At last Thursday's meeting of the North Greenbush Town Board, the gang continues to prove they are capable of continuing the negative headlines that they consistently produced over the past several years.
After a public hearing on the Tentative Budget they began the regular meeting with little of significance on the agenda. Public comment can only be made on agenda items so when they without warning moved to add a couple of new items, the public could not speak. Those items were the appointment of the Assessor and an amendment to the Tentative Budget. They then cut the salary of the newly elected Town Clerk, Janice Kerwin, by $10,000.
They did this without any explanation or justification and without the ability of the public to comment on what is little more than retribution. Candidates run with an understanding of the salary of the office they are running for because it is published in the budget. Such an action by a town board has in other towns, resulted in a newly elected official declining the job after winning it.
But here, one can hardly make an argument to justify this action. Kerwin has 17 years working as a clerk the Building Department. The defeated clerk had developed a reputation for not coming to work. We are told that she had not been to work since the election which saw her defeated in every election district. So having her show up to take minutes at this meeting was special indeed.
So was the Board paying the defeated clerk too much money all these years and could that be their hidden reason for the salary cut? Whatever the reason they are not talking and we will wait for the next opportunity to grill them. One thing is certain, they could not look worse as a group violating common sense fairness that people have in such an act.
After a public hearing on the Tentative Budget they began the regular meeting with little of significance on the agenda. Public comment can only be made on agenda items so when they without warning moved to add a couple of new items, the public could not speak. Those items were the appointment of the Assessor and an amendment to the Tentative Budget. They then cut the salary of the newly elected Town Clerk, Janice Kerwin, by $10,000.
They did this without any explanation or justification and without the ability of the public to comment on what is little more than retribution. Candidates run with an understanding of the salary of the office they are running for because it is published in the budget. Such an action by a town board has in other towns, resulted in a newly elected official declining the job after winning it.
But here, one can hardly make an argument to justify this action. Kerwin has 17 years working as a clerk the Building Department. The defeated clerk had developed a reputation for not coming to work. We are told that she had not been to work since the election which saw her defeated in every election district. So having her show up to take minutes at this meeting was special indeed.
So was the Board paying the defeated clerk too much money all these years and could that be their hidden reason for the salary cut? Whatever the reason they are not talking and we will wait for the next opportunity to grill them. One thing is certain, they could not look worse as a group violating common sense fairness that people have in such an act.
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