SusanCampriello: My Works

Dems keep hold on Athens
Smallwood edges Coons; Sopris and June victorious
The Daily Mail
Mar. 19, 2009

ATHENS — Incumbent Democratic Mayor Andrea Smallwood was re-elected Wednesday night, defeating her third-party challenger Ronald A. Coons Sr. by a margin of only 44 votes.

After the absentee ballots were counted, Smallwood prevailed with 303 votes to 259 votes for Coons.

Democratic candidates prevailed in the race for two seats on the Village Board: Tom Sopris was re-elected with 302 votes and Bob June won his first election bid with 308 votes.

Republican trustee hopefuls Richard Green and Arlene Hallsted recieved 221 and 202 votes, respectively.

Smallwood, who has serves one term as mayor, said her government has been open and honest. She was first elected to the board as a trustee in 2000.

“We work as a team and I believe that is why we won as a team,” she said.

She said the scare tactics her opponent used and misrepresented facts he propagated accounted for her slim margin of victory.

She encouraged residents who have questions for her and the board to come to ask for answers rather than to listen to people outside the government.

Coons promised to serve the 259 citizens who, he said, had confidence enough to vote for him in another way.

He said the Concerned Citizens of Athens, the advocacy group on whose ticket he ran, would continue to bring the truth to the people of Athens. He said he had done well in the election despite his defeat.

“We put it to vote. If they are happy with the current regime, they have to live with it for the next two years,” he said while celebrating with supporters at Ursula’s Riverside Diner.

He congratulated Smallwood and June on their victories.

Coons’ campaign manager Dolores Hodges said the gathering was a victory celebration.

She said that Coons and the Concerned Citizens, which was formed last summer, had gathered a lot of support against the well-established Democratic Party in Athens. She noted that Coons almost received half of the votes cast.

She credited the work she and Coons did to meet as many residents as possible for the high voter turnout.

Tom Sopris said that the strong personalities of both Coons and Smallwood brought people to the polls.

He said employees in the Village’s office have been very open, as has Smallwood’s board.

“I’m very humbled that voters have endorsed the Mayor and the board’s policies,” he said.

Bob June said he was working hard to get up to speed on all of the Village’s issues.

“I am anxious to get to work,” he said.

Foreclosure documents spark dispute
Grant writer accuses councilwoman of tarnishing his reputation
The Daily Mail
Mar. 18, 2009

CAIRO — Former Cairo grant writer Victor Cornelius on Monday accused Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger of tarnishing his image by presenting foreclosure documents on the grant writer’s property at a board workshop earlier this month.

Schwarzenegger said at the time that the town should keep track of Cornelius’ whereabouts.

Cornelius said the foreclosures Schwarzenegger brought up were caused by a personal tragedy last year. He said he did not think Schwarzenegger’s actions were appropriate.

He said he had a good relationship with the town prior to 2007, when Schwarzenegger was elected to the town board.

Cornelius said the town charged him with the task of applying for grants and did not direct how money would be spent.

“I’m just there to raise money,” he said.

Cornelius was removed from his duties as Cairo’s grant writer in November but was allowed to continue managing money from the Environmental Facilities Corporation for the town’s ongoing sewer project.

He also works with many other New York municipalities including Catskill, Greenville and Coxsackie.

Last month, Cornelius told the board that the EFC had asked the town to change the designation of project type for the sewer system so that work could progress more quickly. The board approved.

Schwarzenegger said after the vote that the board should have investigated the reasoning behind the EFC’s suggestion, which it did not.

Schwarzenegger would not say Monday what had precipitated Cornelius’ removal, but she said she had met with Cornelius to discuss a sewer filter. They also discussed the proposed Adden Terrace housing and retail project, she said.

The councilwoman said she gave Cornelius a package of plans for a patented sand filter system designed by her husband Ewald, who owns the engineering firm Kaaterskill Associates, P.C.

Schwarzenegger said her husband was looking for a place to run his system and wanted Cornelius to see the plans. She said that a municipality could be entitled to extra grant money if the system was installed.

She denied that her husband would gain anything personally by having his system installed in Cairo.

“Ewald would not benefit financially whatsoever,” she said.

The benefit, she said, would be that he could showcase his system.

Town Supervisor John Coyne said Tuesday that Cornelius was removed from his duties after the grant writer failed to submit a grant to the State Office of Community Renewal last year.

Coyne said he and Schwarzenegger did not want Cornelius to manage the EFC sewer money but were outvoted by the other board members.

