To the Editor:

Last week, I submitted a letter titled “Berne can work together properly for the good of the community.” I cited a couple of municipal projects I worked on that resulted in new buildings and improved infrastructure for the town. Those very productive projects were discussed openly at board meetings from conception through completion.

I challenged Supervisor [Sean] Lyons’s assertion in the town newsletter that “we have many planned projects that were set aside during the pandemic that are being restarted ….”  He signs off “Working for you, Sean Lyons.” 

He lists several complex municipal projects in the newsletter that have never been discussed in board emails and have never been on a meeting agenda or discussed at meetings. I have no reason to believe any planning work has been done on these projects at all and I do not believe any preliminary plans or even exploratory correspondence exists.

Mr. Lyons, please provide documentation of this alleged work done on behalf of the taxpayer.

In my letter, I asked the supervisor if there is any correspondence documenting what has been done so far on these planned projects and who has been working on each project. Municipal water, as an example, would be an incredibly complex and awfully expensive project (creating a tax district).

Such an incredibly complex project would have enormous impacts to the taxpayer and environment, and it has been planned without my knowledge as a board member and no public discussion? Please document the status of this project so the taxpayer can appreciate the alleged work.

From my experience, a legitimate project would require an exploration committee before actual serious consideration or planning of a complex project like municipal water even begins. That committee would include at least one town board member and would report findings to the entire board in public meetings.  Legitimate municipal projects are not planned and progressed in the dark, without the knowledge of the entire board and with no public board discussion.

Mr. Lyons, in his Enterprise published response to my challenge for documentation of these “planned projects” states, “It is normal for projects to begin without public knowledge, since certain logistical steps like bidding need to be taken before a plan can be developed .…”

In what alternative universe? What bids are accepted without town board knowledge or discussion prior to board or public knowledge of a proposed project? It is not “normal.”

I challenge the supervisor to document any such secret bidding process that took place without my knowledge as a board member on any of these projects.

Mr. Lyons goes on to explain in his response that he knows “as well as anyone that any projects like those I have listed must undergo months of board discussions, public involvement and feasibility and environmental impact studies to name just a few steps.”

Mr. Lyons, you took credit for this process as if it was underway in numerous projects in the town newsletter.

As a board member, I am not aware of any work done, not even a preliminary board discussion of a basic proposal that any of these projects even be considered! I can only assume you did not work on these “planned projects” at all unless you publicly provide documentation of the status of these secret projects.

Please prove me wrong. Submit documentation of the status of these “planned projects” to The Enterprise or post the project files on the town website. Let’s see the correspondence at least.

And, if you can document all this alleged work, please explain why there was no board discussion of these “planned projects.” You are taking credit for an incredible amount of work supervising the development of these complex secret projects and implying the GOP-backed board majority has been working with you.

Maybe you delegated the development of these projects to Deputy Supervisor [Dennis] Palow? Perhaps he could provide the documentation of the status of these projects. Any documentation that any board member did any work at all on these projects would be appreciated.

As a board member, I need to know what the board has done on these projects, who did the work, and when it was done. Otherwise, Mr. Lyons, I must assume these planned projects do not exist and you published falsehoods in the town newsletter to misrepresent the accomplishments of a GOP-majority board as election season begins.

Joel Willsey

Berne Town Board