Water Vote:The Law

Title 5
SPECIAL IMPROVEMENTS
13.)Comptroller`s approval.
a.)Where it is proposed or required that the town shall finance the cost of any improvement authorized by this section by the issuance of bonds, notes, certificates or other evidences of indebtedness of the town therefor and where the estimated expense of such improvement shall exceed one-tenth of one per centum of the full valuation of the taxable real property in the area of the town outside of villages, the permission of the state comptroller shall be required for such improvement.
b.)Within ten days after the adoption of a resolution by the town board pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision six of this section,which requires the approval of the state comptroller pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the town clerk shall file a certified copy of such resolution in the office of the state department of audit and control at Albany, New York, together with an application for the approval of the state comptroller to the providing of such improvement.
The application shall be executed and verified by the supervisor,or such other officer of the town as the town board shall determine. Such application shall be in such form and shall contain such information as shall be prescribed by the state comptroller.

(What's to be included in the application?)
Such application shall be executed and verified by the supervisor, or such other officer of the town as the town board shall determine, and shall include the following:
(1) A certified copy of the petition (omitting, however, the signatures, and acknowledgments or proofs, or authentications) and in the instance of a sewer, drainage or water district, of the map and plan accompanying the same;
(2) An itemized statement of the then outstanding indebtedness of the town for all purposes, as evidenced by bonds, bond anticipation notes, capital notes and budget notes; the amount of joint indebtedness contracted or incurred for a joint service or a joint water, sewage or drainage project and the amount of such indebtedness allocated and apportioned to the town, as defined in title one-a of the local finance law; the amount of the indebtedness proposed to be contracted for the improvement; the amount of budgetary appropriations for the payment of any such indebtedness, whether or not such appropriations have been realized as cash, and the amounts, purposes and probable dates of issuance of any bonds, bond anticipation notes, capital notes and budget notes which the town has authorized to be issued but which in fact have not been issued on the date of such application;
(3) A statement of the aggregate assessed valuation of the real property situated in the proposed district or extension thereof, as such assessed valuations are shown on the last completed assessment roll of the town prior to the date of such application;
(4) A statement of the average full valuation of the taxable real property of the town. Such average full valuation shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of subdivision seven-a of section 2.00 of the local finance law;
(5) A statement as to the manner in which it is proposed to finance the cost of the improvement. (b) Whenever such an application shall be filed in the office of the department of audit and control, the state comptroller shall within five days thereafter give notice thereof to the board of supervisors of the county in which such proposed district or extension is located by filing with the clerk of such board of supervisors one copy of such application.

c.)Whenever such an application shall be filed in the office of the department of audit and control, the state comptroller shall determine whether the public interest will be served by providing such improvement in the manner proposed and also whether the cost thereof will be an undue burden upon the property which is to bear the cost of such improvement. The state comptroller may make such determinations upon the
original or any amended application, or in his discretion may require the submission of additional information or data in such form and detail as he shall deem sufficient, or may cause an investigation to be made to aid him in making the determinations above mentioned.
d.)Upon the expiration of fifteen days from the date of the filing of such application, the state comptroller shall make an order, in duplicate, granting or denying approval for such improvement and shall file one copy of such order in the office of the state department of audit and control at Albany, New York, and the other in the office of the town clerk of the town in which the proposed improvement is to be provided. The town clerk shall thereupon notify the members of the town board of the receipt of such order and the contents thereof.

Late Financial Disclosure

Kyran Devery
Today is Day 82 for the North Greenbush Democratic Committee violation of State Election Law requiring the on line filing of a Financial Disclosure Report due July 15, 2007. Laws apparently don’t apply to the “reformed” democrats under Jeff Spain and his Treasurer, Tax Collector Kyran Devery.

Panicky Officials Wants Vote Cancelled

Word is that the Town Clerk and Supervisor are desperately trying to find a way to cancel the October 16th town board ordered vote on the Supervisor’s plan to bail out his Conservative Party benefactors who hold the overspent, mismanaged Water District 14 contract. Whether the panic is a result of their failure to exercise the legal responsibilities of their office in the execution of the vote, or fear of the impact a defeat of the referendum would have on their re-election effort, is not yet known.

What is known is that the town clerk, Kathryn Connolly has been down the referendum road before when she ran a similar referendum ordered by the town board for WD 14. To say she knows the ropes would be a fair assessment. So why the fear of this vote? Why the desire to get it legally cancelled?

The best guess lies in the two theories above. Either the two officials were negligent in performing the necessary requirements of Town Law in executing the vote which includes notification of the State Comptroller by the Clerk and an application executed by the Supervisor or they know the bailout of Evers political benefactors in Casale Excavating will likely be hammered in the vote, in effect, a pre election referendum on Evers and his Casale Excavating running mates.

Whatever the reason, the Clerk has had months to prepare for this election, to send notifications to voters, run legal notices, establish the eligible voter list and retain election inspectors. The County Board of Elections verified in a letter to the Board when the vote was set that voting machines would be available on October 16th and the Town Board acted on that availability in setting the date.

Let’s not forget that the law requires this vote to take place since town residents signed and presented a valid petition objecting to Evers referendum which would allow the borrowing town wide of $830,000 to pay for the overspent and mismanaged contract held by Casale Excavating whose principle Michael Casale, is Chairman of the town Conservative Party and who has endorsed Evers and Casale’s Vice Chairman, Lou Desso, for town board seats.

