Some 18 months ago our Supervisor, known for stiffing people on their bills, getting all kinds of free goods and services from soil to sewer hookups and engineering services, was supposed to pay the town a fee for his sewer district extension application of $2100.00 The fee is set by the town board and Desso himself voted to increase this fee.
A recent FOIL dated August 10, 2018 sought copies of the application and the check which had to be submitted with an engineering map from a firm Desso was supposed to hire at a cost usually around $2000.00
The Payment Check
So there you see it, a payment of only $1850.00 but incredibly dated 3 days before the foil,August 7, 2018 not 18 months ago when it was due. Our bet, Desso panicked when told about the foil by town officials who were responsible for its collection. Desso back dated the check 3 days thinking it made him look good but couldn't back date it 18 months to cover his butt. The Times Union believes he paid the fee because of an investigation by State Police. Two key town officials were responsible to collect the fee, the Comptroller and the head of the Building Department which issues the invoices. Had it not been for the FOIL, Desso would likely never have paid as his friends in town hall appear to have been covering for him all this time. Desso would not comment or explain anything to the Times Union.
Stay tuned, there's another check FOILED for his Subdivision fee which should have been paid last year as well. Any bets on this check's date???
The Town Engineer
Desso and company got rid of long time town engineer last April replacing his with Laberge Engineering. This is the same time period that Desso was applying for his sewer extension. They are supposed to review the work of the applicant's engineer for the town. Desso "hired" Laberge to do his site map design, You can see their stamp in the margins of the map. Taxpayers then paid LaBerge to review their own work. Sound familiar? It should because the Town Board allows the Building Inspector to build houses in North Greenbush which must stand town inspection. This is as clear a conflict of of interest as one could imagine and directly violates the Ethics Law. So now we add another violator of the town Ethics Code, the town engineer, Laberge which Desso used to do his site plan and probably paid him nothing just as he did for free soil, land grading and a restaurant bill of $7000 which a court ordered him to pay $5000 of . He still owes Moscatiello's $1270.00 on that bill.
According to the Times Union Laberge does the map work for all applicants which is a contradiction of examples we have examined where applicants hire their own firms and pay for the work separately. This discrepancy will be sorted out. Did Desso pay the engineering firm?
So what's the excuse for trying to defraud the town out of the application fee of $2100?Why did he only pay $1850? Perhaps folks looking into Desso will want to know. All of this has been provided to the State Attorney General Public Integrity Division in Albany. We here they too read the Times Union.
Soon we will see if other such favors were granted in both sewer and subdivision applications and whether Desso stiffed the town for the $1400 he should have paid when the Planning Board acted on his subdivision application last year. This is serious corruption requiring resignations and prosecutions. And let's not forget town board members Hoffman, Bott and Spain. Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. They remain utterly silent afraid and unwilling to speak up and ask the questions that need to be asked.
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