To the Editor:

Westerlo's so-called “Building Committee,” under pressure of the state’s Open Meetings Law, finally held a public meeting. The committee is still made up entirely of town board members, despite residents’ insistence that it include members of the community.

If there are any other committee members, they were not mentioned or at the table on Jan. 19. Two employees of Delaware Engineering, the town attorney, and the code enforcement officer, however, were at the table.

Mr. [William] Bichteman ran the meeting and announced at the beginning that no comments were invited from the public. He should have added, “And now we're going to make it as hard as possible for the public to hear what we're talking about.”

They have microphones and speakers, but somehow we could barely hear what was said. This was especially true when Aline Galgay, the town attorney (whose back was to the public) spoke regarding funding options.

These options included the example of five-year bonds for $750,000 each, that were not subject to permissive referendum (public approval) and could be paid for by tax increases either within or beyond the 2-percent tax cap. She also mentioned the payback on this amount would be $144,000 per year.

When I do the math, this adds up to $720,000, and doesn't include interest payments.

In the course of her advisory comments Ms. Galgay addressed the Building Committee as, “You as a board, have the right to budget in...” and, “You as a board have to figure out...”

Maybe she, like the rest of us, makes no distinction between the “Building Committee” and the town board.

The progress that was made toward planning, budgeting, and staging improvements was the direct result of public refusal to support the original $2.75 million dollar plan, which included building a new highway garage.

At this meeting we learned that Supervisor [Richard] Rapp authorized an “emergency repair” to the garage roof for $12,000. This repair is guaranteed for three years, but could possibly last up to 10 years. The dire need to replace the highway garage now seems to be on the back burner.

All along, I have agreed that repairs and improvements are needed. The garage roof should have been repaired years ago when the town justices repeatedly brought the leaks in the courtroom, which is housed in the garage complex, to the attention of the town board. This “emergency” was the result of years of neglect.

Instead of authorizing the roof repair at a public meeting, with a resolution and board approval, the supervisor used his “emergency” authority to override the normal $10,000 limit on his discretionary spending.

The town board also known as the Building Committee continues to bully the public and do everything in its power to exclude us from having a voice in how our town business is conducted and our tax dollars spent.

Some years back, the Westerlo Town Board acted as the planning board and was somehow prevailed upon to turn that function over to residents. The current town board, acting as the Building Committee, is now poised to bring its own recommendations back to itself for approval.

This is a cynical, habitual, and self-perpetuating abuse of power. In my opinion, Westerlo government is a house of mirrors, reflecting only its own biases, not a lawful public authority of, by, and for the people.

Dianne Sefcik

Westerlo