Coyne said he was surprised Schwarzenneger brought up the foreclosures in the public venue and said the revelations would have been more appropriate during an executive session of the town board, where personnel issues are usually discussed.

Since November, the process of grant writing has fallen on team of Cairo citizens.

Councilwoman Schwarzenegger began organizing the team, which includes representatives from the Zoning Board, the Chamber of Commerce and of the town, among others, earlier this year.

The team submitted a grant application Monday for $2,500 to renovate and beautify a fountain and the surrounding land in town and is currently working on a Greenway grant application, Schwarzenegger said.

Coyne said that the team has been working well but a professional grant writer may be needed in the future to complete some more complicated applications.

‘Horton by the Stream’ theater company back for another season
The Daily Mail
Online Mar. 16, 2009

TANNERSVILLE - Horton by the Stream producer Frank Girardeau had no trouble getting permission from playwright Horton Foote to stage his plays in the company’s outdoor Elka Park theater.

Girardeau asked, and, he recalled, Foote’s reply was, “‘Sure, go ahead.’”

This summer, the company plans to return to Tannersville for another season featuring the performance “Valentine’s Day,” which, set in 1918, is part of a larger play cycle chronicling the life of a family and is loosely based on Foote’s parents.

Foote died March 4, at the age of 92.

His career as a writer and adapter of plays spanned six decades.

Foote won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play “The Young Man From Atlanta.” He also received two Emmy Awards, one for an adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” for the 1962 film of the same name and another in 1985, for the screenplay “Tender Mercies.” He also won an Emmy in 1997 for his adaptation of “Old Man.”

Girardeau met Foote while performing in a play with the Ensemble Studio Theater company. A number of years later, Foote called Girardeau to see if the actor was available for another show.

He said Foote visited a theater company in Hunter that pre-dated Horton by the Stream, and once conducted a workshop there.

Later, Girardeau purchased the property where the company was located, built a new performance space and approached Foote about performing his plays.

“He was very supportive of the whole thing,” Girardeau said, “he gave us his blessing.”

He said that the outdoor theater offers his actors a nice creative space with which to work and Foote’s plays seem to fit well with the atmosphere.

He said that performing outdoors can be great for an audience who get to settle in for a picnic or family gathering while watching a show, but it can present challenges for the actors.

The stage in Elka Park is right next to a stream, and sometimes, even with microphones, performers have to compete with the babbling water.

And, Girardeau said, the weather does not always cooperate.

He recalled that last year he and his players and audience had to run to a nearby barn when a storm came up suddenly.

“We have to be ready in case that happens,” he said with a laugh.

Girardeau said the choice of play is sometimes dependent on who is available to perform in what role.

Horton by the Stream productions usually feature actors from New York City, with whom Girardeau is used to working. But sometimes, he said, a local actor will perform with the company.

Past performances, which have been also produced by Girardeau’s wife, Janet, and Greg Grove, have included “The Young Lady of Property,” “Blind Date” and “Spring Dance.”

Girardeau’s favorite play is “Trip to Bountiful,” which is about a woman with heart problems returning home. He said it is perhaps his favorite because he has performed it so many times.

The company may do something special as a tribute to Foote, but Girardeau said his friend’s passing was sudden, and he had yet to find time to start planning for one.

Athens mayor hopefuls do battle
The Daily Mail
Mar. 14, 2009

ATHENS — Andrea Smallwood, who is running for re-election as the Village’s Mayor, faces a challenge from Ron Coons. Four candidates are vying for two Trustee positions. Tom Sopris is running for re-election, and Bob June, Richard Green and Arlene Hallsted hope to join the Town Board for the first time.

The ongoing water and sewer system upgrades and fiscal responsibility are two issues that concern all of the six candidates. They voiced other concerns, as well, including government transparency, parking rules and attracting visitors and residents.

Polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. at the Rivertown Senior Center.

Andrea Smallwood - Mayor - Democrat

Smallwood has been on the board for eight years, serving six as a Trustee and two as its Mayor.

She served on the Waterfront Action Committee before running for office in 1999. During her time on the Village Board, Smallwood has has a hand in shaping the Historic Revolving Door Loan, which has been used by a number of families to restore the facades of their historic homes. She also worked with Scenic Hudson and other Village and area officials at the time to prevent the St. Lawrence Cement Plant from being built on the Hudson-Greenport line, directly across from Athens.

Smallwood said the Village has worked hard to complete the riverside park and to bring its water and sewer systems up to code. She is confident that the State’s Order on Consent will be lifted within two or three years, once Federal stimulus package funding to complete the project comes through.

She said that completing the new zoning rules is another priority.

