SusanCampriello: My Works

Athens Town OK’s fill law
The Daily Mail
May 21, 2009

ATHENS — A new local law requiring a permit for depositing or dumping more than 1,000 cubic yards of materials within a one-year period in the Town of Athens was adopted Monday night.

The law repeals Chapter 180 Zoning Section 24 of the Town Code, which governed material excavation, removal, fill and deposition within the Town.

The Board changed language regarding the time period during which the permit is needed from 90 days to one full year after the Zoning Board of Appeals and audience member April Paluch asked for a clarification of the 90 day-limit.

Councilman John Lubera said he thought the law meant that that the permit would be good for 90 days.

He told Paluch that someone would not need a permit if they deposited 900 cubic yards every three months, but if they deposited 1,000 cubic yards, they would need a permit.

“That is 2,800 yards in a year’s time,” Town Supervisor Albert Salvino said.

Town Attorney Carl Whitbeck told the Board that the language could be changed if they were uncomfortable with the limits.

Lubera suggested that the 90-day time period be changed to one year, and the Board agreed.

Other changes from earlier drafts include language regarding wetlands and bonds.

The law states that the Code Enforcement Officer will evaluate the significance of any wetlands on a property.

The Code Enforcement Officer and the Town Highway Superintendent will decide together whether a bond is needed and for what amount. A bond may be required to cover rehabilitation costs for property or road damage incurred during work.

Audit shows lack of fiscal oversight in Cairo
State Comptroller’s examination of fiscal 2007 reveals weaknesses
The Daily Mail
May 20, 2009

CAIRO — The office of the state Comptroller released Tuesday the findings of a recent audit of the Town of Cairo that shows “weaknesses in internal controls over virtually every aspect of the Town’s fiscal operations.”

The audit was conducted through a series of interviews with Town officials and reviews of documents including employee handbooks and policy manuals, budgets, receipts, bank statements, claim vouchers and personnel files from Jan. 1, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2007 and samplings of earlier documents.

The audit presented no evidence of fraud, theft or professional misconduct.

According to the report, Town and Board records revealed oversight shortcomings concerning payrolls and withholdings, appropriations and bookkeeping during the audit period.

“We found no evidence that the Board had audited the financial records and reports of the Supervisor or other Town officers and employees who received or disbursed moneys on behalf of the Town for the 2006 and 2007 fiscal years,” the audit read.

Auditors found that three employees were paid greater hourly rates than those approved by the Board.

The Town did not appropriately administer health care deductions for two employees, according to the report.

An audit of 23 withholdings and remittances the Town made to the government and to vendors for retirement, deferred compensation, accident insurance, life insurance and union dues revealed five errors for between $63 and $813.

The report states that the amount of money withheld for union dues from 10 employees was less than the amounts remitted by $813.

Auditors reported that pay rate changes were not reported to the union treasurer in a timely manner, resulting in an incorrectly calculated rate for union dues withheld.

A review of 152 general and highway appropriation accounts active in 2007 showed that 41 of those accounts were over-extended by a combined total of $222,044.

In 2007, water fund appropriations were overexpended by $14,575 and sewer funds by $9,234, the audit report claims.

The combined water, sewer, lighting and hydrant district’s fund balances decreased $125,561, from a surplus of $90,266 on Dec. 31, 2003 to a deficit of $35, 295 on Dec. 31, 2007, according to the audit report.

Of 61 purchase claims sampled in the audit, 31 purchase claims totaling $201,436 lacked proper documentation to prove that goods and services were received, auditors reported.

Auditors also reviewed reports submitted by former Town Supervisor Joseph Calcavecchia.

According to the report, the audit indicated that Calcavecchia did not authorize bank transfers totalling $990,864.

The report said that Calcavecchia did not keep timely and accurate accounting records. For example, the audit showed that more than $21,000 of receipts were posted to incorrect revenue accounts.

Calcavecchia did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Town Supervisor John Coyne defeated Calcavecchia in 2007 by a vote of 1,213-780.

