In yet another show of a total lack of competency, Aileen & Co. decided that John Bickford has the capabilities to save the town from any potential future natural and man-made disasters. This man that possesses superhuman powers will singlehandedly prevent mayhem and chaos from overcoming historic Hyde Park...and now back to reality.  

The writers at the HV News Lies find it interesting that Aileen made the comment that the Town of Hyde Park was unprepared for the storms (*Note that Hyde Park declared a state of emergency two days prior to the Hurricane AND was the first community in the area to do so)  that incurred damage to various parts of Hyde Park and feel it necessary that John Bickford must take on the challenge of creating a emergency preparedness plan. In case Aileen or one of her associates happens to be reading this, they should refer to NYS Law Article 2B, Section 23 which states:

 § 23. Local  comprehensive emergency management plans. 1. Each county,except those contained within the city of New York, and each city,  town  and  village is authorized to prepare comprehensive emergency management plans. The disaster preparedness commission shall provide assistance and advice for the development of such plans. City, town and  village  plans
shall be coordinated with the county plan.
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/LAWSSEAF.cgi?QUERY+&QUERYDATA=$$EXC23$$@TXEXC023+&LIST=SEA36+&BROWSER=EXPLORER+&TOKEN=57002279+&TARGET=VIEW

If she was knowledgable of the town code, she would also note that the town has in place policies and procedures that oversee emergency procedures (for approximately the past ten years) in addition to regulating flood damage and fire prevention. And at the time of these storms, preparedness measures that included the below were executed:

a. opening Town Hall for shelter
b. working with outside agencies to assist with providing water and restoring services was implemented
c. the  HP Police kept the residents of the community informed of road closings on public releases  that were posted on the their website
d. the Hyde Park Police Department was one of the few  police departments that provided updates to the Poughkeepsie Journal on road closures
e. Inventory of down trees and branches was done after the storm...but not by Walter Doyle, Highway Superintendent. John Bickford may want to address this in his plan. 

 Unfortunately, the storms, especially Hurricane Irene did cause damage in Hyde Park, but one must keep in mind that Hyde Park was left relatively unscathed considering other communities in the area were left in much worse conditions, or wiped off entirely off the map. Much of the damage was due to flooding which is relatively out of the control of man's hands without a massive undertaking of creating a flood prevention system.  However, John Bickford is an expertise in the area of engineering, so perhaps his utilization of his knowledge in that field, he can re-design the flood protection system in Hyde Park through a series of lock and dams. His boasts of being a PE will certainly come in handy in this endeavor, much as it did when he was on the planning board.

In addition, the town board appeared rather...clueless at the state of FEMA funding. The writers at the HV News Lies would hate to be the bearer of bad news...but there's NO MONEY left. The FEMA Kick-Off Party that was
supposed to occur in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Irene never happened. FEMA and NYS ran out of money to dispurse, so that $86,000 or some odd dollars  that was in discussion  about bring reimbursed probably isn't going to happen. The town board members apparently did not do their homework.

In addressing the FEMA issue, Walter Doyle is still trying to deflect his shortcomings as a Highway Superintendent by claiming the previous administration dropped the ball  on the FEMA reimbursement. His responsibility was to research and report the requested information on costs and provide the information to FEMA. Did he complete this task? We should remember that Walt Doyle  ordered and authorized Steve Costa to perform tree and branch removal from the storms and then shifts the blame onto another individual when the cost of the work comes into question.  Walt's name is printed on each and everyone of the work orders indicating he ordered the work.

On a final note, did any of the attendees or television watchers note that Aileen's Svengali, Michael Dupree was sitting in the front row with a clear view to Aileen? Those in attendence stated that he was giving her signals on what to say throughout the meeting.

The writers at the HV News Lies eagerly await the next town board meeting.