“You have to plan for all the people and balance of the population,” she said.

Smallwood said that if re-elected, she and the trustees will have to work with an uncertain economic future. Department heads, she said, will have to take a look at their needs.

She said she and town officials would get together to come up with some ways of saving taxpayers in both municipalities money, including sharing a website and possibly some aspect of the court system.

“This year, we are really going to try to hold the line again,” she said.

Ronald A. Coons Sr. - Mayor - Concerned Citizens of Athens

Ron Coons has enjoyed some renown as one of the leaders of the Concerned Citizens of Athens group. He also sits on the Village’s Planning Board.

Coons wants village meetings to be more open to citizen input and for Athenians to be able to review government spending.

“People basically have to know what is going on,” he said.

He points to two ongoing projects, the waterfront park and upgrades to the water system, as projects that seem to be on hold. Even though some steps have been taken to purify drinking in the village, he said, he is not satisfied with its quality yet.

Coons wants to open community relationships by a co-operative and community garden where residents could trade items with one another and plant their own vegetables.

These establishments will not only give Athenians a channel to meet new people and see old friends regularly, but will help them save money decreasing their reliance on grocery stores, he said.

Coons said that the village could use a more extensive community bus system to shopping centers and other destinations, which would allow people to saving money they would otherwise spend on gasoline.

He would like to see village vehicles be services at a local auto body shop rather than in a neighboring village or town.

“We have got to keep businesses here. We have got to promote the people here,” he said.

K. Thomas Sopris - Trustee - Democrat

Tom Sopris has served one term as a trustee in Athens, but spent 18 years on the town board in Fishkill. He returned to Athens to develop his funeral home business.

Since being elected in 2007, he has helped upgrade license plate scanning technology for the police department. Police have used the information to stay on top of issue registration violations and other infractions.

The board is looking at a few upcoming projects like fixing drainage issues and constructing a new Department of Public Works building.

“We are plugging through a lot,” he said.

He thinks the village and town can save some money by sharing municipal and court space and equipment.

He says he remembers how Athens was when he was growing up and hopes the Village can rebound to its heyday by supporting a store where people could buy groceries and cards.

“Athens has a future. We just have to mold it,” he said.

Bob June - Trustee - Democrat

Bob June is an advocate of volunteering. He pointed to playgrounds and a ball field he and other volunteers were able to build as a testament to the power a group of people can have.

June said that Athens could benefit more by bringing mom-and-pop-type bakeries and coffee shops to the village than large-scale developments.

He evoked the Village’s ancient namesake in Greece and its rival, Sparta, saying that people earned their citizenship by participating in some sort of service there.

June said he is disturbed by the number of empty homes he has passed in the Village and wishes they housed residents who did things like teach piano lessons and coach little league teams.

The only way to bring about positive growth in a community, he said, is by giving back.

“In a small village, that’s how things get done,” he said.

Richard Green - Trustee - Republican

During his campaign, Richard Green has learned that a lot of Athenians feel they have trouble communicating with their officials.

He said residents need to know there is a way for them to be heard by their government and as Trustee, he would push for holding town-hall style meetings.

Green said he has spoken to various officials in the area about how these meetings could be organized.

“It works very well and I’d like to see that instituted in Athens,” he said.

He said such meetings would be a good way to get a pulse of what residents want.

Green believes his working-man background has given him a perspective that would be new to the board.

he said that electing one, or two, Republicans to the Democrat-dominated board would be very good for the Village.

“A difference of opinion is healthy,” he said.

Arlene Hallsted - Trustee - Republican

Arlene Hallsted is not complaining about the big projects the Village has started, but, she said, the Village government has overlooked the little things that will make Athens a better community.

The Village she knew as a child, with five or six stores on the main street, is just a memory, she said.

“There’s really nothing here,” she said.

Hallsted would like to see Athens offer more programs for senior citizens and children and thinks that a small bus system to bring people around the area would be a nice for the community.

Hallsted has spent a lot of time over the years volunteering with scout troops and a local food pantry. She said she is ready to work hard on the behalf of the Village and its residents.

Hallsted said she is a motivator and is will be able to work with the Mayor and Trustees to get things done.

“One person can’t do it all on their own,” she said.

Cairo-Durham band taking New York 20th time
The Daily Mail
Mar. 13, 2009

CAIRO — Eighty students from Cairo-Durham Middle and High schools will march in step Tuesday morning in their 20th consecutive St. Patrick’s Day Parade up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Band director David Spring said in a press release that being involved with the parade is an honor.

“It’s great for our students and our community to be recognized on a national stage,” he said.

