The writers here at the HV News Lies apologize to the readers for the delay in the postings. We have been on a short sabbatical, but returned to find that not much of Hyde Park has changed...or perhaps it has for the worse.

We found this week's cover story of Langan's tabloid titled 'Rohr Finally Roars' with an account of the most recent town board meeting in which Aileen Rohr supposedly came out 'swinging' in response to the 'attempts' of Martino & Co. in asserting that Hyde Park's financial problems were due to the mismanagement of bookkeeping records for many years thanks to Joanne Lown. Perhaps the writers missed this 'swinging,' as we do not recall Aileen Rohr 'roaring' during the town board meeting.

What the writers do know is that the town board wishes to hire a new Comptroller to replace Michelle Zagorski, who resigned after the speculation that she was forced out when her salary was cut in half while still expected to work the same amount of working hours (cut from  $52,000 to $44,000 with no benefits). Her salary was cut in order to rehire Joanne Lown. The writers were also informed that Aileen misled the public when she stated that Michelle happilly agreed to lose $8,000 of her salary. This salary cut was not a mutual one.

The new Comptroller that they so wish to hire would be salaried at $56,000 with fringe benefits, which is more than Ms. Zagorski was compensated while employed. What the writers would like to point out is that this potential Comptroller DOES NOT reside in Hyde Park, which is a requirement per NYS state law. Though many courts have based their decisions on different interpretations, legislation is needed to be created by NYS in order for an employment such as this to be valid.
 The mere actions that the town board cut one Comptoller's salary, then rehires a new Comptroller at a higher base salary WITH benefits is highly suspect. Obviously the word 'transparency' has a different definition for this town board than it does according to Merriam-Webster. More information on the legalities of required legislation is located below.

We should also note that in regards to the town finances, the auditing firm that conducted the 2009 and 2010 finances were unable to locate and confirm that any bank reconcilations were performed resulting in an audit that took almost a year to complete. However, most recently these handwritten bank reconcilations were 'found' and not in the writing of Chu Savath, who Joanne Lown had pointed the finger at in a letter she addressed to the accounting firm that was assisting the town in preparation of the audit. Where did these bank reconcilations come from? Why weren't they performed on the auditing software system which had the capabilities for this function? Did Joanne Lown create these bank reconcilations after the fact to cover herself and shift the blame onto the prior administration?

The writers do find it interesting that a photo of the workshop appeared on the cover of The Hudson Valley News, however, Jim Langan was not seen in the audience as he usually was prior to the discovery of the theft and embezzlement and that information being published. The photo does appear to be taken from a side window at Town Hall though. Which leads us to question: Is Jim Langan ashamed to be seen in public?

We should also address Jim Langan's claim of incompetency of the past town town and the actions of this present one. Why? Mr. Jim Langan and the Mrs. are currently experiencing legal difficulties in regards to their application for bankruptcy. They have been ordered to appear before a U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Judge on June 7, 2012 to undergo a 2004 (a) and (d) examination. This is generally an unusual procedure in routine bankruptcy cases and only conducted in cases in which bankruptcy fraud is detected.  However, given examples of Mr. Langan's character which includes theft and embezzlement the writers at the HV News Lies are not surprised.  Please refer to the documents below.
l2008chap618.pdf
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comptopn85-16.pdf
File Size: 45 kb
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banner__banner.pdf
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2004examinationorder.pdf
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