by Thaddeus Flint
New Lebanon held its monthly Town Board meeting February 12, and it was not a happy one. From accounting practices, to job applications, to a road that might never be a road, there was much disagreement on the table Tuesday night.
[private]From the moment Town Supervisor Mike Benson took office in 2012, his priority was to re-organize the Town’s accounting practices. The bookkeeping was “the worst thing I have ever seen,” said Benson last February, and he immediately hired the accounting firm of Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci. “You are all our customers,” said CPA Mike Bucci at Tuesday’s Board meeting. “If you’re not happy, we aren’t happy.”
Well, not everyone is happy. Probably Town Highway Superintendent Jeff Weinstock is the most unhappy. He has been at the practice since anyone can remember, Weinstock makes sure the roads are roadworthy with what he is budgeted. Dealing with weather and equipment is not rocket science. Storms storm and equipment breaks. If the Highway Department went over budget in one year it would repay those expenditures from the next year. According to Bucci and his firm this is wrong. “It has to be in the proper year,” said Bucci.
“In a perfect world, that sounds good,” said Weinstock. “I don’t see anything shady,” he added, “I guess I’m just old fashioned.”
Town Attorney Andy Howard noted that by borrowing from a following year “It has the potential to snowball.”
Weinstock pointed out that the State Comptroller’s Office had gone over the books on more than one occasion and never said anything. “I’m not sure why they didn’t nail me on that,” said Weinstock.
Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci, on the other hand are “nailing” Weinstock, or at least his accounting, on that. They updated the accounts and moved some 2012 Highway expenditures from the 2103 fiscal year back to 2012. Town Clerk Colleen Teal is not so happy with this. “The Town Board must authorize any expenditures, including what budget (which year) and what budget line item they are to be charged against; the accounting firm cannot simply apply as they see fit,” wrote Teal in a memo to Town Board members. “The budget, budget amendments, vouchers and minutes constitutes a public record of the fiscal activities of the Town Board – these currently do not match the accounting records which will become public record with the filing of the Annual Updated Document (AUD).”
Approving the AUD will now be the topic of a special meeting. Benson said he understands the rationale of the old practices but he chooses to follow the opinions of Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci. “I will not be pushed into doing things,” said Benson. Teal’s opinion is to dump Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci. “I would request that the Board find an accounting firm that is familiar with municipal finances and the legal requirements of towns and will work with the Town to ensure that the fiscal responsibilities are being properly handled,” she wrote in the memo. Weinstock expressed his opinion by getting up and leaving. The special meeting will be Tuesday, February 26, at 7 pm at the Town Hall.
Another unhappy Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci customer was New Lebanon Court Clerk Tistrya Hamilton. She noted that the Town is paying around $10,000 more for accounting, payroll and human resources and yet the outcome is not nearly $10,000 better. “Almost every pay period there are mistakes,” said Hamilton. “Everyone can make mistakes,” pointed out Bucci. Hamilton didn’t dispute that. “The communication is the issue.” She can’t get anyone to give her simple answers to her questions. Which was why she was now bringing them up at a Town Board meeting. Benson wanted to know why she was only informing him of this now. “You were cc’d on the emails,” said Hamilton. Bucci told Hamilton to call him directly in the future if she can’t get her questions answered to her liking.
A Road Takeover?
The residents of a development called Covenant Circle might wish they, too, could be so lucky to have someone finally answer their one question: Will the Town ever take over their road? Benson had a fat yellow file folder in front of him. There are hundreds of pages on Covenant Circle spanning many years and several Town administrations, and yet nobody ever seems to reach the point of saying yes or no.
“I feel that it is my responsibility to open up the issue,” said Benson, “to try to resolve or close it.”
The issue is that a developer developed a piece of land called Covenant Circle and sold the properties with the covenant that someday the road linking the properties to the outside world would be conveyed to the Town for them to take care of. Currently the residents there are charged with the private upkeep of the road, a charge they are finding to be more costly than expected.
Developers are known for not being the most forthright people and this one seems have been no exception. They didn’t mention to prospective buyers that the Town might not want another road to take care of. Nevertheless, it was written into deeds and the residents there seem to think it should happen. According to one Covenant Circle homeowner, Craig Trombley, the road was built to County standards. Unfortunately it might not be up to County standards any more in that it needs a ton of gravel – actually several tons of gravel. “We don’t have the money to do what needs to be done,” said Trombley.
It might have been the wrong night to bring up money with the Town Highway Superintendent. “The townspeople don’t need another road to pay for,” said Weinstock. Also, the road might have been built to County standards, but “it wasn’t built to Town specs,” pointed out Weinstock.
Councilman Doug Clark advised getting an engineer to go and take a look at the road.
“I don’t need an engineer to tell me what to do,” said Weinstock.
“At least we would know where the starting point is,” said Clark.
“I don’t need another headache,” said Weinstock.”Who’s going to pay for it?”
“You can take it out of the tax dollars the we pay,” suggested Trombley.
Resident Mark Baumli said, “These people didn’t do their homework.” Had they studied the situation before buying on the development, they might have realized that the Town was never under any obligation to take anything.
The conversation itself was becoming a road to nowhere. Benson handed the fat yellow folder to Howard and asked him to look it over and report back. “I’m looking forward to it,” Howard sighed.
The Park Maintenance Supervisor Position
Filling the Park Maintenance Supervisor position pretty much followed the same contentious route. A legal notice asked for applications and stipulated that they must be received in the office of the Town Clerk by 5 pm February 11. Teal received one application by the deadline, this from the previous Park Maintenance Supervisor, Scott Larabee. Benson said he had also received one by email, from Charlie Sears.
“Didn’t follow the rules,” noted Councilman Matt Larabee, who wanted the Sears application excluded.
The Town Supervisor’s office is about ten feet from the Town Clerk’s office. “That’s not the Town Clerk’s office,” said Councilman Larabee. “Follow the rules, or oh well.”
Clark said, “I’d personally like to interview two people rather than one.” He advocated extending the application window for another two weeks. “Choice is good,” said Clark.
Howard said legally it was at the discretion of the Board. Benson pointed out that he didn’t want to make an appointment without the input of the Little League managers, who were not present.
Councilman Larabee packed his briefcase, said, “I’ve got a service call, folks” and stormed out.
Any resident who would like to work in such an environment should head down to the Town Clerk’s office for an application; the deadline for the Park Maintenance Supervisor position has been extended.
And finally, the Highway Superintendent would like to remind residents that putting snow back on the plowed roads is against the law.
“Did my father do that again?” laughed Benson.
“Its aggravating,” said Weinstock, “you should know better.”[/private]