Super’s wife not allowed
New trio hired to fill out FEMA forms



RENSSELAERVILLE — The public has picked up a debate that began on New Year’s Day in 2006, the day Republican Jost Nicklesberg took office as supervisor.

The two Democrats on the town board differed sharply then with the three Republicans making appointments. The Republican majority eliminated the job of clerk to the highway superintendent on that day. The supervisor said then, as he did last Thursday night, that he opposes nepotism.

The post had been filled by Joyce Chase, the wife of the Democratic highway superintendent and the mother of the Democratic councilman.

At last Thursday’s town board meeting, Nickelsberg announced, in the wake of April’s nor’easter, that forms for the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be handled by Daphne Pearson, with help from Randy Bates and K.B. Cooke.

Joyce Chase had, in the past, worked as the FEMA clerk for the town.
In a May 7 letter from William F. Ryan Jr., the attorney for the town, Ryan reports that Highway Superintendent G. Jon Chase told him that, "if he is not allowed to use his wife to assist him with the completion of these forms he will not finish them."
"He’s the highest-paid employee in town," Nickelsberg told The Enterprise this week, "and he said he won’t do his job if we don’t put in his wife."
Nickelsberg went on, "He has followed through with the threat. We’ve had to make repeated requests for paperwork, which we finally got. He won’t walk the roads and tell us what the damage was. He hasn’t come to FEMA meetings. It’s been difficult."

G. Jon Chase was not at last Thursday’s meeting and did not return a call for comment.

Joyce Chase was employed as a FEMA clerk for the town from 2001 to 2003 to apply for grants after Tropical Storm Floyd; she was paid $3,260 with funds from the $331,179 FEMA grant specifically for that service.

Mrs. Chase told The Enterprise at the time that she spent "loads more hours than she ever charged the town for," because her husband "can’t do it all."

She also spent her own time and money training to do the work the position would require, she said, taking classes in Excel and Microsoft Word in order to better manage the project. And she spent time visiting the sites; there were about 28 projects, she said.

Pearson, who will be doing over 80 percent of the current work, will be paid $15 an hour while Bates and Cooke will be paid less, Nickelsberg said.
"We will be reimbursed by the state and federal government," he said.
Nickelsberg cited their many years of experience and called them "an excellent team," stating the town is "broadening its base."
Nickelsberg also said, "We, as you know, do not hire spouses in the interest of the laws of nepotism in the state."
He added, "It’s very important for this town to have sound business practices."

The town does not have a policy on nepotism, according to Clerk Kathleen Hallenbeck.

Asked about state law on nepotism as applied to town government, Eamon Moynihan, a spokesman for New York’s Department of State, told The Enterprise this week, "Probably the right way for the town to go about it is to have the town attorney write to the New York Attorney General’s Office and ask for a written opinion."
He went on, "The issues in play would be who determines salary," which probably wouldn’t be an issue in the Rensselaerville case because the town board, not the highway superintendent, sets salary.
"And there would be questions about supervision," said Moynihan, "which could be a signifcant concern."

Lee Park, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office found just one relevant opinion on nepotism, handed down in 1993, to the town of Ticonderoga, based on General Municipal Law.
The informal opinion notes that "local governments are required to enact codes of ethics establishing standards of conduct of public officials."
It goes on, "We conclude that absent a prohibition in the local code of ethics a person may be appointed to the planning board of a town even though his father currently serves as a member of the zoning board of appeals."

Responding to the attorney general’s decision through The Enterprise, Nickelsberg said, "This whole administration operates on what’s best for the town"That is our prime and only motivation in everything we do. It can’t be an issue of putting someone in because they’re a friend"We try very hard to stay away from family appointments and get someone superbly qualified. In this case, we did."

The decision to hire Pearson, Bates, and Cooke was reached at a special meeting on June 6 by a party-line vote. Nickelsberg and his fellow Republicans, Myra Dorman and J. Robert Lansing, voted for the appointments. Democrat Gary J. Chase, the highway superintendent’s son, was not at the meeting. Democrat Sherri Pine abstained; she said she wanted to talk with the highway superintendent before voting.

Public pique

During the public-comment session towards the end of last Thursday’s town-board meeting, there were several heated exchanges over the new appointments and over the concept of nepotism.
"How’s the public supposed to know what’s going on"" asked Jeff Pine, a town assessor and the councilwoman’s husband. He expressed his frustration about special meetings, like the one in which Pearson, Bates, and Cooke were hired for FEMA applications.
"Let’s think about transparency and what’s best for the town," said Jeff Pine, asserting appointments should be discussed and made at regular monthly town-board meetings.
"Where was the notification to the public, seeking members"" asked Marie Dermody, saying the selection process for the new hires should have been open. She said the posts could have been advertised in the town’s newsletter.

A member of the town’s board of assessment review, she has taken issue with the supervisor before for eliminating the board members’ pay.

Dermody had begun her comments by chastising council members for party-line voting. Researching 280 votes, Dermody reported that Councilman Gary Chase agreed with Nickelsberg 83 percent of the time, Pine, 86 percent, and, she said, Lansing and Dorman voted with Nickelsberg 100 percent of the time.
"So much for independent thinking," she said.
"Our job is to find the best possible people," said Nickelsberg, "and we succeeded with that."
"I’m taking issue with policy and procedure," said Dermody.
"We needed to do it immediately," said Nickelsberg. "We had the FEMA people knocking at our door...We had 60 days from the time we had our initial meeting in Cohoes...probably 20 days ago to have all the site inspections, all the meetings...to get reimbursed."

When Dermody asked if the town had a written policy banning the hiring of a spouse, Nickelsberg said he didn’t know.
An argument then erupted between Nickelsberg and Councilman Chase as Chase said he hadn’t known of it and Nickelsberg countered, "You came to my house two days after being sworn in" with concerns about his mother who had done secretarial work for his father, the highway superintendent.
At the New Year’s Day meeting in 2006 where his mother’s job had been cut, Councilman Chase called the cut "a political stab in the back."

His grandfather had been highway superintendent for 30 years before his father was elected to the post, Councilman Chase said, and his grandmother had worked as his grandfather’s clerk.
"That job used to pay about $20,000," he said. "They took that job away from my dad and said he could do it on his own."
Then, since his mother helped his father with paperwork, Chase said, "A couple of years ago, they set it up so she got $10 an hour, up to $3,000. There’s a ton of paperwork you have to file for funding for roads. She was putting in millions of hours and getting paid $3,000...It’s not a conflict."
Nickelsberg said at the time of his reasons for cutting the post, "The number-one reason is cost savings. The other is a potential conflict of interest."
He went on, "There are certain rules in the state about family members being part of the government. We want to present as few conflicts as possible...
"She’s a wonderful person," he said of Mrs. Chase, "but I ran on the position there would be no conflicts or perceptions of conflicts of interest."
"You’re blowing all smoke and mirrors," Councilman Chase said to the supervisor last Thursday night, "with all kinds of BS answers for the public."
"You are possibly in danger of discrimination," Dermody told Nickelsberg. "If you’re going to enforce a verbal policy, make it legitimate," she said, stating it should be codified into town law.
"You write and speak very well," said Dorman, urging Dermody to draft a policy on nepotism for the town, an idea she rejected.
"Nepotism is not against the law," said Bonny Gifford, Gary Chase’s sister. "Every organization can adopt a policy and you can have exceptions to the rule."