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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Comprehensive Plan May Go To Vote Under Cloud

The Comprehensive Plan, redone to favor certain development interests and created in apparent violation of the State's Open Meetings Law, will likely go to a post election vote before the end of the year.  When it does, the Board will do so without any apparent legal guidance on the repeated failure of the Committee to take minutes and record votes as required by the Open Meetings Law.

A suggestion to seek the opinion of Robert Freeman of the Open Government Committee on the adequacy of the official minutes for compliance with the law has apparently gone unheeded.  Al Spain, the Committee Chairman, is pushing for a vote this week and the only question is whether Supervisor Evers is willing to give him a victory after all Spain and his allies did to defeat Evers re-election bid.

Equally concerning is the refusal of the Town Clerk to certify a set of minutes of the CPC as a true copy despite repeated requests made under the FOIL statute.  Town Clerk Connolly has refused to obey the statute requiring her as Records Access Officer to certify the minutes she provided under FOIL as a true copy, a requirement that would take all of a minute to provide.  Her refusal to do so raises serious questions as to whether she fabricated a set of minutes that were never taken in order to provide cover for Committee Chairman Al Spain.

Spain's meeting of the CPC of June 2, 2009 was attended by only 5 committee members including an incoming town board member. No one was observed taking any minutes at this meeting in which a non quorum-ed majority voted to declare the plan done and ready for the town board to schedule a public hearing which was later canceled due to the embarrassment created by disclosure of their failure to comply with the Open Meetings Law.

How can a town board vote to approve a Comprehensive Plan when the Town Clerk as Records Access Officer cannot certify a set a minutes as a true copy?  How can they proceed with a vote knowing that the only reason a Records Access Officer cannot certify a set of minutes rests with the possibility that she fabricated them to protect a political ally?







We'd love to invite you to review the minutes of the CPC on line, but hey, the Town Clerk hasn't bothered to post any of the CPC minutes since March 24, 2009. 
Council or Coucil?






Let's fix this mistake boys and girls, it's the town's official web site!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i would think that it's about time to sue the person or persons who are thumbing their respective noses at the open gov. laws. i mean sure them personally as they now border on malficence which will not let them hide under the protection of the town but be sued as a private citzen.......