Coyne said Tuesday he began implementing number of the recommendations made by the Comptroller’s Office when he took office in January 2008.

For example, a bookkeeper was hired and the tasks of billing, collecting and depositing water and sewer payments was split between three employees, he said.

He said account checkbooks are balanced and financial records have been audited by the state and an outside auditor.

Examiners found that of 22 purchases sampled in the audit, 21 purchases, totaling $166,070, were made without evidence of employees having obtained written or verbal quotations, that they sought price comparisons or that they used any other price comparison methods. Coyne said a sewer filter purchased at the end of 2007 was one purchase that had not properly gone out to bid. The purchase process was begun anew in 2008, he said.

Coyne said that before he took office he had been unaware of issues with the development and implementation of procedures to document water and sewer billings presented to the Board within the minutes.

Coyne said was unaware the Board had problems with documenting financial statements presented to the Board in the minutes. He said he will discuss the inclusion of these statements as well as the water and sewer bills with the Board at tonight’s Board meeting.

He said the Town has not established policies and procedures regarding use and security of the Town’s information technology system, as per the Comptroller’s request.

“It needs to be addressed,” he said.

Councilwoman Alice Tunison, who served on the board during the period audited, said she recalled board meetings at which audience members would inquire about bids and vouchers.

“Things of similar nature were discussed at our meetings,” she said.

She said the Town has hired a thorough and conscientious bookkeeper.

“Things are changing,” she said.

The Board must present a corrective action plan to the Comptroller within 90 days.

The complete audit report can be downloaded from the Comptroller’s Website at www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/towns/2009/cairo.pdf - 2009-05-18.

No day in court for horse owner Paragallo
Hearing rescheduled for May 22
The Daily Mail
May 19, 2009

COXSACKIE — A court appearance by Ernest Paragallo, owner of Center Brook Farm in Climax, has been rescheduled for May 22, at 5:30 p.m.

Paragallo, 51, of Massapequa, was originally scheduled to appear Monday in front of Justice Thomas Fori at Coxsackie Town Court.

Michael Howard, of Michael C. Howard, PC, of Hudson, who represents Paragallo, requested that the proceedings be rescheduled so he could gather more papers for the case, according to court staff.

Howard said Monday afternoon that he was still collecting information but could not comment further.

District Attorney Terry Wilhelm said Sarah Leggio, from his office, will handle the case, but also offered no other comment.

Paragallo was arrested April 10 and charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty. He faces up to one year in jail and could be hit with a $1,000 fine for each count.

Police and animal protection officers investigated abuse claims at the Coxsackie farm on April 8. They awarded custody of 67 of the 177 horses at the farm to the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA.

Ten more horses were surrendered to the CGHS/SPCA in early May, Ron Perez, the society’s executive director said Monday afternoon.

In total, 69 horses have been adopted through the society by owners in the Northeast and as far away as Kentucky and Canada.

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation will take any horses who are not adopted, Perez said.

Perez said the horses who remain at Center Brook Farm have been deloused and their rain rot has cleared up.

“They are doing great,” he said, “they are doing much better.”

Seven cats await being matched with their pedestals Monday in the Catskill Police Station bay. The cats, and 53 others, will be placed along Main Street this week.

Officials say new Empire Zone rules could hurt development
The Daily Mail
May, 18, 2009, online

New rules for Empire Zone certification and tax credits could harm business development, according to planners and legislators.

The new rules, which were part of the state budget passed earlier this year, reduce the amount of tax credits a business could receive by 25 percent to 75 percent, County Economic Development, Tourism and Planning Director Warren Hart said.

These changes, he said, could undermine the zone’s usefulness as a magnet for attracting businesses.

The zone, which includes four areas in Greene County, it has been “extremely productive … using the tool for attracting businesses.”

“It is the single largest economic tool the state has,” he said.

New and future businesses opening within the Empire Zone include Empire Merchants North and Ducommun AeroStructures Inc., both in Coxsackie, and the Peckham Industries facility, in Athens.

