SusanCampriello: My Works

Windham Town Supervisor T. Patrick Meehan Jr. passes
Remembered as a respected leader
The Daily Mail
Nov. 16, 2009

WINDHAM — Long-time Windham Supervisor T. Patrick Meehan Jr., who saw his town through many changes, passed away Sunday, according to friends.

He was 61. Friends did not know the cause of death.

Meehan was reelected to his 20th two-year term as Supervisor on Nov. 3.

“He was an outstanding Supervisor for the Town of Windham,” friend and Chairman of the County Legislature Wayne Speenburgh (R-Coxsackie) said of Meehan. “He was the epitome of an outstanding public servant.”

During his tenure, Meehan witnessed a $30 million initiative to improve the town’s infrastructure, including the construction of a wastewater treatment system, modernization of the town’s water supply and a revitalization effort for Main Street.

Most recently, Meehan completed a $2 million grant application to consolidate the water system in Windham’s hamlets.

Meehan, a Republican, enjoyed endorsements from both his and the Democratic Party.

“He had respect from everybody,” Speenburgh said.

County legislator James Hitchcock (R-Maplecrest), who like Speenburgh knew Meehan from childhood, said his friend, political ally and confidant could never be replaced.

“He leaves a large void in the Town of Windham,” Hitchcock said. “The town lost a true leader.”

According to Councilman Donald Murray, town officials will gather Monday to decide how to proceed without Meehan.

Murray said Meehan had at heart what was best for the town.

“He always had the community as his number one priority,” Murray said.

When asked recently what his secret of success might be, Meehan told the Daily Mail: “I don’t really know but I hope it’s that I have confidence in what I’m doing for the people of Windham.”

Round Top writer tells her story
Book relates young girl’s immigration to America
The Daily Mail
Nov. 16, 2009

ROUND TOP — Round Top resident and business woman Waltraud “Wally” Maassmann has recorded her journey from Germany to New York in a new book she hopes will inspire others.

The book touches upon Maassmann’s family and life in Germany and chronicles her passage to New York in 1954 at the age of 13 aboard the Stockholm and her life since.

Maassmann said the book serves of an example of how someone can move from one phase of life to another toward success. Maassmann titled her book “A Path of Pebbles” as a metaphor for her journey.

“No matter how you struggle you can still achieve something in this country,” she said before a book signing Sunday at her family’s resort, Blackhead Mountain Lodge and Golf Course.

“You overcome resistance by consistent persistence,” she said, reciting her motto.

Maassmann said her parents did not speak much about World War II, but that the family’s house was bombed and the family’s war experience was terrible.

She said during the war the family received care packages that contained Lipton soup among other items from an aunt. Reading the labels, Maassmann said, made her want to come to the United States and learn English.

“I thought this had to be a dreamland and I wanted to come here,” she said.

She said the experience fueled her determination to achieve something in life.

As a young woman, Maassmann modeled and held several positions with the Freihofer’s Baking Company, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and a construction bonding company.

She married Ewald Maassmann in 1959, and in 1967, the couple and Maassmann’s parents purchased the then “Blackhead Mountain Lodge.”

Maassmann, 69, decided to write the book in June 2008, during, she said, a frustrating economic time.

“How does it come about that I am here, at my age, still struggling, still accomplishing things and working hard and how does one get to where one is from where one comes from,” she recalled thinking one night in bed.

So, she began writing her story for her two children and four grandchildren.

She consulted with some of her siblings during the writing process. The conversations, she said, later brought back memories that were then included in the narrative.

She said trials in life were like pebbles and rough stones, a metaphor echoed in the title of the book. And, she said, her home town had cobblestone streets.

The book’s cover shows the view of the Catskill Mountains from the family’s resort as well as a reproduction of a drawing of birds and plants done for Maassmann by a school art teacher in Germany.

The sketch was drawn in Maassmann’s diary-like poetry booklet before she emigrated. The resulting cover artwork shows how something can be achieved through hard work “and many, many pebbles,” Maassmann said.

