Citizen advocates question supervisor over funds
Coyne: “I didn’t mislead anyone.”
The Daily Mail
Feb. 19, 2009

CAIRO — Cairo First President Erica Gravina and Mike Camadine, a former county legislator from Cairo, have accused Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyne of committing fraud to obtain a bank loan from the Bank of Greene County for $750,000 to cover work relating to the town’s ongoing sewer project.

Camadine and Gravina presented evidence — copies of a “no-litigation” certificate signed by Coyne — at a Cairo First meeting held last Thursday night.

The document certifies that there is no pending litigation of any nature surrounding the sewer project, and was signed by both Coyne and the town’s bond attorney, John R. Mineaux, of Roemer, Wallens and Mineaux, on Dec. 24, 2008. The group also distributed a photocopy of the check from the Bank of Greene County and a deposit ticket that indicates that the $750,000 was put into an account for sewer project use.

Cairo First Inc., Cairo Plaza, LLC, J. Triple S., Inc, E. Slater, Inc., and Cairo Taxpayers Association have filed an lawsuit against numerous government bodies on the local and State level, including the Town Board and the Planning Board, under Article 78 of New York’s Civil Practice Rules and Laws, which allows citizens to appeal a decision made by a government agency if they feel wronged by that decision.

Also named in the lawsuit are the state Department of Environmental Conservation, state Environmental Facilities Corp., state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, developer Charles Maggio, Charles Frank & Associates, Regan Development Corp., Benjamin Buel and Richard Buoniconto.

The lawsuit states that the Town Board’s vote to approve the project was swayed by one board member’s financial interest in the development. The town and other agencies failed to follow lawful procedures in relation to obtaining funding for the sewer system improvements related to the development project and failed to conduct a proper State Environmental Quality Review Act review and to hold required public hearings, it claims.

Camadine questioned how Coyne could not have known about the pending Article 78 suit.

Coyne, who did not attend the Cairo First meeting, said Saturday that the signing of the “no-litigation” certificate was the result of an oversight at the bond closing.

He said he had not tried to mislead anyone, and that the attorney and the Bank of Greene County were aware of the litigation when the bond was granted.

“It is really unfortunate that the Cairo First organization has to go around and tell things that are not true,” he said.

Coyne said that the bond agreement’s file included a document that states that either party has the right to change the bond agreement. He said he signed a form that will act as a substitute to the “no-litigation” certificate, acknowledging the suit, which can be added to the file, but at the present time has not.

Mineaux said Tuesday morning he drafted the substitute form shortly after Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea notified him that the certificate was incorrect, toward the end of January. Rappleyea approved the substitute form, he said.

He said the bank knew about the litigation, and the certificate probably had no bearing on the loan being issued and that inclusion of the “no-litigation” certificate in the loan closing was a clerical error.

At last week’s Cairo First meeting, which was mostly attended by non-Cairo First members, Gravina said she received invoices and paperwork from the Town. Gravina added that she invited all the town officials to attend the Cairo First meeting.

“I just have totals but the money is spent, the money has been allocated,” she said.

However, according to Town vouchers produced by the Town Clerk’s office, three vouchers for work compensation were approved last month.

On Jan. 12, 2009, board members Richard Lorenz, Janet Schwarzenegger and Alice Tunison, as well as Coyne, approved one voucher to pay the firm Delaware Engineering $64,839.68.

Lorenz, Schwarzenegger, Councilman Ray Suttmeier and Coyne signed a $187.50 voucher for Rappleyea on Jan. 20.

Also on Jan. 20, all five board members approved a voucher for $3,636.50 for the law firm of Young, Sommer, Ward, Ritzenberg, Baker and Moore, LLC.

According to the documents obtained from the clerk’s office, more than $681,000 of the funds remain.

Charles H. Schaefer, of Deily and Schaefer, who represents the Bank of Greene County, said Wednesday that because the bank issued the loan, Cairo First has served the bank with a motion to name the bank as an interested party to their Article 78 action. The motion must be returned by Mar. 3, he said.

Schaefer said that bank is not taking a position for or against development in the town, but as part of the greater community, it wanted to help the town manage a sanitary system.

“From the Bank’s standpoint, we are trying to do the responsible thing and enhance the quality of life in Cairo,” he said.