To the Editor:

What’s eating Councilman Bill Bichteman?

The Westerlo Town Board recently voted to try again to get the residents of Westerlo to allow the town board to go ahead with basically the same big construction plan that was voted down last year. This time they’re starting by asking us to let them borrow up to $887,000 to pay for the work they think should be done on the town hall.

Bill Bichteman appears to have taken on this plan as his personal project. He set up and ran meetings of a Building Committee basically to approve and recommend to the town board the same plan Delaware Engineering came up with (after being paid thousands of dollars) last year.

Bill refused to let the public hear or comment on what was being said by the committee and the representative from Delaware Engineering. I also believe he refused to consider any alternatives from the public or from Ed Lawson, the town’s every experienced code enforcement officer. Now Bill’s told the town board and the public that this plan is the best, most economical way to do what must be done.

I strongly believe he’s wrong. This plan has big problems. It’s not the only or best way to fix the town hall, and fixing the town hall (with its serious problems) isn’t the only or best way to get Westerlo what it actually needs. However, what you’re being allowed to vote on in the general election on Nov. 8 is just whether or not to let the town board borrow the money to do this plan.

In the next few weeks, the public will be hit with information from both sides of this argument. I would like to simplify it for you. Here’s how I believe the town board got us into this mess:

— Town Supervisor Richard Rapp decided to buy the school with state grants but did not get money or even find out what it would cost to renovate and remodel the school the way Bill now insists it must be done;

— Voters approved the purchase based on what I believe to be misinformation in being told getting the school and using it as the town hall would be free because of the grants;

— Delaware Engineering was hired to scope out repairs or replacement of the old town hall;

— Delaware Engineering decided the old town hall should be replaced with a new highway garage costing over a million dollars and no longer housing the town court;

— Delaware Engineering decided the town hall should be remodeled to house the town court and State Troopers, and estimated that work would cost about $800,000 without an allowance for asbestos other than the basement;

— Bill as councilman appeared to take on the Delaware Engineering plan as his personal project, insisting all this work had to be done right now, even though the town’s hurting for money and the roof was patched on the old town hall so it doesn’t rain in the court any more;

— Bill got the town board to vote to spend another $60,000 on Delaware Engineering so Delaware Engineering could firm up its plan;

— Delaware Engineering came up with about the same plan at about the same costs, now with another $45,000 to Delaware Engineering for running the project but still not with a clear and adequate plan for dealing with asbestos;

— The town attorney, Aline Galgay, told Bill this can be financed without allowing a referendum;

— After a lot of complaints, Bill declined Aline’s proposal and recommended to the town board a referendum on borrowing up to the $887,000 budget for Delaware Engineering’s town hall plan;

— Bill admitted he doesn’t know what the actual costs will be and said that didn’t matter because the actual costs are completely unknown, despite all the money paid to Delaware Engineering to estimate them. We won’t know until the work is put out for bid, and we have no control over whether the town board will accept any bids;

— I believe all Bill wants is authority to borrow a lot of money to be repaid by Westerlo taxpayers;

— The town board went for Bill’s pitch and that’s what we’re allowed to vote on at the general election on Nov. 8.

Dick should never have agreed to buy the school. Bill’s now telling us the most economical thing to do is spend almost a million dollars on Delaware Engineering’s plan. Who wants to fix a tired building full of asbestos when that money could buy a new building designed to be a town hall?

I firmly believe we’re being set up to then spend well over a million dollars more to replace the highway garage (the rest of the Delaware Engineering plan). Bill is insisting there are no alternatives and that all this must be done right now.

The town’s major employer, Hannay Reels, will be hit with a big tax bill for this, along with many families struggling with various economic hardships. It’s up to us to protect both our own tax bills and the company that employs so many in Westerlo.

No one knows why Bill appears so determined to stick us with this, but his determination is now close to costing us a lot of money for something we don’t need and could do better with a different approach when we do need it. We need to stop that and find out why Bill, who’s done such good work with the water district, can’t hear reason about this.

Mimi Dygert

Westerlo

Editor's note: See related article.