The marching Mustangs will play a mix of Irish and rock tunes, including “Irish Spectacular,” “The Final Countdown” and “Enter Sandman.”

They will wear new navy and white uniforms and will follow a banner bearing the district’s name.

The band made its first appearance in the famed parade in 1991.

Cairo-Durham School Superintendent Sally Sharkey said that the band has always performed well at other, more local parades on other holidays and scores well at State music competitions.

Sharkey said that Jim Lombard, who lives in Greenville and in New York City, applied to the parade committee on behalf of the band

“The kudos go to Jim,” she said.

She thanked Jim, his wife Rosemary, who are involved with the United Irish Counties Association, which helps run the parade, and Bernie and Theresa Patterson for their constant support of the school.

She said that rural schools are not well represented at the parade.

The band usually starts driling for the parade about two weeks before the step-off, she said.

The students will also play in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Greenville, on Saturday, March 21.

School board votes to open door wider and allow 2nd exchange student
The Daily Mail
Mar. 12, 2009

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Central School Board voted Monday night to allow a second foreign exchange student to attend the high school next year. They also saw some middle school student enrichment class work and heard the opinion of members of the varsity baseball team and their parents on the team’s new coach.

A vote for more diversity

The student body of Greenville High School usually includes one teenager who is in the United States through a Rotary student exchange program. But a second student has expressed interested in attending the school next year. The district’s policy only allows for one foreign exchange student to attend the school each year.

School Board President Wilton Bear Jr. asked the board whether they wanted to change the policy of allowing one student to attend the school or if the board wanted to grant a one-time exception to the policy for the upcoming school year.

Board Member Lawrence Thompkins said he had no problems with admitting more students as long as it did not displace Greenville students from Greenville programs.

“Will one student make a difference?” Board Vice President Anne Mitchell said, adding, “on the other hand, if you had 30, it would be a ridiculous mess.”

She pointed out that the board could grant the exception now and change the policy later, since the second exchange student needed an answer soon.

The board unanimously approved the exemption for next school year.

Students show off accomplishments

Caroline Bobrick and Zoe Rudloff represented their sixth grade enrichment class at the meeting. Standing atop a box that enabled them to see the board over the podium, the girls explained how bookmaking blended art and language arts lessons. The two and their classmates filled the pages of the accordion, hand-sewn and other books they made in the class with short stories and poems.

The board members leafed through some samples of the class’ work.

Eighth-grade student David Herbstritt described how he and his classmates built robots with Lego kits and then programmed those robots to move like animals, vehicles and even sumo wrestlers. The students used computers to program their robots to move in many directions and to spin. The board watched a demonstration of a work-in-progress, a merry-go-round that was started only that day.

Kate Kulas, who is also in the eighth grade, told the board about how her class learned how to navigate the stock market using a game in which teams bought and traded stocks based on actual market prices. She said the class learned all the pertinent vocabulary, including stocks, bonds and James Cramer.

Kulas was asked what her team had in their portfolio.

“Our buying power or our equity,” she asked in response.

High school students Emily Evans and Dillon Dombroski spoke about using the Internet to take courses either not offered at the school or closed out to them because of scheduling problems. The Accelerate U classes are run by BOCES, but the students are monitored by a teacher in the school. Both students used the Internet to read lesson plans and could e-mail their questions with a teacher outside of the school.

“Being self-motivated is probably the greatest need to be successful in an Accelerate U class,” Dombroski said.

Team laments choice of coach

During a public comment period, members of the boys Varsity baseball team and a few mothers spoke about how James Silk had been a savior to the summer and fall baseball teams.

They expressed disappointment over the board’s decision to hire a different candidate for the coaching job of the Varsity team.

They described how Silk had worked with players to help them find their place on the diamond as well as in the outfield and said Silk’s leadership had brought the team a willing record for the first time in years.

After the players left, Tompkins said he was impressed with their heartfelt comments and the courage they showed by addressing the board.

“Their parents should be very proud of them,” he said.

Local law may change excavation regulations
The Daily Mail
Mar. 10, 2009

ATHENS — The town of Athens Zoning Board of Appeals last week got a sneak peak at a proposed new local law that will repeal an existing ordinance requiring Athenians to obtain a permit for earth removal and deposition work on their property.

Although they generally approved of the proposal, board members questioned some of the rationale behind the law’s wording and concept.

The proposed law, which only pertains to deposition, was drafted by Town Attorney Carl Whitbeck and presented to the Town Board Monday night. The proposed law states that up to 500 cubic yards or 750 tons of gravel, rock, topsoil and other clean materials within 12 months before a permit is needed.