The book, which was published earlier this year by Maassmann’s own company, Blackhead Mountain Publishers, has entered its second printing.

Already Maassmann is considering writing a sequel to the story that would focus more on Blackhead Mountain Lodge and Golf Course.

Maassmann said she wanted her book to encourage others to record their own stories of hardships and successes.

“Everybody can tell a story,” she said, “people should write things down (or) so much is going to get lost.”

Volunteers to serve up tradition
The Daily Mail
Nov. 16, 2009

CATSKILL — For the fourth year, volunteers will be ready on Thanksgiving to serve a traditional, home-cooked meal to dozens of hungry Catskillians at the Washington Irving Senior Center in Catskill.

Center Director Anne Marie Moran said the meal offers a change for Greene County residents to get together and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal in a friendly environment.

“It is about having a Thanksgiving,” she said, “and being able to get together.”

Service of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams, salad, rolls and dessert begins at 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 26.

Last year about 200 people took advantage of the community dinner, Moran said, adding that there would be enough food for anyone who came through the door.

Meals were delivered to 90 home-bound seniors last year.

“Every year, the number goes up, which is a great thing,” she said.

Although the meal is served at the senior center and the majority of the guests are senior citizens, Moran said entire families spend their Thanksgivings at the community meal.

The dinner is prepared and served by volunteers including Catskill residents, business managers, public officials and students from Columbia-Greene Community College.

Moran said this year’s meal will be difficult, however, because one long-time volunteer, Victor Armstead, will be missing from the event. Armstead, who was killed in a car accident in March, was always involved with dinners. She said several of Armstead’s friends would be spending their Thanksgiving serving the community as a tribute to Armstead.

The meal is made possible through cash donations and food contributions made by residents as well as by local restaurants and businesses.

The combined efforts benefit everybody, she said.

“They are helping out without breaking their banks,” she said. “It works out so great.”

Moran said walk-ins are welcome but anyone wishing to place a reservation or to request delivery to a homebound individual can call the senior center at (518) 943-1343.

Seeley draws map of future
Action plan responds to audit citing village’s fiscal inadequacies
The Daily Mail
Nov. 14, 2009

CATSKILL — Weeks after the Office of the State Comptroller issued an audit report that pointed to deficiencies within the Village of Catskill’s bookkeeping and fiscal management practices, Catskill Village President Vincent Seeley has presented to the Village Board a corrective action plan.

He will send the plan to the Comptroller later this year.

Catskill’s property assessments have risen by about $30,000 since 2005, Seeley said at Monday’s Board meeting, a number that represented more cars on Village roads and more families requiring Village services.

“We are now faced with the reality that we need to make adjustments to our corporate structure, administration and staffing to meet current and future responsibilities,” Seeley’s plan executive summary reads.

“It is our job as a Board to sit down and map this out,” Seeley added.

The plan’s goals include ensuring that the Village Board implements proper controls for fiscal oversight. It also allows the Village to restructure the Clerk’s office and duties as well as to consider hiring a village manager, a comptroller or other business management resources.

Seeley said he is not making excuses for the problems that state auditors brought to his attention but said that managing the Village’s finances has become too grand an undertaking for the three full-time and one part-time staff of the Clerk’s office.

He explained that Clerk’s office is responsible for more than 100 subaccounts and more than 20 bank accounts.

Upon the Comptroller’s request, each capital project, such as the current sewer separation work on Main Street, has its own bank account.

The Clerk’s office also manages tax collection accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll as well as health care benefits, retirement benefits, audits and all banking.

The Clerk’s office may see thousands of invoices a year, Clerk/Collector Carolyn Pardy said.

Seeley suggested that a Village comptroller could be responsible for all things monetary whereas Pardy handles a number of requests from attorneys and others every day.

Seeley presented a financial plan timeline, as well.

