect take charges which have caused the district to be overspent and transfer them to a town wide district. This would bring the over spending in 14 down and send it to the town wide district.

Taxpayers quickly objected to the plan, gathering and turning in a petition stopping the borrowing and subjecting it to a public vote. The town has disregarded the law requiring that vote to be held within 75 days of the acceptance of the petitions which were filed last February. A lawsuit has been filed in an effort to insure that the town board holds the vote as required and this suit is now pending in State Supreme Court and could be rendered before year's end.

We have opposed the plan from the beginning in the belief that the solution to the overspent and mismanaged contract in WD 14 is not to borrow more money to pay the seemingly endless bills, but rather to review the contract on behalf of the town's interests and taxpayers to insure it is interpreted and enforced correctly.

That's one of the reasons the town board voted, albeit with Evers and Kern opposing, to have the State Comptroller audit the district and to give the town the advice it needs to proceed to finish the district properly.

The political connections to the contract are well established with the contractor in effect running the Conservative Party. Their endorsed candidates will have a majority on the town board including their "Vice Chairman", Mr. Desso. The Chairman is Michael Casale of Casale Excavating which hold the contract. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.

In any event, there should be no excuse this time for the Town Clerk not to have done the all the odds and ends necessary to run the election as she is required to by law. The nonsense that it would cost $70,000 to hold such a vote is beyond absurd and has been espoused by the clerk and supervisor as a reason not to hold the vote even though the law requires them to do so.

Planning Board Rumors

We can't help wondering when Jim Germano's hand will become further exposed as a force behind this current GOP inspired majority on the incoming town board. One rumor making the rounds is that Jim wants his son back on the Planning Board which would be a blow to Bill Madsen, who has long relished the Chairmanship of the Planning Board. Bill never quite mustered the confidence of a town board majority to become Chairman, even when his Democrats took control in 2006. Madsen's ties to Germano are legendary and his close friendship with Mr. Evers is also well established.

Now we can't argue that Jim's son did a good a job when he served on the Planning Board during the elder Germano's heyday as Town Democratic Chairman, but what a delicious morsel such an appointment would give to Democratic opponents of Evers and his GOP majority. And yes, Bill Madsen is sure to be upset with such an effort.

Rushing into Action

We can't help but note the irony of the recent surprise Planning Board vote inspired by Bill Madsen, to derail the passage of the Comprehensive Plan. Surely at the suggestion of the town supervisor, Madsen reacted to a letter from the Town Board seeking the PB's "input" on the draft Comprehensive Plan, Madsen surprised everyone with a prepared resolution that night to instead declare the PB lead agency for SEQR over the elected Town Board which had already voted to declare itself lead agency.

Despite the warnings of their attorney, Madsen mustered a 4-2 vote to stick it to the Town Board. The Supervisor, who likes to suggest the majority on the town board is rushing the passage of the Comprehensive Plan after two years of work, never talks about this rush job by his buddy on the Planning Board.

We understand why.

Town Board Meeting Scheduled Dec, 19th

It's our understanding that Mr's. Evers and Kern don't want a town board meeting scheduled by Board vote for December 19th. Perhaps they just don't want this majority to vote on adoption of the Comprehensive Plan they supported and worked on for the past two years. It really isn't a problem if the two don't show up. They Board Majority can meet and act on any item with or without the presense of the Supervisor or Councilman Kern.