The current law requires a permit to place or to remove 1,000 cubic yards or 750 tons.

State laws require a permit if over 1,000 cubic yards or 750 tons of earth will be removed from or placed on a property.

A public hearing on the proposed law will be held at 7 p.m. March 16 at the Athens Town Hall, at 2 First St. The Town Council will vote on the law later that night.

ZBA Chairman Joe Iraci told the board, which includes veterans of the zoning process as well as new members, that the proposed law will directly affect the board.

At least one project pending before the ZBA may require a permit and has been set aside until after the Town Council votes to adopt the new law, Iraci said.

“Whatever these determinations are, we’re going to have to know them and we’re going to have to take them into consideration when people want variances,” he said.

Currently, the ZBA plays a role in issuing permits for such work, but the proposed law will remove the board from the decision making process.

Under the current law, an applicant must take four steps before fill can be dumped at a work site.

First, an applicant must receive a permit to deposit fill from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and then get approval from the Town Board. Next, the applicant must obtain a bond that will cover the costs of land reclamation or of redoing the project if it was done incorrectly. Finally, the applicant must be granted a permit by the ZBA.

An applicant has no recourse if the permit application is denied, Iraci said.

“The town is involved with it. The Zoning Board is involved with it,” he said, asking, “who do you appeal to?”

Under the proposed new law, the town’s code enforcement officer has the task of approving or denying the permit application. If a permit is denied, the applicant can bring the project plans before the ZBA, Iraci said.

“Getting it out of the town and out of the Board is probably a really good move,” he said.

ZBA members discussed whether the law offered an exemption for farmers or if farms were subject to an existing agriculture law, if work to raise septic tanks would fall under the law and why the minimum fill requirement was changed.

April Paluch, who sits on the board, said she was concerned by the changes made to the volume requirement and how the weight determination would be measured.

“Where are they going to go, 15 miles up the road for a scale?” she asked.

The proposed law does not specify whether topographic plans, which will need to be presented to the code enforcement officer, have to be drawn by an expert or have to be certified. Members of the ZBA agreed that this ambiguity is a positive aspect to the law.

Paluch painted out that creating or obtaining the topographic maps could be a “big time” expense.

Board member Kerry Sager worried that the cost for an applicant to hire a surveyor or engineer to draw up a topographical plan may be prohibitive, and asked whether maps already available from the county would be appropriate.

“You’re going to force people to try to do it without getting the permit,” she said.

Richard Golden, who also sits on the board, drew on past experiences working with similar issues in Sleepy Hollow Lake and said he always required a topographic plan unless the proposed work area was completely flat.

The board members agreed that such plans were necessary in order to determine how a project may affect water drainage.

They also agreed they would like the option of asking an applicant for a certified plan should the project come before their board.

Iraci said board members addressed their concerns with Town Supervisor Al Salvino and were told that modifications to the law were already underway.

The issue was first raised to Salvino and the Council late last year when a resident who held a permit under the current law asked if the town would take action against excavators in the town who did not possess a permit.

Iraci said he was glad that the ZBA was able to look over a draft of the new law before the public hearing.

“We get a chance to get our oar in the water a little bit,” Iraci said.

Board votes against Winter Clove Road closure for race
The Daily Mail
Mar. 10, 2009

CAIRO — The Cairo Town Board narrowly turned down a request by the owners of Glen Falls House, in Round Top, to close a section of Winter Clove Road for a skateboard race in June.

The agility race, which would have been similar to a ski slalom race, would have been part of a larger skateboard slalom event stretched across a few days and states, Glen Falls House owner Maria Rosado said.

Rosado, and her husband, Richard, expected that around 50 athletes and their families would flock to the area for the weekend of June 13 and 14.

She said her skateboarding guests would be very interested in heading to any other events in town that weekend, such as the Summerfest at neighboring Reidlbauer’s Resort. Race organizers usually promote local businesses, she said, by asking some to create trophies that reflect a race host’s character.

“We were very excited,” she said before the board’s vote Thursday.

However, not everybody in the town was looking forward to the event.

A stretch of Winter Clove Road from Winter Clove Extension to the bridge below Glen Falls House will have to close to accommodate the racecourse.

In early February, Ed Maassmann, of the Round Top Fire Department, told the Town Board that his department was not in favor of closing the road.

He cited a recent road closure in the area for a soccer tournament that made an already busy and dangerous intersection more of a hazard.

“It was a disaster,” he said.

He also worried that emergency response time would slow down if responders driving personal cars had to show identification to guards at the top and bottom of the race.

