To the Editor:

The July 11 Altamont Enterprise editorial, “The sun can't shine in Westerlo until public officials stop breaking the law,” clearly described violations of the Sunshine Laws that help protect our democracy, and exposed the shell-game that seems to pass for government in Westerlo.

Resident Anita Marrone's letter added further insights and posed important questions, including, “Who is running the show?”

Governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed,...” So says our Declaration of Independence. The residents of Westerlo gave no consent for the authorization to spend up to $2.75 million for a new highway garage and renovations to the town hall. Many still don't know about it.

The legal trickery of the 30-day permissive referendum, passed before a public information session and comment, certainly disadvantaged the public, and was accompanied by a cynical trivialization of the effort involved to petition for referendum.

The rules for such a petition are strict and the people have 30 days to file. At the June 2 town board meeting, the town attorney informed the public that the 30-day period would start on the date of public notice, said first to be June 5 and later said to be June 11.

The public notice had already been submitted, however, by the town attorney to the town clerk. It was published in the June 4 issue of the Altamont Enterprise and it had the correct date: June 2, the date the board passed the resolution.

To those who say, “These are our representatives,” implying we empower them with blanket consent, I say this: Two of the members sitting on the current board were appointed when two town board members resigned immediately after the 2012 election. This practice has often been repeated in Westerlo, part of what former Councilman Jack Milner referred to as the “back door.”

These two appointed members then ran unopposed. I didn't waste my precious vote. I voted for a write-in candidate of my choice.

Representatives who truly represent the people do not assume, presume, or bypass consent. They seek it out by providing information and adequate opportunity to consider and comment.

There is no board of ethics in Westerlo. It was repealed two years ago. Nobody volunteered.

The description of the ethics board may have been a deterrent to residents, as it was to me, who may have wanted to serve. I had no confidence that an ethics board so described would be independent of town government influence.

Residents were told we could refer ethics complaints to the Albany County Board of Ethics.

I tried several times to get verification of this through the county executive's office and the county legislature, especially after the County Ethics Commission ended its oversight.

I recently spoke with a staff member in the county executive's office, and a clerk of the county legislature. They both said the county had no jurisdiction over town ethics complaints and that the mission of the County Board of Ethics relates to county personnel only. I was told our recourse in Westerlo is to the New York State Attorney General for ethics complaints and to the district attorney for criminal complaints.

In March 2014, the Office of the New York State Comptroller issued its audit of selected financial activities in Westerlo. Such audits can be a very useful tool for municipalities who wish to improve their financial practices.

The audit results include the following: “The Board and Town officials were aware of revenue shortfalls in the water district fund, but did not take appropriate action to align estimated revenues in the adopted budgets with actual rate schedules. This resulted in an accumulated operating deficit totaling more than $14,000 from fiscal years 2011 through 2013 and, ultimately, a $4,000 deficit fund balance estimated as of December 31, 2013.

“Furthermore, the water district fund owed the general fund a cumulative balance of $66,388 as of December 31, 2013. The Board continued its inaccurate budgeting practices with the 2014 budget, which makes it unlikely that the water district fund will be able to begin to repay the general fund or improve its financial condition. In addition, the Board has not adopted a multiyear financial plan to address the fund’s future financial needs.

“Poor budgeting practices, combined with the lack of a multiyear financial plan, makes it increasingly difficult for Town officials to fund operations, especially if an unforeseen emergency event should occur.”

To my knowledge, those transfers of town taxpayer dollars to the hamlet water district were not made by resolution or even mentioned at meetings.

A water board has been created to manage that resource and has made significant improvements, but as yet there is no publicly documented plan to repay the general fund.

In response to the audit, one councilman called it “a slap on the wrist,” hardly a sign that an earnest effort to address the problem is in the works.

What evidence is there that a $2.75 million capital project will be money well spent and well managed?

There is still no long-range financial planning, the town has no “extra” money, and there has been no effort to convene an economic development committee or to include the public in dealing with the financial issues that plague the town. This passivity and inaction leaves residents vulnerable to exploitive “easy-money” deals that compromise our health, safety, and welfare.

Ignoring, avoiding, deferring, and hiding are not effective management practices in personal, commercial, or governmental financial processes.

My father is a combat vet who somehow survived the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The “erosion of democracy” Anita Marrone mentioned in her letter is appalling to me. I refuse to be quiet while the sacrifices of the past and present are left out of political practice.

President Lincoln said it best, in the Gettysburg Address. That speech is every bit as relevant today as it was on Nov. 19, 1863 — what we, “the living”, must do: “...to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -— that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Best to you on Independence Day.

Dianne Sefcik

Westerlo