Empire State Development spokeswoman Katie Krawczyk wrote in an e-mail last week that the reforms also offered more strict requirements for inclusion in the program.

For example, businesses that claim more tax benefits than economic benefits they provide to the community in wages or capital investments in their facilities must be decertified.

Businesses that reincorporated and listed existing jobs as new jobs must also be decertified, she said.

And, decertification is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008.

“Going forward, new businesses to the program must meet a 20-to-1 benefit-cost test, ten-to-one for manufacturers,” she wrote.

In a letter sent earlier this month, State Sen. James L. Seward, R-Oneonta, urged Gov. David A. Paterson to change these guidelines.

He wrote that forcing businesses to reapply for certification if they meet the new criteria, as required under the new rules, could take as long as six months. It could be another six months, he wrote, before tax refunds are received.

“This situation essentially creates at least a year-long, interest-free loan,” he wrote.

Warren Hart said Greene County has attracted businesses that meet both the old and the new certification criteria.

“We have got very good companies and very good projects,” he said.

Area boundary modifications

Hart also said the legislature was investigating how and when modifications to Empire Zone area boundaries in Greene County could be made.

Currently, part of one area in Athens includes two residential properties.

Krawczyk explained that each 1,280-acre Empire Zone in the state can contain lands zoned as commercial, industrial, residential or mixed use.

“Some residential property may incidentally fall within the zone,” she wrote.

She said some communities include areas zoned as mixed use to encourage residents to settle in “downtown” portions of cities or towns in an effort to revitalize them or develop waterfront areas.

Krawczyk said Empire Zone area boundaries have been redrawn only a few times since 2005, when the number of times a boundary could be changed was limited. Zone boundaries can be modified only once within a year, she said.

Hart said this limit has contributed to the issues around the Athens area Zone 3 and said the legislature was looking into how and when those boundaries in Athens were modified.

He said county legislators would be smart to map out all boundary line changes before sending their request for approval to Albany.

“[The process] can take a substantial amount of time,” he said.

Cotten calls on community to remember veterans’ sacrifices every day of the year
The Daily Mail
May 18, 2009, online

CATSKILL-Dozens of veterans and family members of fallen soldiers gathered at the Cementon Sportman’s Club Sunday to honor those who lost their lives serving overseas.

County Legislator Forest Cotten, D-Catskill, addressed the audience, reminding them that Memorial Day and Veterans Day occur 365 days a year. He also called for children to learn respect and understanding for soldiers in schools.

“Every day another soldier may die in the line of duty and every day another one comes home to his or her family for the first time after many months,” Cotten said.

He explained that although he did not serve in the military, several members of his immediate and extended families have, some of them completing several tours of duty, which helped him to understand the sacrifices made by every soldier.

Cotten said when he was a student, his school’s curriculum included the opportunity for classroom discussions of Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

His daughters, who attend school in Catskill, have no similar in-class dialogues, Cotton pointed out.

He said that although younger children might not understand the full extent of such a sacrifice, they have the capacity to learn that those sacrifices have made the country great.

“What we really need to do is get back to educating our children within the schools so that they understand the value of the sacrifices that you have made,” he said, speaking directly to the 14 veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam in attendance.

After Cotten’s speech, the assembly sang a number of patriotic songs including “Grand Old Flag,” “America, The Beautiful” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” as well as the newer “God Bless the U.S.A.”

Veterans were invited to stand and be recognized during the singing of the anthems of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force.

Joan Young, the secretary/treasurer of the war memorial committee, who served as the master of ceremonies, invited the guests to stay for lunch and to discuss school issues with Cotten’s wife Beverly, who is running for a seat on the Catskill Central School District’s Board of Education.

The annual event, organized by Frank Mucich, also featured prayers led by Louis Honecker, chaplain of the Saugerties Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5034.

Option for school programs
NYSSBA rep talks creation of a C-A education foundation
The Daily Mail
May 15, 2009

ATHENS — State School Boards Association Deputy Executive Director Rita Lashway visited a meeting of the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District Board of Education to promote the creation of an education foundation.

