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March 12, 2011
To the Editor:
I find it quite interesting that Mr. Hogan chose to answer Mr. Clark’s letter and not Mr. Edsall himself. Mr. Edsall has been on the Board of Trustees for 12 years and he could have handled these questions from his 31 years of engineering experience.
Mr. Edsall was a Trustee on the Board when the Local Development Corporation was created and their first project was to build a new Department of Public Works building. Let’s remember that an LDC allows a project to go forward without the oversight of the planning board, village board or the bidding process. We all know that there are rules and they should apply to government as well as the rest of us. Also, the attorney for the LDC was the Village Attorney. Since when can you serve two masters? Which master was he serving when final payment was made to Burns & Whalen without the certificate of cccupancy required by the contract?
Let’s also remember that the DPW building that we were replacing was only 20 years old. Why didn’t the Village buy that piece of landlocked property if we need to expand? I guess that would have been forward thinking and, of course, no river view for DPW.
No, Mr. Hogan, we didn’t ask Mr. Edsall to perform professional services but he took an oath of office to look out for the village. We did expect him to follow the contract between the Village and the LDC and that regular inspections are recorded and a certificate of occupancy be issued prior to the Village ownership of the building. That never happened as clearly stated in the agreement. Furthermore, there were no engineering drawings or stamped plans for a million dollar building that the taxpayers bonded. Also, you mentioned Mayor Gross hiding reports. He directed the clerk to post every report on line. He hid nothing.
Now it appears that Mr. Edsall wants to help the Village. But does he? The contracts for the architect and geo-technical services have come before the Village Board and Mayor Gross has requested legal review. Trustees Edsall, Vatter and Kane blocked his request. The Mayor is absolutely correct that prior to signing these contracts the attorney give clearance. That happens with every contract. What is even more astounding is that Trustee Kane, an attorney, takes issue with this! As Deputy Mayor, I would not sign these contracts without legal review. So it is up to the residents to decide who has slowed the process and prolonged the problem. I haven’t heard one person come to a Village Board Meeting and tell the Mayor to sign the contracts without legal review and I don’t expect I will.
In conclusion, Mr. Clark clearly states that he did not expect Mr. Edsall to be the village engineer on the DPW project but Mr. Edsall never hesitates to remind us of his 31 years of professional engineering experience. Which way does he want it?
Barbara Gosda
Deputy Mayor
Cornwall on Hudson
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