Managers of Reidlbauer’s Resort worried that access to their resort would be cut off from one direction and people might get lost or be inconvenienced by having to take a detour to find their Summerfest.

There is a private road that runs from above the race course to Riedlbauer’s Resort, however it is unpaved and therefore could not be opened over that weekend, Ursula Nussbaumer, who owns the resort with her husband, said.

She said every event at her resort occurs on her property, not on any town property or roadways.

Despite her objections, she said in a letter to Cairo’s Town Board, she and other resort managers are not against any business promoting tourism through innovative means.

The Nussbaumers worry about the precedent set by the road closure.

“Usually roads are closed for parades, religious events or government events. When a business is making a profit on an event they should not be using a town road that is maintained by the taxpayers. If one business can ask for the town to close the road, then any business can ask the town to close the road in the future,” the letter reads.

But Rosado told the Board they were under no obligation to invite the tournament back for another year if the first race was not a success.

The Town Board also questioned how the race organizer’s insurance policy would protect the town from liability.

Councilman Raymond Suttmeier warned that even if the town was protected by an insurance policy, any athletes who were injured during the event could present a problem.

“The town will still be named in a lawsuit,” Suttmeier said.

They suggested that the race be moved to a park in town, however, Rosado said that the race’s organizer had been a long-time visitor at Glen Falls House and Winter Clove Road had been the attraction that led him to want the race in Round Top.

She suggested at last week’s meeting that some parts of the race could be moved to the park in order to shorten the duration of the road closure.

In the end, only two councilwomen, Alice Tunison and Janet Schwarzenegger voted in favor of closing Winter Clove Road for the race.

They thought the race would help stimulate economic growth in the area.

“I see the potential with it drawing people here,” Tunison said.

Councilmen Suttemeier and Richard Lorenz voted against the road closure.

Suttemeier said he was worried about the precedent closing the road would set. Lorenz said his vote was based on the advice of emergency responders who saw dangers in closing the road.

Supervisor John Coyne cast the deciding vote against the closure.

He said the town’s insurance carrier worried about the town’s liability if there was a problem, although at other points in the discussion, Coyne said that he did not want to discourage resorts from trying new things and bringing new people to the town.

The Rosados have owned Glen Falls House for about a year. Before the Board’s final decision, the Rosados discussed how their event might work with a number of other resort owners and business owners in the region.

Immediately after the vote, Maria Rosado asked how the town allowed the children to use a skateboard park.

Coyne said the park and a parents’ organization that supported the park have fallen apart, and the Board would have to address safety issues in the park this summer.

Rosado said that next year she would put the insurance companies for the town and the race’s organizer together and hope that the policy concerns that halted this year’s race could be ironed out.

“We know exactly what the town is looking for,” she said.

Lawyers focus on letter, timeline in Alden hearing
Petitioners seek to add bank to suit
The Daily Mail
Mar. 7, 2009

CATSKILL — Oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by various Cairo citizens and citizen organizations against numerous parties on the local and State level as well as against developers seeking to bring a housing and retail development to Cairo were heard Friday morning in the temporary Greene County Courthouse.

Greene County Judge George J. Pulver Jr. did not issue a ruling on the case, although he said a decision would be made in a timely manner.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs including Cairo First Inc., Cairo Plaza, LLC, J. Triple S., Inc, E. Slater, Inc., and Cairo Township Taxpayers Association, and the defendants, including the Cairo Town Board and Town Planning Board, the State Department of Environmental Conservation, State Environmental Facilities Corp. and the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, presented their cases as to whether the suit was filed after the statute of limitations had lapsed, whether the New York state and Town of Cairo violated the law by not conducting an environmental review for a sewer upgrade project and whether a councilman should have recused himself from all Town Board votes on the project.

The plaintiffs have asked that the Bank of Greene County be added as a party to the suit for its role in granting a $750,000 bond earmarked for funding the sewer project.

Pulver asked how a letter from attorney Andrew Brick of Donald Zee, P.C, lawyer for defendants Charles Maggio and Regan Development Corp., which states his clients’ wish to withdraw a motion to dismiss, affects each party’s arguments.

Lawrence Rappaport of the Office of the Attorney General, who represents the state’s interetsts, agreed that the letter’s meaning was unclear.

“It could very well mean that Maggio will withdraw,” he said.

Rappaport and Cairo Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea agreed that the lawsuit would be moot if Maggio abandons the Alden Terrace project. However, Rappleyea said, there was some question as to the fate of the sewer upgrades if the development was not built.