The Village has upgraded information technology security, as per the State Comptroller’s request.

Effective immediately, the Clerk will present a financial update at Board meetings.

The Board has begun to conduct detailed financial reviews. Later this month department heads will start filing monthly synopses of their department’s activities.

Village employees can meet with employees of other municipalities to trade ideas for efficiency or to train using top-grade technology, Seeley said.

Before the end of the year the trustees will develop a restructuring plan, the Clerk will review the year’s filings and the positions of clerk and treasurer, which were combined through a local law in 1960, could be separated.

Invoices will be randomly audited biweekly by the Clerk beginning in December.

Seeley will schedule early next year a followup audit with the Comptroller’s Office and public financial information sessions.

Seeley said some recommendations from the Comptroller were unfeasible, including improving security around the Village’s computer servers. Currently, employees can only access the room in which the server is kept on an as-needed basis.

His response to the Comptroller also includes information about the Village’s debt-to-asset ratio, which Seeley said, is low.

The Village brings in roughly $6 million annually, Seeley said, and pays back less 12 percent of that, or about $740,000, for debt recovery. He said he believes the Village needs to keep savings in the bank but should pay cash for items when possible to avoid paying interest on loans. The Comptroller, he said, preferred that the Village take out more bonds.

The Board agreed to comply with the plan Seeley presented.

Trustee James Chewens said he found the Comptroller’s “dogging” the Village over a few voucher oversights ironic, given the condition of the State’s finances.

In storms, new rules for parking
Law allows DPW to clear snow from streets
The Daily Mail
Nov. 14, 2009

CATSKILL — The Catskill Village Board has enacted a complete but some say imperfect snow parking law that will allow the Village Department of Public Works to clear snow from roadways at all times of day and night.

The Board approved unanimously the new law requiring cars to be parked on the odd side of the street between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. and on the even side of the street between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. during snowstorms. Trustee Angelo Amato was absent from Monday’s Board meeting.

The new law, which Board members admitted might not be ideal for all Village residents, replaces parking rules enacted last winter. Last winter alternate-side parking was dictated by the date a storm began.

“The first one didn’t work that well, so we’re trying a different one,” Trustee James Chewens said, “we may back in the springtime and revise it one more time.” Chewens said,

He said residents who see problems with the new rules during the winter should contact Police Chief David Darling.

“Don’t hesitate to call,” he said.

Before the votes, residents, Trustees and DPW Superintendent Lewis O’Connor discussed possible problems with the law.

Ken Trieling said DPW employees might not clear snow from the open parking spots along Village roads within a 12-hour period, especially if the storm began overnight.

O’Connor said plowing takes employees in three hours with six trucks and said snow was not removed during only one overnight storm last winter.

Trustees Joseph Kozloski and Patrick McCulloch agreed that DPW employees could work more efficiently cars were not left in the same spot for a 24-hour period but were moved twice a day. Otherwise, Kozloski said, snowplows could not clear snow from the streets until the cars were moved.

O’Connor and Trustee James Chewens pointed out that some towns disallow parking on all streets during snow storms.

The parking rules will go into effect when the National Weather Service forecasts snow and remain enforceable after 12 hours and until snow is removed from the street.

“[Catskill Police Chief David Darling] is going to tow cars this year,” O’Connor said.

Greene County bank’s 120-year history immortalized
The Daily Mail
Nov. 15, 2009

CATSKILL — Local historian and professor at Columbia-Greene Community College Ted Hilscher has written a history of the Bank of Greene County to celebrate the bank’s 120th anniversary.

Hilscher used information found in bank records, business directories and newspaper articles to recreate the bank’s journey from its foundation as the Building & Loan Association of Catskill on Jan. 22, 1889 to the present day.

The 40-page “Wide Awake Men” also provides biographical information about the banks’ presidents and directors.

Greene County Bancorp President Donald Gibson said the company’s history had never before been compiled in one publication.