Such a foundation, she said, could raise money for the purchase of learning materials and equipment as well as to provide additional training for teachers and administrators.

“Regardless of whether you raise $100 or $100,000, everything helps,” she said.

Lashway used an ongoing program that brings elementary school students to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse as an example of something that could be funded by the foundation.

She said an education foundation could offer residents a new opportunity to help facilitate the creation of, and provide the necessary financial support for, school programs.

The foundation would not be under the control of the school board. A member of the school board could act as a liaison but wound not vote on foundation issues.

She said that such a foundation requires dynamic and creative people who are not afraid to ask for money.

“Leadership is what makes an effective foundation,” Lashway said.

She said school board members should select people for the foundation board who can stay motivated and stay accountable to donors and their wishes.

“Donors are a very important of this equation,” she said.

The first members of the foundation board would be responsible for drafting the foundation’s laws, by-laws and vision, which will be adhered to by future foundation board members, she said.

Lashway responded to a question posed by school board member Joseph Cardinale that no donation to the foundation will be tax deductible until the foundation is awarded status of a non-profit organization.

She told school board member Russ Nadler that an educational foundation could be organized within an existing community organization. The umbrella organization could take a percent of whatever money is raised by the educational foundation, she said, and it could exercise some control of how the foundation’s money would be spent.

Lashway told the board that creating a foundation would be time consuming and not without its difficulties; however, many other school districts in the state have successfully created education foundations.

“They all have stories and nine out of 10 stories are good ones,” she said.

Money tight for new walks
Sidewalk construction on Allen Street unlikely this year
The Daily Mail
May 13, 2009

CATSKILL — Resident Brian Kehoe has approached the Catskill Village Board to request that sidewalks be installed along Allen Street between Route 9W and Route 23B.

Kehoe said walking with his wife and 18-month-old son from their Allen Street home to Main Street is dangerous.

“We really feel threatened on that portion of Allen Street,” he said.

Kehoe sent a letter explaining the perils to the board in December, and met with Village President Vincent Seeley shortly afterward.

In the letter, he wrote that sight lines on Allen Street were poor, that motorists speed on the road and that the corner of Allen Street and Route 23B is dangerous.

Kehoe said that at the time Seeley had been receptive to the idea of building sidewalks on Allen Street and had called the project “quite possible.”

However, Seeley has now said that new sidewalks there could not be factored into this year’s budget.

“We are really tight with our money this year, and we are really trying to be conscientious of the tax rate,” Seeley said.

He suggested that Kehoe lobby to get the sidewalks inserted into a line item during the budget appropriations meeting May 20.

Seeley said the Village has no plans for installing any new sidewalks this year.

Village Department of Public Works Superintendent Lewis O’Connor said sidewalks could only be installed on the left side of the street between Route 9W and Route 23B, and that homeowners there would bear the brunt of the cost.

Kehoe asked if a crosswalk across Route 23B could be constructed.

O’Connor said a crosswalk at the junction of Allen Street and Route 23B would have no sidewalk to which it could connect.

He said that creating a crosswalk from an existing sidewalk could cost $1,000 in manpower hours as well as in curb-cutting and concrete pouring expenses.

Seeley closed the discussion by saying he would investigate what money for sidewalk projects could be available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Burying power lines, not praising them
Village hopes to change “rat’s nest” appearance on utility poles
The Daily Mail
May 12, 2009

CATSKILL — The Catskill Village Board passed Monday night a resolution that will allow utility lines connected to new homes and businesses to be buried underground.

Lewis O’Connor, Village Department of Public Works superintendent, explained that Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. does not allow its lines to run underground from poles to buildings without authorization from a municipal government.

“They do not want their utilities underground in the Village of Catskill because we do not have a resolution saying they can do that,” he said.

Village President Vincent Seeley told the board he wanted to require lines to be buried for aesthetic reasons.

Seeley said that in the future, when fiber optic lines come to Catskill, old wires will remain on utility poles, adding to what he called a “rat’s nest” of wires.

