To the Editor:

I am writing this letter in response to a letter to the editor written by Anita Clayton [“Look behind the scenes before you vote,” The Altamont Enterprise, Oct. 16, 2025].

First things first, please spell my name correctly; it is Thiem.

Second, yes it is true that we three resigned from our positions on the town board and, as you very well know, we did so for good reasons. As proof submitted to The Altamont Enterprise shows, a fourth town board member was also considering asking Supervisor [Dennis] Palow to resign.

Third, “an obtainable four year plan was in place.” Are you serious? A plan to keep a town from going bankrupt is not a plan! We need a plan that looks at our town’s future needs and plans for rainy days!

Fourth, yes the zoning in Berne is in desperate need of repair with which Joe [Martin], Leo [Vane] and I also agree but let me ask you, Anita, what have you done to better this problem in your time in office? Did you even give it any thought till Joe Martin brought it to your attention? I think not.

The next false allegation you make is that, immediately after being elected to the town board, Mr. Martin “tried to get Supervisor Palow out.” This is not exactly what transpired at that time as you are well aware.

As you know, allegations were made at that time by a town employee against Supervisor Palow that we as town board members were obligated to address. After addressing this very difficult situation, for which you were in attendance, Mr. Martin received a message from Supervisor Palow stating, “You are no longer my deputy supervisor.”

This was clearly a retaliation for doing what it was that we as town board members were obligated to do. At this time, it was clear to us that we would not be able to function properly as a town government due to a total lack of respect and communications about town business.

As per the false allegations about Mr. Martin and him wanting to bring in all the vendors that work for his business in Albany, that is total nonsense. We three board members believed that it was the responsibility of the town to put certain town services up for bid every few years to insure that our town was spending its money wisely. 

Next I would like to address the comment that “maybe favors were owed” to our vendors. Would you like to elaborate on that?

Moving on to some other false allegations made, Leo, Joe, and myself were working on a town project that would greatly improve and upgrade the antiquated costly lighting in the town park to a much more efficient LED [light-emitting diode] lighting, which would have made a major improvement to the park at a very minimal expense.

The project was being cost shared by the Little League and the majority of labor was to be done for free. The money for this project was minimal and well within the Parks and Rec’s budget.

Next I would like to speak about our senior center. We believe that the seniors who have given so much to our community deserve a better place to come together. It was also very clear that the building needed to be upgraded with its lighting, heating system, and be made ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant.

The current heating system is highly inefficient and so noisy that it needs to be shut down during board meetings, and any gatherings where people need to hear what is being said. I believe our seniors and community deserve better!

We also realized we did not have the money to do this and any money would have to be obtained via grants. In order to successfully obtain a grant for this purpose, a more specific engineering report was necessary.

The existing engineering plans that you referred to were for a combination community-center and town-hall project, which we simply did not have the parking or space to accommodate. As per our grant writer, those plans would not be sufficient to obtain grant money for upgrades to our senior center should they become available.

I personally feel that the town can continue to do business at the current town hall location with minor improvements. 

As for the highway-garage project, I understand that the garage is old and in poor condition, that I will not argue with, but do you really think this town is ready to take out a bond for such a large project in its current financial position?

It is my opinion that the garage be made safe and run under proper leadership and that we focus on making our fleet more dependable so that our highway department staff can spend more time working on our roads and not on our trucks!

Once we rebuild our town’s finances, we can then consider moving forward with the costly project of the new highway garage that we desperately need. 

In closing, Anita, I am personally sick and tired of you instigating political divide in our town and your continuous slanderous comments. It is our hope that we the people of Berne can work together in the future to make our town the best it can be by working together towards our common goals !

Albert Thiem

Former Councilman

Berne