“We really found [the project] of interest,” Gibson said. “A lot of our long-term employees found [the history] real interesting.”

The history was presented to Greene County Bancorp, Inc. shareholders at their annual meeting held on Oct. 22.

Gibson, Bank Chairman Martin Smith and Director and retired President J. Bruce Whittaker presided over the NASDAQ Opening Bell to mark the bank’s actual anniversary in January.

Hilscher said the history project allowed him to look back into the Catskill community and how it operated a century ago. The booklet reflects some aspects of life in Catskill.

“Its not just the bank history but there is a lot of good local history,” Hilscher said.

For example, single women received some of the earliest loans, he said. The women used those loans to purchase homes.

Catskill’s banks and the majority of Catskill residents weathered the Depression and government-mandated bank closures because they had not invested in the stock market and were not affected by its crash in 1929, Gibson added.

Hilscher produced the history for no fee. However, the bank has donated $1,000 to the Columbia-Greene Community College Foundation Scholarship Fund and the Vedder Research Library in recognition of Hilscher’s work.

Gibson presented a check to Vedder Research Library Committee Chairwoman Linda Gentalen Monday afternoon.

Gentalen thanked Gibson and Hilscher for the funds, which will help the library modernize its retrieval system.

“It is really an honor for us to receive your appreciation,” she said.

Free booklets are available at Bank of Greene County branches. Those interested in ordering a free booklet can call bank Assistant Vice President and Director of Marketing Martha Keeler at (518) 943-2600, ext. 2004.

Budget with 8% tax hike scrutinized
Fate of town police remains cloudy
The Daily Mail
Nov. 13, 2009

Roughly 50 people packed the courtroom in Cairo’s municipal building to voice concerns over the town’s proposed budgets for public safety, health benefits for the Town Board and the salary of the Court Clerk.

The budget hearing was adjourned until Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. in order for the Board to reconsider some of the concerns brought up by the public.

The Board presented a budget with an 8.43 percent tax rate increase, or 55 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, from $6.52 to $7.07.

The town’s tax levy would be $2,620,875, Coyne said, adding that he expects to receive $57,500 in county chargebacks.

Coyne said the town’s general fund is increasing $34,980 in appropriations. He said revenues will increase 5 percent from last year, or $25,975. He said the board expects a decrease in revenues from interest and mortgage tax.

The roughly $3,877,000 preliminary budget is about $323,000 less than the tentative budget the Board was considering.

Coyne said nearly every department’s budget had been cut during departmental and board discussions.

Only employees represented by bargaining units, such as Ambulance and EMT responders, will receive raises, Coyne said.

He thanked Town employees for going without a raise for the second year in a row.

“They realize they are still receiving a paycheck and are willing to work with the Town,” he said. “I am very proud of our employees for their understanding during this terrible economic time.”

The budget reflects increases in retirement benefits, workers’ compensation and health insurance.

Coyne said, however, that the final impact of those increases less than a 1 percent increase in the total Town taxable assessed value.

One dozen Cairo residents lobbied the Board during the hearing to approve the budget line for the town’s police department.

The Town Board had rejected the proposed budget of about $284,500 and said they would look for another way to police the town’s streets and neighborhoods.

Last week, Police Chief Chris Sprague presented the board with a revised budget that was $68,000 lower than the original amount.

Officers offered to take pay cuts in order to keep a presence in the town, Coyne said. The force’s 16-hour shift will also be reduced to one 12-hour shift per day beginning at 12 p.m. if the budget is adopted.

Nicole Maggio, who said police have helped her deal with trespassers on her property, said she understood if the shift-change was necessary to cut the budget, but the services conducted by Cairo’s police were indispensable.

“I really hope you guys take a good look at [the budget],” she said, “if you eliminate the police department you are going to be putting this Town in a world of trouble.”

Others said a police presence around Cairo Elementary School deters speeders and without that presence, children could be in danger.

