Trailer Park Issue Crops Back Up
By Thaddeus Flint
The Stephentown Board meeting last Monday night, March 19, looked like the Town was starting to get back to the calmer days of business-as-usual. That is, all the way up until the end, when things started going off the rails again as a local resident and a Councilman traded words and accusations in a row that seemingly has no end.
The big news of the night wasn’t really all that big, and that probably comes as some relief to Stephentown, which already had enough big news for 2018, and it’s only March. So the somewhat big news was three appointments to the Town’s Planning Board and one to the Transfer Station. Zachary Leonard was appointed as a Planning Board member and Kyle Shearer as an Alternate Planning Board member, both to serve terms until December 2019. Planning Board member Robert Lobdell apparently enjoys his time there, “he’s been on the Planning Board for a long time” said Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, and was reappointed once again until December 2022. At the Transfer Station, Rebecca Hartnett was appointed as an alternate for a term to expire December 31, 2018. While the Supervisor offered his congratulations to the new members, Councilman PJ Roder wondered if perhaps “condolences” wasn’t the better word for positions that, especially recently, many in Town would prefer to stay far away from. “After the first couple of meetings, come back and let us know how you feel about that,” laughed Eckhardt, who added seriously that it was “nice to have people volunteer for services in Town, and to get the next generation started as public leaders.”
There are still two open positions in Stephentown, in case any other residents suddenly feel the urge to be public leaders as well. The Zoning Board—possibly the most exciting place to be in Stephentown at the moment- is looking for an Alternate, and the Transfer Station is looking for a Sub. Future excitement—although not to everyone’s taste– is on the way, however. Anthony Scavone of the Disc Jam Music Festival was in attendance at the March 19 meeting to let the Board know that four days of music, camping, and disc golf will be returning to Gardner’s Farm June 7 to June 10. While other festivals in Town have had their share of problems, mostly noisy ones, the Board appeared content with Disc Jam’s last festival. “I know you had a good record last year,” said Eckhardt. Scavone says he expects about 1,800 attendees per day this year, which is roughly the same as it was in 2017. Anyone looking for more information on the festival can find it at discjammusicfestival.com.
And that pretty much would have been the end of the meeting, except it wasn’t. While the crowds that came out to last month’s Board meeting in support of Dean Herrick, who wasn’t the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer at that time, largely stayed home now that Herrick is once again the CEO, that matter is still very much alive. Resident Brian Baker, who is one side of the Baker Vs. The Hanson’s trailer park case—a case that seems to have taken on a variable of sides—got up at privilege of the floor to voice his distaste at the lack of decorum exhibited in February. “It was unfair and uncalled for” said Baker of curse words, and “ad-hominem attacks” leveled at him by some in a “large and unruly crowd.” And it was further unfair that nobody did anything about it as it was happening. Baker said he had spoken to other area Town Supervisors and they would never have permitted such behavior. Baker went on to say that Councilman Roder “rammed through” the vote to re-appoint Herrick even though Councilwoman Pam Kueppers and Councilman Gerald Robinson wanted to table it until questions they thought still needed to be answered by Herrick were indeed actually answered by Herrick. “The rule of law meant nothing,” said Baker, who pointed out that Roder had actually admitted that the Board broke the law. “You,” said Baker to Roder, “have been on the Hanson’s side the whole time.”Councilwoman Kueppers, since she is only in her third month on the Board, was probably excluded from Roder’s statement in February that “this Town Board, me included, in the past eight months, have done things that did not follow the law.” Interestingly, she seems to be trying to make sure she is fully aware of what is becoming part of the public record; At the approval of the minutes earlier in the night, Kueppers asked that February meeting minutes be tabled until she had time to properly read them. If smoke and little lightning bolts had suddenly started shooting out of Councilman Roder’s head, nobody would have probably been all that surprised. Roder’s response was that the Board breaking the law was “the truth.” However, what wasn’t the truth were accusations Roder says Baker made in a letter to a “governing board” regarding his family relations to the Hansons. “Lies!” shouted Roder. The councilman also said that Baker had left a message saying he needed David Cass on the Zoning Board (Baker denies both of these accusations). The night ended with a few words from the Highway Superintendent, Aldi Goodermote. “We need to fix this thing,” said Goodermote of the whatever it was that caused this recent spate of problems in the Town. “Or it’s going to cost us all kinds of money.” And it’s already costing all kinds of money. In February, Stephentown received invoices totaling $8,625 for legal fees. While not all that legal work was in regard to the Baker-Hanson case, it can be put in context when looking at how much was historically budgeted for Attorney Fees: Just $12,500 in the years 2015, 2016, and 2017.