New Lebanon Town Board Action – Lebanon Valley Speedway Campground At Issue Again

by Thaddeus Flint
The main event at Tuesday’s New Lebanon Town Board meeting was the semi-quarterly Lebanon Valley Speedway campground showdown. Every few months the Town pits itself against Speedway owner Howard Commander in a seemingly endless struggle to have him fulfill some requirements for a campground permit for a campground that opens each race season anyway, permit or no permit.
[private]This might have been the biggest face-off yet with a Special Meeting on public and pedestrian safety on the section of Route 20 which divides the Speedway and the campground. At a table packed with a State Police Captain, two State Police Sergeants, a Deputy Sheriff, two representatives from NYSDOT, the Town’s attorney, two Town Councilmen, the Town Supervisor, the Town Clerk and Commander and a bevy of his advisors, the group seemed only to be missing the U.S. Marine Corps. Or how about the New Lebanon Fire Department? Columbia County Emergency Management Director Bill Black noted the absence of the very people who have to respond to any accidents caused by the mayhem of hundreds of race fans crossing a busy highway in the middle of the night.
Town Supervisor Mike Benson said he wanted to “accomplish some improvements on an expedited basis.” So what was accomplished? Nothing very much, it seemed. Probably the biggest step forward was NYSDOT engineer Jennifer Hawkins giving her card to Commander. At least he now had someone to call when his permit applications are returned to him.
Commander stated he has tried to fulfil the Town’s permit requirements of a larger crosswalk, curb cuts and enhanced lighting of the crossing but when he sent his permit application to the DOT office in Poughkeepsie some efficient bureaucrat there sent it right back, check and all. Commander did not explain why, when this happened sometime in July, one of his representatives, like his attorney or the his engineer or even someone at the fryolator in concessions, couldn’t have picked up a phone and found out that he needed to send it off to the Hudson DOT office instead. He knows this now, and NYSDOT Acting Regional Director Bill Gorton said a permit for the road improvements could be granted “easily within a month” provided Commander actually does send  in everything he needs to send in.
Gorton provided a modicum of insight into how the DOT thinks. According to statistics that piece of road “is not showing as an unsafe location at the moment,” said Gorton of the stretch where mobs of race fans often amble across a dark highway with unsuspecting traffic bearing down on them at 55 mph. Benson was incredulous. “Somewhere along the line statistics have a place,” he said, “but so does common sense.” Benson offered to take Gorton to see for himself what a typical Saturday night at the races looks like. Gorton did not doubt Benson. The problem seems to be that not enough race fans have been run over yet. “The flaw in pedestrian accidents,” explained Gordon, “is that near misses are not reported.”
Other ideas on improving safety were thrown around. Perhaps a fence could funnel fans to the crosswalk? “I’m not sure you could channel people there with an armed guard,” said Benson. How about a bridge or a tunnel? Too expensive.  A speed limit change? “To get a speed limit changed is like an Act of Congress,” said State Police Captain Scott Brown. And even if the speed limit were changed, then the locals who have to drive there every day would have to live with driving 10 mph slower because of a relatively small number of events held each year. Gorton added another baffling insight. “A reduction in the speed limit would be a degradation to the public safety,” he said. Driving too slow is apparently dangerous as well, since it makes some people drive too fast while others follow the speed limit.
A plan to add blinking lights to the crosswalk sign was also discussed. Gorton said that was a possibility. But could a human be trusted to turn it on? he pondered. And would it go on for pedestrians trying to cross at times other than race times? “We are not trying to protect every person in America who crosses a road,” pointed out Benson. Commander said, “We have a rotating light. We were told to use it by somebody. Then we were told not to use it by somebody. Then we were told to use it by somebody. Then we were told not to use it by somebody. We are using it this summer.”
In the end, some ideas and business cards were exchanged, and Commander knows where to submit his plans. The Town will consider a resolution asking that a speed limit study be made. It is something. But is it something soon enough? As State Police Sergeant Yvonne Richards noted, “Something should be done before someone gets killed.”
Quarrelsome Ethics
Next on the agenda was the public hearing on the proposed disbanding of the quarrelsome Ethics Board, their duties to be sent down south to Hudson for the County to deal with. Kathy Murnane, who currently serves on that Board, started things off by saying she had spoken to a Columbia County attorney. “He wouldn’t tell me anything,” Murnane said. From how complaints were taken, to how the public was informed, “It’s all confidential.” Murnane stated that “to send this on to a Board when we don’t know the guidelines, I feel uncomfortable with this.”
