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February 21, 2011
To the Editor:
For the last year the village has been forced down a road we should never have traveled. Trustees Edsall, Vatter, and Kane formed a block that has made decisions that have brought the village government to its knees. It began on April 5, 2010, when Trustee Kane was first sworn in. During this meeting, trustee Vatter made a motion to eliminate public comment from work sessions and reduce public comments to a single session before old business is discussed. Trustees Edsall, Vatter and Kane voted as a block and so the voice of the people was limited.
During that same meeting the same trustees refused to endorse the appointment of Bruce Yancewicz as building inspector. On April 19th, Trustee Vatter proposed to limit Mr. Yancewicz to a 5-minute work week, basically shutting down our building inspection department. Trustees Edsall, Vatter, and Kane approved this motion. Mr. Yancewicz was paid $25/hour and worked 20 hours per week. Trustee Kane suggested that the building inspector position be eliminated and the village might see savings with an inter-municipal agreement with the Town. After months without such an agreement only now during election time has Mark Edsall secured such an agreement and it will now cost villagers $45/hour for those services, $20/hour more than with our own inspector.
Next, these same three trustees fired the law firm of Rider, Weiner, and Frankel stating that the firm “worked for the mayor”. On May 24, Trustee Kane made a motion to hire Tarshis, Catania, Liberth, Mahon & Milligram, PLLC to provide legal services. Trustees Vatter and Edsall voted with him. They did not negotiate a fixed monthly retainer fee but merely agreed to pay $175/hour. We now have legal bills in excess of $100K that village residents may have to pay.
Our Ethics Board was the next victim of this trio. When I heard that the Ethics board had a vacancy I volunteered because I felt I had something to offer. When my name was suggested for the Ethics Board, trustees Vatter and Edsall abstained and trustee Kane voted against me. None of these men even took the time to interview me for the job. Barbara Gosda suggested that the Ethics Board be increased to 5 members to provide more stability but the village board has not taken any action on this. Due to the excessive legal bills our Ethics Board has not been able to meet and issues are still not resolved including those for Edsall and Vatter.
So, to summarize, Trustees Edsall, Vatter, and Kane have eliminated two comment sessions limiting your voice, gotten rid of the building inspector and replaced him with an inter-municipal agreement that is costing us $20 more per hour, fired the previous legal firm representing the village and replaced it with one representing them, run up excessive legal bills, and crippled our Ethics Board. If you are tired of traveling this road please vote for Andrew Argenio and Jan Smith on March 15th. It is YOUR DECISION and YOUR VOTE will tell us what YOU want. Whatever you decide, please come out and vote. If you don’t, YOU may be allowing the WRONG people to be elected.
Jan Smith
Candidate for Trustee
Cornwall-on-Hudson
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