Plaintiffs’ counsel Andrew Gilchrist of Tuczinski, Cavalier, Gilchrist and Collura, P.C., said the letter offers no indication that the option to purchase the property will not be extended.

He said that because Town documents do not name Alden Terrace but do indicate a reliance of 75 percent of the sewer upgrade’s funding coming from a development, the suit would be relevant, regardless of whether Alden Terrace was built in Cairo.

Brick was absent from the proceedings, and so could not shed light on the motives behind his letter. Neither Brick nor Larry Regan of Regan Development Corp. responded to calls for comment Friday.

Rappaport said the DEC has moved for dismissal of the suit because the petitioners failed to bring a case before the 60-day statute of limitations had elapsed.

The proceeding was brought on Sept. 22, 2008. A longer, four-month statute of limitations was not appropriate to the situation. Later, Rappleyea made the same case. “It was brought way too late,” Rappleyea said.

In June 2007, he said, the Town proposed upgrades to their sewer system to bring it in compliance with a State Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, and proposed that 75 percent of the cost would come from the project.

The DEC requested revision of the proposal with language regarding projects lying outside the existing sewer district removed. A new proposal was submitted in April 2008.

The DEC also placed a moratorium on connection new buildings to the sewer system was placed until the system met department requirements under the permit.

That the department approved the upgrade was incidental to the legal obligation of the Town to bring its sewer system into compliance with the permit.

Rappaport argued that the plaintiffs have not proved that the department violated laws on conducting a State Environmental Quality Review by approving an engineering report. Rappleyea presented a similar argument that the Town did not violate any laws for not conducting a SEQR. They said that the review was unnecessary because a Consent Order required the sewer system to be upgraded.

Rappaport said that the Environmental Facilities Corp. may have approved a preliminarily review, but the decision was not final. The corporation will provide funding for projects that will bring the system into compliance with the SPDES permit.

Rappaport said that the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal and the State Housing Trust Fund Corp., which are listed together in the suit as one entity, are in fact distinct bodies, each with its own function. The DHCR, he said, will make a determination of tax credits once a project is completed, and the HTC asks for money upfront.

Gilchrist countered that the suit was brought well within the allowable time. Although the Town approved the Alden Terrace project in February 2008, Gilchrist said the resolution was not published until Sept. 10, 2008. The suit was brought 12 days later. He added that the Town voted on a negative declaration on the SEQR determination on Aug. 20, 2008, which was less than four months before the suit was filed.

“There is no question this is timely,” he said.

Gilchrist presented a chart showing the conclusion of the 2007 project proposal and the revised 2008 project proposal. He circled items on the chart to demonstrate the plans’ similarities.

The language regarding projects outside the sewer district, which the DEC had requested removed, was removed and replaced by the term “new customers,” but all other language in the section remained the same.

A map included with the 2007 plan showed a sewer line extension stretching down Route 32 to Main Street and connecting to the proposed development. A second sewer district on the map included the development. The 2008 map showed the line running from Route 23 to Main Street with no initial connection to a development or a second sewer district indicated on the map.

The 2008 plan, Gilchrist said, still said that 75 percent of the sewer cost would come from the development. “That was arbitrary and capricious,” he said.

He said that the sewer district was barely a year old when it started having problems. Although the initial Inflow and Infiltration Report was completed in 2001, the Town did not take steps to rectify the problems until 2007, or roughly when Alden Terrace was proposed.

“If they have to fix the I-and-I, why are they building?” he said.

He countered Rappaport’s argument that the DHCR and HTC are separate entities by pointing out that they share staff and a letterhead, which is why both names were given in the suit as one entity.

He noted that the system would accept another 60,000 gallons from an out-of-district source even though the inflow and infiltration problems had not been fully addressed.

Rappaport then pointed out that Gilchrist had overlooked the moratorium on making new connections to the system.

Gilchrist said the plans indicate that if additional users increase the inflow by 60,000 gallons, those users will pay for 75 percent of the project.

Rappaport said that the DEC had approved the upgrades, not how the upgrades would be funded.

Gilchrist said that the taxpayer organization that brought the suit was formed specifically to address taxpayer issues in the Town.

Then, he brought up the matter of Councilman Raymond Suttmeier’s failure to recuse himself from the initial vote to approve the project as well as subsequent votes to spend money. He said that because Suttmeier is part-owner of a property adjacent to the proposed Alden Terrace site, the councilman was obligated to disclose his interest.

Rappleyea countered that Suttmeier had presented the court with an affidavit that indicated he and various members of his family owned land next to the site, but that he had no direct interest in the development project.