Another Ethics Board member, Christopher Steadman, said “I share her reluctance.” He added, though, that with more information on the County’s guidelines, “It might not be a bad idea.” To him the Ethics Board was only concerned about “financial impropriety.”
“Mr. Steadman is wrong,” stated resident Joanna Johnson-Smith, who noted that “New Lebanon Town Code clearly states that the Ethics Board deals with issues of a fiscal nature and otherwise.” Johnson-Smith supported sending ethics complaints to the County where “things get done. Our Ethics Board in New Lebanon has been so unethical,” she said.
Ethical or unethical, resident Rocky Brown said, “Big Brother is always looking at us…I don’t like sending it to the County.”
Big Brother in Hudson is going to have to wait a bit longer to look into New Lebanon’s problems. At the suggestion of Councilman Matt Larabee later in the night, the Ethics Board matter was tabled until next month. Councilmen Bruce Baldwin and K.B. Chittenden were absent Tuesday, and Larabee did not want to vote on the matter without first “getting their opinions.” A vote on making Shatford Park smoke free was also tabled for the same reason.
Park It
What followed next could be complaint #1 for the folks on the Ethics Board down in Hudson to roll their eyes over. During the Supervisor’s Report, Larabee asked Benson if he had “followed proper procedure” when Benson bought some paint and hired a former Shatford Park employee to paint a toilet and the pavilion at the Park. Larabee, his brother, Parks Maintenance Supervisor Scott Larabee, and some residents recall that the Town Board had voted that the painting should go out to bid. At last month’s meeting Scott Larabee even went so far as to say, “There was nothing about it done legally.”
Benson’s anger at this statement was almost palpable. “I read it in the paper,” he said. Benson was absent from the August meeting so this was his first chance to respond publicly. According to Benson, the Park wasn’t being painted fast enough. “When it didn’t happen, I stepped in,” Benson said. Benson wrote a Request for Proposal (RFP) by himself and sent it out to four painting companies. For Benson this was getting bids. He got three estimates in return for $5,000, $8,000 and $11,000.  According to the Town’s attorney, Andy Howard, the RFPs could be seen as soliciting bids.
The entire job was completed at less than $1,000 and the Park was ready for summer. Benson saw saving the Town thousands as proper. “I am following procurement policy,” was his answer to Matt Larabee’s question.
The Parks Maintenance Supervisor was not so sure. “I have concerns you are over-stepping your bounds as Town Supervisor,” said Scott Larabee. “The Town Supervisor has no authority to appoint anybody.”
“Your time,” responded Benson, “would be better spent maintaining the Park.”
Evergreen Cemetery Problems
While New Lebanon’s Toilet-Gate continues, the Town’s Evergreen Cemetery is quietly sliding into bankruptcy. Resident Larry Benson said a recent fundraiser raised around $7,000. However annual maintenance on the grounds was over $12,000. The Cemetery would like the Town to help financially. Supervisor Benson noted that if the Cemetery does go bankrupt, “ It would revert back to the Town anyway.” However, in that case, no more plots could be sold, even though there is plenty of space. Thus no more money. The Board said they would look into a plan presented to them by the Cemetery Committee.
Town Hall Space
While there is plenty of space for the dead in New Lebanon, there won’t be all that much for the living. At least not once the new Town Hall extension is completed. “Where are you going to put the people in there?” asked resident Kevin Smith. This question gets asked about once a month, but now that the new building is substantially completed, allowing residents to see what their $400,000 is buying them, it’s starting to get asked a bit more often. – and louder. “Half a million bucks?” asked resident Cynthia Creech, “for a two car garage?”
Resident Sharon Wheeler wondered why it was that the building was designed to hold only 50 people. Keeping the occupancy below 50 frees the Town from having to install a sprinkler system, Benson had explained at the April Board meeting. In New Lebanon, which lacks a municipal water system, the cost would be over $40,000. However, according to Wheeler, the occupancy trigger for sprinkler system in a public assembly area in New York is 100 people.
Benson pointed out that the building to be built was the building on the blueprints he had publicly presented. Now that it’s almost completed, out come the “Monday morning quarterbacks,” said Benson.
Creech backed him up. “I’m not thrilled with it,” she said, “but we all looked at those blueprints.”[/private]