by Thaddeus Flint
When resident Cynthia Creech brought up the matter of how much the Town of New Lebanon’s planning firm, Behan Planning, was being paid to, well, plan, at Tuesday’s Board meeting, she also managed to drag the Town’s lack of meeting minutes back into the news.
[private]Creech was looking for some “clarification” on why it was that Behan’s invoices to the Town were up to around $15,000. The resolution that authorized the hiring of the firm back in April 2013 stated that the $20,000 fee was to be split evenly between the Town and the Lebanon Valley Business Association.
“I’m not sure it’s squared up in my mind,” said Creech, who noted that the original motion had stated that phase one was “not to exceed $10,000 which the Town has, with the plan to raise another $10,000 from donations and other grants. But not to move forward with the second phase until funding is in place.”
“There was a second option taken,” pointed out Town Supervisor Mike Benson. “But I don’t know when.”
“A motion you mean?” asked Creech.
“I can’t remember exactly,” said Benson, adding that Max Gitter of the Economic Development Committee was now coordinating Behan’s Hamlet Revitalization project.
“We don’t have minutes,” pointed out resident Mark Baumli. This makes it difficult to remember what happened at meetings.
“Those minutes are supposed to be available to the public,” added Baumli, who asked that their lack of existence be placed on next month’s agenda. “Find some resolution,” Baumli demanded of the Board, “because our paper doesn’t seem to care – it doesn’t make the headlines!”
This raises some interesting questions. Like what paper is Baumli reading? And does no one ever come up to Baumli and say, “Hey, I read you in the paper?”
The missing minutes were noted in an Eastwick Press article on August 16, 2013, when Baumli pointed out at a Board Meeting that “this Town is in violation of State Law for six months,” due to the lack of meeting minutes.
A month later the matter was brought up again in the Eastwick Press, where it made the first paragraph of the September Board Meeting article with “dead horses need to be beaten because there are no meeting minutes.” Baumli had again asked for copies of the minutes. “What can the Board do to get the minutes up to date?” he said at that time.
The matter is important, and Baumli is just one of many residents who have asked the same question. So the question was forwarded to Town Clerk Colleen Teal who is responsible for recording and preparing meeting minutes.
“When Mike [Benson] came on board and fired the bookkeeper/HR person, the Board put those duties in my office – without any additional help. That started the problem,” wrote Teal in an email on March 12. “Then they cut my deputy’s hours in half stating that they would be reallocating the duties of various offices at the Town Hall, but that step took many, many months. Additionally, I now spend a great deal of time making multiple requests for information that is supposed to be supplied to me by statute.” Teal outlined a multitude of tasks she faces that are date sensitive. Her new deputy took time to come up to speed. Almost a year was spent in the midst of the new Town Hall construction. “I was relied on to deal with a lot of the issues for that project,” wrote Teal.
“Sadly, there is no way to predict when I will be able to get completely caught up. I am keeping current with 2014 and catching up with 2013 as I can. There are issues and incidents that come up every week that need immediate attention – and these ‘derail’ whatever intentions we may have.”
So what can be done?
“It would help if the Board would provide us with some temporary help to get this problem resolved,” Teal wrote, “but we will see if that is even a possibility.”
It was not mentioned at Tuesday’s meeting if the matter will be added to April’s agenda.
Heroin
Another matter that won’t seem to go away in New Lebanon, no matter how much it is ignored, is heroin.
“There was heroin and hypodermic needles found on Cemetery Road the other day,” said Councilman Matt Larabee. A meeting of the TRACS organization (Together Reducing Alcohol and drugs in our CommunitieS) is planned for March 25 at the Town Hall at 6:30 pm.
“It’s here,” said Larabee. “We can deny it all we want. But it’s here.”
So what to do about that? Ignore it? Have more meetings?
“Let’s build a skate park,” offered resident Kevin Smith.
There isn’t that much to do in New Lebanon. Behan highlighted this when they suggested a swamp as one of the Town’s highlights. True, the Shaker Swamp can be an interesting place, but can vigorous walks through marshlands really compete with shooting heroin in a cemetery? Smith pointed out the success of the skate park over in Pittsfield. There is plenty of space in Shatford Park.
“You are giving the kid’s something which would keep them off the drugs,” said Smith. It might even bring in a skate shop and a sub shop next to the Park. “Let’s make this a reality and not just a discussion,” he said.
Benson recommended that Smith approach the Recreation Commission with his idea. Should the Recreation Commission feel a skate park is something they would like to support they could then approach the Board with a proposal.
An Accident With A Plow
The night ended with Mary Hotaling of Kinderhook describing her experience with Town officials after she was involved in an accident with a New Lebanon snow plow truck on February 14. Actually Hotaling described her lack of experience with Town Officials.
After the accident, Hotaling said, she contacted the Town because she found out that her case fell under a little known section of the State Vehicle and Traffic law, Section 1103b. This Section exempts snowplows from liability as long as they’re operated in a designated work area and the operator is not driving recklessly.
Hotaling said that nobody got back to her for 19 days
“I can’t believe any Town employee could treat another person the way I was treated,” she said.
She did eventually hear from the Town’s Insurance company. They said they aren’t paying her for the car unless she can prove recklessness by the plow driver.
“I am now in debt, left holding the bag for something that was not my fault,” she said.
“If you are not satisfied,” said the Town’s attorney, Andy Howard, “you have legal redress under the law.”
Howard said that he had cautioned the Town about responding further to the claim at that time. The Board, largely, had nothing to say to Hotaling. Benson however didn’t appear comfortable with remaining silent.
“On a personal note, I apologize for your troubles,” he said. “I wish that none of it had happened. Unfortunately it did. We’ve done everything we can.”
“She was screwed,” scoffed a man sitting beside Hotaling.[/private]