Pulver turned next to a recently filed motion to name the Bank of Greene County as a party to the suit. He asked Gilchrist how the purchase affected his clients.

Gilchrist alleged that the $750,000 loan was only possible because of improper action by Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyne.

Coyne signed a certificate that affirmed that there was no pending litigation surrounding the project for which the money was to be used.

Gilchrist said that taxpayers in Cairo would have to pay the bank if fines were levied.

“This town is ready to go and spend that money,” Gilchrist said.

Rappaport said the town had been dragging its feet on complying until the DEC imposed a fine, and that the DEC would have imposed another fine on the Town if sand filter work had not been done. Part of the $750,000 has been used for filter work.

Rappaport asked if the petitioners really wanted their town to be subject to another fine.

Rappleyea said that although he was not present at the bond closing, the bond package and proceeding was similar to that of a mortgage closing. The package contained a document that allowed for any error to be corrected at a later date.

The erroneous certificate had been replaced in the bank file with a document that acknowledged the litigation.

“There is absolutely no fraud here,” he said.

Charles H. Schaefer of Deily & Schaefer in Catskill, representing the Bank of Greene County, urged the Court to consider and decide the pending dismissal motions before considering the motion to include the Bank in the lawsuit.

Schaefer presented a signed affidavit from Bank of Greene County President Donald Gibson stating “the legal challenge to the Bond Resolution was not known to the Bank at the tine the BAN was purchased, and was not discussed with the issuer or its representatives prior to or at the BAN closing.”

The bank, Schaefer said, was presented with a bond package prepared by the Cairo’s Bond Counsel. The bank reviewed the package, he said, and no unusual issues or problems were encountered or disclosed.

He said the bank is a community bank and regularly purchases obligations of local municipalities for investment portfolio. He said the market for such securities has shrank since the recent economic crisis began. The bank’s role in these transactions is more even more critical than ever, he said.

He said the bank was committed to make sure Cairo residents enjoyed a good quality of life and a good sewer system. The bank would not default on the loan, he said.

Gilchrist said that Coyne sent a letter on Dec. 30, 2008 stating that there was a lawsuit that sought to halt the project and that legal issues were addressed by the time of the BAN.

Rappaport said the letter had allowed the DEC to extend the date for sand filter installation. He said that the petitioner’s motion to name the bank as a party was premature. Inclusion of the bank would only make it harder for the Town to comply with the Consent Order, he said.

Pulver ruled that the letter from Brick would be added to the record.

Alden lawsuit heads to court
Oral arguments scheduled for today; Coyne says speculation is premature: “We have a lot at stake here”
The Daily Mail
Mar. 6, 2009

CAIRO — Oral arguments in the lawsuit against the proposed Alden Terrace housing and retail project in Cairo will be heard today at 9:30 a.m. at the Greene County Courthouse.

A letter was read at the Town Board meeting Thursday from Andrew Brick of Donald Zee, P.C., lawyer for developer Charles Maggio, Charles Frank and Associates, Inc., and Regan Development Corp. The letter indicated his clients’ withdrawal of a previous Motion to Dismiss.

“Please allow this letter to serve as notice that our clients’ Motion to Dismiss is being formally withdrawn. This withdrawal is due to the fact that it has recently been learned that our clients will likely not be able to secure an extension on their option to purchase the property alleged by Petitioner to require their joinder in this matter. As such, our clients no longer have an interest in continuing to actively participate in this matter,” the letter reads.

“In addition to forwarding this correspondence to the Court, we will also forward by facsimile to attorneys for all parties in advance of tomorrow’s oral arguments,” the letter concludes.

The Motion to Dismiss was filed last November.

After the letter was read Thursday, Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger asked Town Supervisor John Coyne how the ongoing sewer upgrade project would be affected should Alden Terrace never materialize.

Coyne said Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea would have to advise the board after the hearing. Attorneys for the plaintiffs could not immediately be reached for comment.

“It’s a little premature for us to say we’re not going to do anything, or we’re going to continue, until we hear officially from the court where this whole thing’s going,” he said.

Coyne said that the only current work on the sewer project includes filter installation and some exterior building work.

“We have a lot at stake here,” he said.

Cairo First, Cairo Plaza LLC, J. Triple S., Inc, E. Slater, Inc., and the Cairo Township Taxpayers Association, argue in the lawsuit that the Cairo Town Board and the Planning Board, 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 failed to follow lawful procedures in relation to obtaining funding for sewer system improvements, failed to conduct proper State Environmental Quality Review Act procedures and to hold required public hearings.