“If you look around the Village, that is out of control,” Seeley said.

The board, however, did not agree that all new lines should have to go underground.

Trustee Angelo Amato said he would not favor mandating that lines be buried based only on aesthetic reasons.

He worried that burying lines could raise the price tags on construction and utility bills.

Seeley said burying the lines could have raise these costs. He said Central Hudson staff did mention that identifying and mending a damaged line is much easier when lines are exposed than when lines were underneath a yard or a road.

Trustee Joseph Kozlowski, who had lines on his property that run to a nearby utility pole buried by a contractor, said laying the lines could be difficult in some places.

“If you do not have a telephone pole close to you, you would have to go through somebody else’s property to put the line underground,” he said, adding that a homeowner would have to pay to have roads dug up and then replaced.

Koslowski suggested the board pass a resolution that will allow Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. to run their power lines underground until the board can discuss and pass a more substantial resolution or write a local law regarding the placement of power lines.

Although the resolution was designed to allow lines to new homes and businesses to be laid underground, Seeley said that property owners can request that their existing lines be buried, as well.

Residents and business owners would have to pay for the work, he said.

Powerlines at the intersection of Grandview Avenue and Route 9W

Lecture stresses importance of planning for future life events
The Daily Mail
May 11, 2009, online
May 13, 2009, in print

CATSKILL - Attorney Andrea Lowenthal led the first of what may be several panel lectures about the importance of planning for life events Saturday morning at the Catskill Community Center.

Joined by two health care professionals, she discussed with the audience the different care and legal options people can choose as they prepare to battle illnesses or for unexpected events.

The program, which will include future lectures that will cover caregiving agreements, estate planning and trusts, Lowenthal said, grew out of what she saw as a resistance among clients to make decisions about the future.

“Having the information about what these documents are empowers you,” she said, “the focus is really on taking charge of your decisions instead of letting other people take charge of them when and if something happens.”

A living will details a patient’s wishes, rather than allowing an agent to make a substitutive decision as does a proxy form.

She warned that someone granted “durable power of attorney” could begin abusing that power as soon as it is validated, however the designation of “springing power of attorney” only goes into effect once certain conditions are made.

She said that people who have witnessed the death, or illness, of someone close may consider their own future care needs differently than those who have not.

Lowenthal explained that people should not wait until they are old to discuss their health care wishes and decide who can be a health care proxy with someone they can trust.

“You have got to get comfortable with the idea that there is someone in your constellation of your family and friends who can do this for you,” she said.

She suggested that two alternative proxies should be chosen in case a first or second choice person is unable to perform their duties.

Medical orders for life-sustaining treatment and other important forms can be posted on a refrigerator so that emergency personnel can easily find them, she said. Last wills and testaments, living wills and power of attorney forms should be kept in a water and fire proof box, she said.

Tammy Jo Chewens, a registered nurse and certified hospice and palliative nurse who is a case manager at the Community Hospice of Columbia/Greene, said that caregivers and those who need care are faced with a number of choices.

Decisions can be made, she said, including whether to modify a house or apartment to accommodate limited mobility or to move into an assisted living facility.

She suggested that people compile a financial profile and a list of people who can be contacted in case of an emergency. Pharmacists can provide information about medications and risks, she said, adding that people should buy all their medications from one pharmacy.

Information for caregivers can be obtained from the Greene County Department for the Aging, Greene County Public Health, Greene County Mental Health, the Healthcare Consortium and Community Hospice of Columbia/Greene.

“It is okay to ask for help,” Chewens said.

Linda Karlsson, a registered nurse and a clinical manager with United Health Care, explained that resting, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and lowering stress levels can keep people healthy.

Stress relief, Karlsson said, can stop the release of damaging toxins in the body.

She said that people can confront their fears of the unknown future by discussing care needs.

She reiterated the seminar’s theme that knowledge is power and suggested that people bring written symptoms and questions to appointments with doctors and lawyers.

“In order to make a good choice, you need to learn,” she said.