The only legitimate reason for any
special/quickly called town board meeting
is to approve resolutions that expedite
issues that cannot wait for a regularly
scheduled meeting or workshop. All other
resolutions should be approved only after
public discussion in a scheduled public
workshop, and obtaining such public
input as appropriate: either at a public
hearing, a public forum, or during a public
comment session at a regularly scheduled
town board meeting. Any other method of
passing resolutions can only be interpreted
as a way of getting them passed without
properly informing the public of the
implications of the board’s actions.
This board has greatly abused the use
of special meetings. The only plausible
resolution for the meeting of June 16 is
possibly to approve the extension of time
in the case of the employee if that was
required to be done in a timely fashion
and missed at the last regularly scheduled
meeting as an oversight.
The other items on that agenda needed
forum discussion and public input before
any action was taken. Of particular note
is the seemingly innocuous resolution to
change the bookkeeper to comptroller.
• Why is this action brought up (and
passed) in a week when the bookkeeper is
out of town attending to her ailing father?
Has she been involved in the decision?
• Has the board discussed the implications
of this decision, and if so, when? (This
is not a matter for executive session and
the sunshine laws would require that the
discussion be public). I have not heard any
relevant discussion, so how did this board
get ready to vote on this issue?
• Is the board consciously getting rid
of Ms. Lown? She is protected under the
civil service laws as bookkeeper, but is
not eligible for the position of comptroller.
Therefore, this amounts to the only
legitimate way to fi re her. I will personally
vouch for the present bookkeeper’s
integrity and thoroughness in performing
her duties for decades of service and I
question the advisability of dispensing
with that knowledge and stability at this
time.
Really Pompey? So why is it that she erroneously sent a check in the amount of $750,000 to a company that pretty much was bogus?
Oh, and she neglected to pay the ambulance contract fees for the Quaker Road district for three years putting the lives of those residents at risk. Or that the books she kept don't add up and are under going an extensive audit because she didn't do bank reconciliations for eleven (11) years? Allegeldly she ran the town on a cash basis and not on an accrual basis. Speculation is that she also released confidential information and knowinlgy witheld documents. Integrity and thoroughness are certainly not definitions that describe someone who makes hundred of thousands of dollars in errors and don't know Accounting 101 of keeping a two sided book.
Seems like you weren't paying attention to what Ms. Lown was actually doing. Did you ever check and verify her work?
• What are the advantages of hiring a
new comptroller? What is the need?
Well Pompey, if you had any idea of what a Comptroller does, you would know that rather than the Town Board having to approve every single expenditure, than having the checks go to the Supervisor to sign, the Comptroller has the ability to make the approvals themselves without the Town Board having to rubber stamp everything. For your information Mr. Delafield, every large town located in the area which includes Fishkill, Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill has a Comptroller rather than a bookkeeper. Or have you forgotten that Hyde Park is the fourth largest town in the county?
• What is the cost? I have always
understood that a comptroller would add
increased expenses into the budget.
Well the cost is certainly less in the long run than having to hire an auditing firm to go through the books and try to make sense out of what the previous bookkeeper did and didn't do. Oh, and about that $750,000 error again, which occured under your watch?
• Is it wise to make this position a
political appointment (remember Enron
and their auditors)? This allows any board
to hire or fi re the bookkeeping arm of
the town on a political whim. Is that the
intention?
Finally, it is my understanding that the
supervisor is trying to say that the lack of
an archeological study for the police/court
facility is somehow the fault of the last
administration. Ridiculous! Not only was
the present supervisor a part of all meetings
on the facility during my administration,
but he also agreed to work for a scheduled
bid date of April/May for the project.
Is this an Obama move trying to blame Bush for all the woes of the country? YOU were the supervisor at the time so be a man and own up.
My board, in less than two months,
accomplished more than I have seen in six
months by this town board.
Oh, does this include the years it took Stop & Shop to get approval to go into the Ames plaza (by the way, which wasn't done while you were in office) ?
This board has its own advisors (i.e. Morris Associates),
who fully understand the need for working
with the state on all the many elements of
this project, including this archeological
study. Supervisor Tom Martino has not
brought this problem up in a timely fashion.
Really? Because at this time, the police station is a reality and being built without you sitting in on meetings.
While you were in office, the police worked out of a 'temporary' station that was temporary for how long?
He also indicated by his statements that the
study could have been accomplished easily
within the fi rst four months of his term to
reach the goal of the scheduled April/May
bid of the work. He has not publically (in a
workshop) invited his consultants to advise
the board on what was needed to meet the
schedule, nor publicly committed to any
change in that schedule.
Come on, Mr. Supervisor, this sounds
like an excuse. Where is the town board
going on this project?
Again, it's uh, in the final stages of contruction.
You’ve spent your time finding ways to discredit the Water
Protection Resource Law, opening up
the Bellefi eld district to unregulated
development, rezoning against the stated
goals of the town’s Comprehensive Plan
and removing the Planning Board from
their mission to insure that all development
meets the laws and the intent of the
adopted Hyde Park Town Comprehensive
Plan and zoning laws.
Huh. So that explains that monstrosity of a buildingthat was built on the 'footsteps' of Wilbert Vault. It's that church, St. James of Antioch, that somehow got approved without having a proper and legal sprinkler system installed? So this church has to spend almost another $200 K to install the water tanks necessary to obtain approval and if a fire ever did occur, it would pull all the water from surrounding residences ,leaving those homes without available water.
So this got approved, but a Stop & Shop sign didn't...
And these are just the priorities that have been
expressed to the public.
Please, town board members, as a citizen
of this town, I request that you start doing
the work you were elected to do.
Well, there is a blog listing what the Town Board accomplished in their first 18 months...getting back to that leaking roof on Town Hall Pompey...
Quit abusing the use of special meetings to get
around your duty to involve the public in
your decision-making agenda. Quit trying
to find ways to publicly discredit the last
administration and disparage the work of
our dedicated town employees.
How about the leaking Town Hall roof and the carbon monoxide levels in the building that you and your Town Board neglected to address which potentially put at risk, the health of town employees and citizens on business at town hall. I do recall there are OSHA regulation.
That does not accomplish anything.
Let’s start working together on a more
positive approach to sound legislation,
better public communication
Does this include your use of the mute button that you were fond of pressing at Town Board meetings while you were in office?
and involvement, and building, with vision, a
better town, a stronger town center and a
strong economic base that builds on our
strength as a tourist community to bring
money and tax dollars to our town from
outside, not on destroying those resources
through unregulated and uncontrolled
growth. This should be your goal and if
it is, you are not communicating it to the
town in a method that can be understood
or appreciated by your constituents. Let’s
start now to communicate honestly with
each other.
Pompey Delafi eld is the former
supervisor of the Town of Hyde Park.
Respond to this column at editorial@
thehudsonvalleynews
In conclusion:
1) I think Pompey likes to practice the 'Do what I say and not as I do'
2)If he still think Ms. Lown is thorough and possesses integrity, she sure played him for a chump.
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