Evers Orders A Check Despite Comptroller

The town board must be feeling burned after refusing to support a resolution offered last year by the only Board member who experienced a similar burn at the hands of the Supervisor. That member was Alan Michaels who warned that prudent accounting and management required that all checks have two signatures. Yet the Board, still united at that point as a 4-1 majority, declined to support the resolution.

Now they are on the receiving end of a similar Evers unilateral check issuance to the Conservative contractor in Water 14. Evers apparently again ordered employees in the Comptroller's office to give him a check and pay a large bill demanded by Casale Excavating. The Comptroller had been holding off because the Building Department is inexplicably not holding back "retainage" funds from each payment made under the Million plus settlement imposed by this board on the entire town to pay Casale more money to finish Water 14. This despite the fact he agreed to do the whole job for 6.4 million in his original bid. That price was allowed to soar because of collusion and or incompetence by Building Department staff managing the contract with no regard for the bid price, the bond authorized or any other financial restraints. It is now well over 8 million and who knows where it will finally end as the settlement was even screwed up. (We shall detail mind blowing screw ups in the settlement this week.)

Without retainage hold backs, the town has no way to force the contractor to correct problems that may be found in his work. It acts as an insurance policy in the original contract. But hey, we're all friends of the contractor here in town hall so we don't bother anymore to hold back a percentage of any of his bills, after all what are friends for, right?

Remember the last time this happened after the December 2006 Board meeting when Evers ordered a comptroller's office employee to give him a check for $83 grand or so for Casale just one day after a Town Board meeting in which bills were approved and all were aware they could not legally pay Casale any more money because all the bond had been spent and money had been improperly expended from the General Fund on top of that.

That didn't stop Evers, hungry to please Casale who held and still holds the keys to the Conservative Party nomination, from paying him money improperly if not illegally. When confronted, he did the manly thing and blamed the incompetent comptroller for what, forcing Evers to order a clerk to give him a check so he could walk down the hall and kiss up to the contractor, check in hand. What a sight that must have been, "Oh please, tell me you'll endorse me now!"

Now its happened again. Evers ordered the staff to give him another check for Casale and again, watch him blame the comptroller who likely refused to sign it. Time to pass that double signature resolution boys before Evers wipes out the bank accounts!

Desperate Evers Visits GOP's Richard Crist

Sources tell us that Mark Evers, smarting from a case of rejection from the town GOP, went to the county legislative offices Friday to meet with Victory Lane chief Richard Crist. Perhaps a case of "Can't you do something about this?" or "Would you let me run for legislature instead?" Hey Richard, he's got at least as much baggage as that "Pickles" guy you're about to put in the legislature to fill a vacancy and maybe even less than other potential candidates with criminal conviction records. While you're dining on pickles, maybe you can have that fellow explain why he thought it was all right to pick up a county legislative staffer and drive her to the Troy City Hall Offices of the Deputy Mayor so she could record politcal robo calls for the GOP which attacked Democratic candidates in the city.

Last we looked it was still illegal to use public employees and facilities to engage in campaign work and even more so to run a business doing it right out of the legislative offices as Crist's Victory Lane company did for years.

What better way to introduce you to our new North Greenbush Pipeline Radio than letting you listen to those infamous memory lane robocalls Mr. "Pickles" aided in producing by delivering the voice talent to city hall at the request of his city hall boss, Bob Mirch. Brings back memories as you prepare to appoint him to a seat on the legislature, right?
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