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November 18, 2011
To the Editor:
(Regarding article Budget Approved Amid Dissession on the Board) Supervisor Quigley states he wanted to review the proposal before negotiating. The PBA offered a chance for the entire board to be informed, in an executive session, by explaining each clause in the proposal. There would be no neogitating, discussions or comments by board members!! We would, simply, listen, say thank you and goodnight! It was to be a presentation--nothing more.
We are almost at the end of the first year of the new contract and the only report of negotiations the board received was at the November Work Session. And, oh yes, another one. At a budget meeting, someone from the floor asked if the PBA had been approached and asked not to take their 3% wage increase. Quigley answered, "Yes I did and they gave me a flat-out no!" Both the local PBA president, and his attorney, deny ever being asked.
The PBA tried to expedite the process by explaining their position to the entire board. I, for one, do not want to go to arbitration again. The only one who gains is the attorney. The attorney fees saved, by settling the contract locally, would help prevent a lay-off.
The Supervsor claims "this would clearly be negotiating a contract." Absolutely not true! It was made clear this was not the case--if we adhered to the capitalized rules in the first paragraph. Our attorney advised us we could, legally, meet under those conditions. Seeing we weren't required to play the game their way--"they took their ball and bat and went home." I offered to leave and have the negotiating team of Clark and Quigley stay--not a quorum, so that left no other excuses. However Quigley had, already, left.
Saying we didn't have a chance to read the proposal was no excuse for not having it read, and explained, to us. Having the entire board present would have sped up the process. We could have put together a counter-proposal and, hopefully, the PBA and the Town Board negotiators could come to terms, in the next week or so.
Grandstanding!!! The only grandstanding I witnessed was when the supervisor and deputy supervisor walked out of an important meeting--without adjourning the regular meeting! We had much to gain and nothing to lose if we had all acted like ladies and gentlemen and just, simply, sat down, listened, adjourned the meeting and went home!
Al Mazzocca
Councilman
Town of Cornwll
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