To the Editor:

We have a legal right to unedited recordings of town board meetings. [Guilderland Supervisor] Peter Barber and leadership edit the official recordings, which is illegal. The recordings are a public record.

If you are following the press, people are going public about the town’s lack of transparency and The Altamont Enterprise wrote two articles mentioning me using the public-comment period to express to Peter Barber dissatisfaction with his leadership [“Board hears plea for accessible parks as it releases $75K for box lacrosse field,” The Altamont Enterprise, Nov. 27, 2024].

Am I the only person in this town brave enough to stand up to him?

We will not know because this week The Altamont Enterprise published letters between Albany County Legislator Member Mark Grimm expressing his dissatisfaction with the board approving fee increases and questioned the town on overreaching fees [“Town’s fee system is an extraordinary intrusion into residents’ everyday lives,” The Altamont Enterprise, Jan. 9, 2025] while the town leadership wrote a letter demanding an apology from Mark Grimm [“Mr. Grimm owes an apology to the town employees,” The Altamont Enterprise, Jan. 16, 2025].

Were the two or more people who gave public comment [at the Jan. 21 Guilderland Town Board meeting] silenced for their public comment?

I know you can hear them saying it appears to be a malfunction but not for one minute do I believe it because over a year-and-a-half ago, I witnessed [town attorney] James Melita being trained on how to broadcast the meetings.

Here’s the silence of public comments from what may have been residents but [the sound was] working when the Altamont Library heaped praise on the town at the Jan. 21 town board meeting: https://play.champds.com/guilderlandny/event/413/s/56.

I have observed multiple town meetings particularly, Elizabeth Lott, the zoning board of appeals chair, making official statements of record that have been removed from the recordings. I filed a FOIL [Freedom of Information Law request] asking for the official CD-ROM [Compact Disk—Read-Only Memory] of the meeting.

Town Clerk Lynne Buchanan informed me there is no cd-rom recording, only the broadcast. Our former town clerk, Jean Cataldo, the most honest person I ever met, always provided the official meeting in CD-ROM.

I continue to say that Peter Barber, in my opinion, is the worst town supervisor I have known in my lifetime. I am ashamed of his leadership. In my opinion, Peter Barber is about as predictable as a Taylor Swift Easter Egg.

Christine Duffy

Guilderland

Editor’s note: In response to my question about who spoke at the start of the meeting and what was said; why they couldn’t be heard; if videos had been edited; and why CD-ROMs aren’t available, Peter Barber said:

“The first 3 minutes and 38 seconds of the broadcast of the Town Board's January 21 meeting had video but no sound because of a technical issue with CHAMP, the Town's provider. I’m not sure how it was resolved. During that time, there was a pledge of allegiance, roll call, and a public comment about whether the Town has a policy to cancel a meeting due to outdoor temperatures.

“There has been no edit of the videos of any board or committee of the Town. There is no method within the CHAMP platform for editing videos. The offline editing of a video requires special equipment and software that the Town does not possess. In any event, an offline edited video cannot be added to the Town's online CHAMP collection.

“CD-ROMs have not been available for more than 10 years. The indexed recordings of all public meetings are available at no charge on the Town website.”