Cairo-Durham Central School District Superintendent Sally Sharkey pointed out that Cairo police assist in making sure students can get safely into school buildings and respond immediately to any emergencies at district facilities.

“Safety is our number one issue,” she said.

Police also run a DARE program for district students. Others pointed out that police are quick to respond burglaries, calls to Main Street and those to the town’s park, where the station is located.

Local police know the town’s roads and neighborhoods, they said, whereas officers from other departments may be unfamiliar with hangouts and landmarks.

Elizabeth Brinkerhoff questioned the intelligence of the Board’s decision to save money by housing stray dogs on Town property under the supervision of police officers rather than renewing a contract with a local business to care for the animals.

Erica DeLong agreed.

She pointed out that the arrangement added responsibilities to police officers who were facing pay cuts while at the same time was taking revenue away from a local enterprise.

Coyne said the new arrangement would save the town $8,250.

DeLong and John Morgese asked how the Board could allow police officers to take pay cuts while the Board accepted health benefits that would cost the Town roughly $50,000.

Cairo justices Thomas Baldwin and Tanja Sirago asked the Board to consider giving Court Clerk April Saccoccio a pay increase.

Baldwin explained that Saccoccio’s workload was about to increase and she was about to become a department head but, as budgeted, her salary would remain the same.

Councilman Raymond Suttmeier suggested that the hearing remain open so the Board could discuss another budget revision.

“We have to review the results of the public hearing,” he said.

The Board could present a new budget at their next regular meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening. A vote later that evening will decide the Court Clerk’s salary issue and the fate of the Cairo Police Department.

“I just hope the Town Board does the right thing for the Town,” Cairo Police Sgt. Dan Braden said.

In time of war, hope for peace
Cairo remembers sacrifice, service of veterans
The Daily Mail
Nov. 12, 2009

CAIRO — The service and sacrifice of military veterans were remembered and honored Wednesday in Cairo in a ceremony at the Joseph E. Prahl Veteran’s Memorial Circle in Angelo Canna Town Park.

The brief 11 a.m. ceremony was led by members of the American Legion Mohican Post 983, the Marine Corps Legion and the Cairo-Durham Elks Lodge 2630.

“We remember how men and women set aside their civilian pursuits to serve their nation’s cause defending the freedom of man and preserving our precious American heritage,” American Legion Commander John Low said, opening the ceremony.

Lucy Mozzillo, president of the American Legion Auxiliary, reminded the gathered veterans, officials and Cairo residents that war effort involved those stateside who lived with a terrifying loneliness.

“The fighting forces begin at the fireside and in the hometowns. The repercussions of war, terrible brutality, had chilled the heart, dimmed the hopes and dreams of many a left behind on the homefront,” she said. “Our hearts beat in tune with those in other nations fighting for freedom and the dignity and opportunity of man.”

Legion First Officer Mike Adrian said public honor is due to those who serve the public, those have devoted their lives to education and those who live their lives with noble idealism and a sincere capacity of self-devotion.

Ethel Korba, a post member, auxiliary member and member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in war, each military branch and soldiers of every background shared a common denominator of purpose.

“As we put aside the brown, the blue and the green fabrics that made us one people on the battlefield, we can hold in our minds the tolerance we have achieved,” she said, adding that tolerance led to progress toward a better and happier world.

Post Commander Low said the ennobling virtues of war during times of peace to scale new heights of achievement, unity of purpose and sacrifice for the common good.

“We shall move forward in the sight of God as a strong nation in a peaceful world,” he said in closing.

Fountain recaptures its youth
Monument gets facelift in time for Veterans Day observance
The Daily Mail
Nov. 11, 2009

The monument and fountain honoring the service of more than 50 Cairo residents who fought in World War I received a facelift just in time for the annual Veteran’s Day ceremony held there.

The bronze plaque bearing the names of the servicemen, including five who lost their lives in the conflict, which was dedicated on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1922, had become monochrome, its names becoming hard to read, and had been damaged with age.

