KNOX — Knox disagrees with Albany County’s accusation that the town misappropriated $18,000 worth of road salt, and is hoping a newly-hired attorney can make its case. 

The town has contracted attorney Daniel Rubin of the firm Girvin & Ferlazzo to represent it, after learning that the firm that typically represents the town — Monaco Cooper Lamme & Carr — is already contracted by the county on other matters, according to Knox Supervisor Russ Pokorny. 

He said Rubin will be paid $250 an hour for his services. 

Rubin has been given all the information the town currently has and officials will meet with him next week to “get our facts together,” Pokorny said, adding that he thinks so far it’s “pretty clear” the town has “done its part” in upholding its end of the bargain with the county. 

The town has used the county salt shed for years, with the use of the salt tracked by the drivers who load it into their trucks. Pokorny said that “even if the logging is sloppy,” the town had purchased enough salt that the $18,000 demanded by the county last week should be an invalid figure. 

Knox has purchased 757 tons of road salt since Feb. 9, 2023, Pokorny said, and the town uses around 300 tons a year. In January, the county had accused Knox of using a full year’s worth of salt, and told The Enterprise last week that it has video evidence to prove it. 

Pokorny said this week that he “doesn’t see how” the town could possibly have used that much of the county’s share given how much the town had purchased. He also said that the town is awaiting a copy of the video the county says it has. 

In the meantime, the town still needs to figure out where it will store its salt next year, since the county has forbidden it from using the old shed. 

Building a new, town-owned shed would be convenient, Pokorny said, but expensive — somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000, according to recent bids.

He had originally estimated the cost to be much lower — $25,000 was the high end — under a plan to make a shed out of stackable concrete blocks. However, Pokorny said that it became clear that the height would need to be such that a more stable option would be necessary. 

Clever engineering could reduce the cost, as would grants, Pokorny said, but because grants take so long to process, the town would likely need a “stay of execution” from the county so that it could continue using the shed in the meantime. 

“There’s also the possibility of figuring out how we could get along with them and continue the way we have been,” he said. “All that’s on the table.”