The town clerk is said to maintain what has been referred to as a “spelling challenged” or “hate” blog in which she routinely trashes her political adversaries and critics. Newest among her adversaries is Town Attorney Josh Sabo whom she calls dishonest and lacking integrity. Strange, that the same town clerk was so grateful to Sabo for going to court on her behalf in 2005, to stop her town board adversaries from removing her for failing to sign her oath of office. Now Sabo is trashed on a near daily basis on her bizarre blog, characterized by hate and driven by paranoia. She repaid his loyalty by voting for Evers at the Democratic Caucus instead of her fellow Democrat who did so much to save her skin in 2005.

That’s standard for Connolly who stabs everyone in the back sooner or later for the furtherance and convenience of her political agendas. Look at her past comments about Dan Ashley and CB Smith who did so much to defend her act of omission in failing to sign her oath of office. Now they are treated as outcasts as she tries to run the Democratic Party while selling it out to the Republicans and Developers she once opposed.

We’ll keep an eye on this one and provide readers with the Town Law governing the pending or soon to be wished away referendum on the incompetence of Mark Evers and the greed which drives his political benefactors.

Late Financial Disclosure

Kyran Devery
Today is Day 81 for the North Greenbush Democratic Committee violation of State Election Law requiring the on line filing of a Financial Disclosure Report due July 15, 2007. Laws apparently don’t apply to the “reformed” democrats under Jeff Spain and his Treasurer, Tax Collector Kyran Devery.
Hint, we're told a lawsuit will be filed very shortly to force the filing of this report. Way to go Kyran!

Greenbush Party Holds Fundraiser

If the four shepherds and their slate of identical candidates thought the Greenbush Party was just going to fade away, this posting on their web site ought to make them think otherwise. The site can be found at greenbushparty.blogspot.com.

Anyway, they are holding a fundraiser at Moscatiello's Restaurant on Monday,October 15th. This is the day before the town wide referendum on Evers attempted bailout of his favorite Conservative water contractor.

Adding to the effort are Greenbush Party candidates going door to door with a fancy palm card as they are called in the trade. We managed to get hold of one left at the door of this blog and we are happy to post it here,


Regarding the referendum, word around town hall is that the town clerk, Kathryn Connolly, who must run the referendum, has done nothing to prepare for the vote. Her lengthy visit in town hall yesterday with candidate Louis Desso certainly added nothing to her readiness unless she was assembling arrest records instead of voter records.We have to wonder how Connolly feels voting for and running with a convicted felon. Similar questions must wait for Conservative Contractor and Chairman Michael Casale who has Desso as his party Vice Chairman. Birds of a feather,hmmm. Almost as amazing as the time the Clerk spent trashing Desso and Company two years ago when his co-horts were busy trying to zap Connolly from office for failing to sign the oath book. Everyone she encounterd then got his conviction record read to them chapter and verse.

All eyes are watching to see if she manages to bungle a referendum required by state law and ordered months ago by the town board.

Late Financial Disclosure

Kyran Devery
Today is Day 80 for the North Greenbush Democratic Committee violation of State Election Law requiring the on line filing of a Financial Disclosure Report due July 15, 2007. Laws apparently don’t apply to the “reformed” democrats under Jeff Spain and his Treasurer, Tax Collector Kyran Devery.
Hint, we're told a lawsuit will be filed very shortly to force the filing of this report. Way to go Kyran!

The Four Shepherds

What a perfect description of the bizarre political map in North Greenbush. Four party bosses benevolently referred to as “Shepherds” leading their flocks of unsuspecting lambs to the voting booths for slaughter. The shepherds are the Chairs of the 4 major political parties, Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Independence. Their plan was to endorse the same slate of candidates on all four lines so that they and not voters would decide who ran town government so they could divide of the town and its spoils.

Those spoils really hinge on the big money to be made in development. This crew loves developers. The Supervisor hatched a plan to bail out his favorite contractor whose water district construction is grossly overspent in WD 14 and is critical to developing new areas of the town. Water was the key ingredient to the new projects and the profits, campaign contributions etc which are derived from them.

To make sure nothing interfered with this new unchecked desire for growth, the Supervisor fired not one but two town board appointed heads of the Building Department which issues the permits needed to build in town. This department was also responsible for administering the overspent contract, $740,000 and counting, in Water 14. One of the contract administrators, an employee of the Building Department, is a member of Casale’s Conservative Committee. Now that’s convenient!

Keeping a manager from taking charge in effect keeps the employees unchecked, the contracts they administer unchecked and the taxpayer checkbooks in big jeopardy. One day, with a big bill unpaid for Casale Excavating, his benefactor Supervisor Evers walked into the Comptroller’s Office and ordered a check cut for $83,000. He personally handed it to the contractor. He did this one day after the town board meeting knowing it could not be legally paid and knowing the Board would not have approved it. Evers now awaits the pending decision of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court on whether to remove him from office for this unlawful disbursement of public funds.

So the Four Shepherds are banking on voters acting like lambs as they head to the polls in 36 days. But the first test will come in just 16 days from now. They get to vote on whether to borrow another $830,00 to bail out Evers friends in Casale Excavating for their overspent contract in WD 14 which is badly mismanaged by town employees, the Supervisor and to some degree the town board itself. Poor oversight allowed the overpayments. The Board did act responsibly by asking the State Comptroller for help in the form of an audit of the district which is nearly done. Naturally, the Supervisor voted against it as did his sidekick Ernie Kern. In 16 days, its our turn to Vote on this water district bailout and our guess is it will be a decisive outcry against Evers and his Four Shepherds.
Late Financial Disclosure

Kyran Devery
Today is Day 79 for the North Greenbush Democratic Committee violation of State Election Law requiring the on line filing of a Financial Disclosure Report due July 15, 2007. Laws apparently don’t apply to the “reformed” democrats under Jeff Spain and his Treasurer, Tax Collector Kyran Devery.
Hint, we're told a lawsuit will be filed very shortly to force the filing of this report. Way to go Kyran!