Berne board is putting the town in jeopardy

To the Editor:

Well, so much for transparency. The Berne Town Board once again proves that they care nothing about hearing from the public when it goes against what they want to do.

In January, Supervisor [Sean] Lyons said that there would not be public comments at each meeting. Rather, every other month would be devoted to comments. Unusual approach, but OK.

At the February meeting, at least 40 people came out to protest actions that the board had already taken in its short month-and-one-half in office. By their own calendar, April should have been the next month devoted to public comment.

But even though they could tell that there were numerous folks who had made great effort to connect with Zoom (sometimes driving to a location that had sufficient connectivity), the lines were never open for public comment. And, unlike a regular public meeting, we couldn’t protest that as we were never unmuted.

Astoundingly, they took this a step further and proposed a “public hearing” at a time when the public can’t meet. Far from being urgent, the “public hearing” was to add two members to an already well-functioning planning board that currently has little work due to the pandemic.

In spite of the difficulties in accessing the Zoom “public hearing,” 11 people signed up to speak, all of them against the proposed expansion of the planning board. Most of us were able to make our points before the meeting was zoombombed, but some of the later speakers had a great deal of difficulty communicating their thoughts because of so much confusion and noise.

In addition, it was impossible to engage any kind of dialogue with the board because of the limitations of this technology. Furthermore, the town’s lawyer silenced Kevin Crosier’s very pertinent comments on Mr. [Thomas] Spargo’s legal difficulties by muting him.

Why? They are certainly relevant as the proposed expansion of the planning board seems to be an attempt to circumvent the legal decision against the town and reappoint Mr. Spargo.

Supervisor Lyons has said that Spargo is more in line with the current board’s vision, which raises the question of what the town board has in mind, which they assume the current planning board will not approve. As the Times Union editorial of May 4 so aptly stated, “Yes he has paid his debt to society, but that doesn’t entitle him to a post so ripe for corruption.”

Makes you wonder what devious deeds the town board is planning that only Mr. Spargo could carry out.

Acting out of emotion rather than reason, in just a few short months the board has already made several impulsive decisions with no thought to the consequences of those decisions:

— Replacing a much beloved dog-control officer for someone who has no qualifications for the job and will cost the town more money;

— Illegally fired a planning board member in an attempt to place a convicted felon as chair. Failing in that endeavor, they now propose two additional members for the planning board, which will stack the board in their favor and cost the town thousands of dollars over the course of their terms of office for their stipends;

— Giving a raise to the highway superintendent for transfer-station duties who already is paid full-time for only working part-time hours because he is working part-time at the Albany County Board of Elections. Jeff Alexander, who was at the transfer station every Saturday and did a tremendous job, never received any extra for that duty;

— Eliminating, then reinstating some committees, but tying the hands of those committees by refusing to approve chairpersons to allow them to function, and in the case of Switzkill Farm, preventing it from being a revenue source.

Each of these actions is unnecessarily costing the taxpayers money at a time when the funds communities receive from the county will be greatly curtailed due to the COVID-19 situation. Has the board even considered that? At the rate they are going, the residents of Berne will see a significant increase in their taxes.

This board is also putting this town in jeopardy in the way it has so shabbily treated the many really committed, talented, non-partisan volunteers who have served on boards out of a generous spirit of giving back to their community. Might we lose volunteers because they have had enough of these shenanigans? I sure hope not, for that would truly be a devastating blow to the Berne community. 

It is time for the town board to return to the tradition of including all the board members in discussion of goals; of thoughtfully considering actions in a public forum; and of being courteous and respectful of residents, regardless of their political affiliation, who give so much of their time and energy to make Berne the special place we have treasured. The residents of Berne deserve nothing less. 

Susan Hawkes-Teeter

Berne

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