On Monday and Tuesday, Steve Roy, of Brewster-based Argos Inc., cleaned off the corrosion and applied a protective patina coating to the plaque. Now the names of Cairo’s soldiers shine yellow against a field of brown.

“It looks good,” Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyne said Tuesday afternoon.

Roy, who has restored an 80-foot statue of Robert E. Lee, a Henry Moore sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va. and countless other works around the United States and Europe, removed two stars from the plaque. Those he will use to cast replacements for stars by the names of Virnel Butler and Floyd Hawver, who along with Joel M. Austin, Joseph P. Chadderdon and Frank Hitchcock were killed in action. Replacement stars for two of the plaque’s corners will be re-cast and replaced, as well.

Town Historian Robert Uzzilia said various groups have cared for the World War I plaza at the fork of Jerome Avenue and Main Street over the years but the fountain developed cracks and the plaque became corroded with age. He said the work completed by Tuesday had been admirable.

“The very least we can do to honor the veterans is to keep the plaque legible to keep their sacrifice in mind,” he said.

Councilwoman Alice Tunison, who worked to find Roy and others who bid on the work, said the restoration was long overdue.

“They are receiving the honor they deserve,” she said of the servicemen.

Tunison said Roy would complete the plaque restoration and some fountain repairs for no more than $3,900. The Town received a $2,500 grant to pay for some of the work.

Tunison said she hoped veterans groups or individuals would donate some money toward the project, as well.

“It’s going to be amazing,” she said of the finished plaque. “It is a sophisticated and worthwhile endeavor.”

“We need to preserve these things,” Coyne added.

Artifacts belonging to George A. True, who fought with the infantry in France, and others, are on display in the Cairo municipal building lobby. True returned to Cairo after the war, his daughter-in-law Dot True said, and lived in Round Top. George A. True Sr. ran the Round Top House bed and breakfast in a house built for him by his parents upon his return, Dot True said.

His father-in-law was a major in the Civil War and his son and Dot True’s husband, George A. True Jr., served in Korea with the U.S. Marine Corps. George A. True Jr. died in 2004.

Although Dot True never met her father-in-law, she said he was not known to speak about his experiences in World War I.

George A. True Sr. and others who served in World War I will be honored Wednesday at 11 a.m. Veterans of other conflicts will be recognized, too.

Budget cuts imperil police
Contracting law enforcement duties to sheriff’s department said to be “off the table”
The Daily Mail
Nov. 10, 2009

CAIRO — The Town of Cairo could be left without a police force due to budget cuts.

Town Supervisor John Coyne said a budget of more than $200,000 proposed by Cairo Police Chief Chris Sprague was deemed too costly by the Town Board during a budget meeting.

“This has nothing to do with the officers’ ability to be police officers. It is strictly monetary,” Coyne said.

Coyne said Monday he spoke with Greene County Sheriff Greg Seeley last week about contracting police work to the sheriff’s department but the contract was now “off the table.”

Coyne said Sprague and his officers were able to decrease the proposed budget by more than more than $70,000, or roughly one-third of the original budget.

Coyne said the budget cut will affect officers’ shifts but not the services they provide. Officers, he said, would work 12-hour shifts rather than 16-hour shifts. Full-time officers would remain full-time and an officer will be on-duty at all times, he said.

Cairo Police would still be able to patrol streets, work crowd control at events and conduct other business as usual. The D.A.R.E. program for students at Cairo Elementary School and at Cairo-Durham High School would continue, he said.

The Town Board will consider the new budget amount at Thursday’s budget hearing at 7 p.m.

Seeley and Sprague were unavailable for comment about the contract and the proposed budget Monday.

Other department heads were asked to decrease their budgets during the last few weeks. For example, Highway Superintendent Steven Rumpf’s budget was cut by more than $40,000 during a workshop in late October.

Coyne said he would try to negotiate a contract with the Sheriff’s Department if the Board does not accept the department’s revised budget.