To the Editor:

I find it appalling and unthinkable that people will support someone:

— Who has failed to perform the duties of the office. He asked for the job, it was not forced upon him;

— Who lies, and who misrepresents the truth;  

— Who violates the law.

The primary duty of the office of town supervisor as defined by the state of New York is to attend to the financial paperwork of the town. The failure to file was not a mistake!

If a month or two after notifying the supervisor that the town was in violation of the law, had he shown up at a board meeting, told everyone that he had looked into the matter and was rectifying it, that would have been a believable mistake.

I didn’t even reach out to the Office of the State Comptroller until August 2018 after documenting months of his claims that I was wrong, as was the comptroller’s office.  His current claim is an absurd attempt to rewrite the past. (For the record, the OSC regional office asked for the name(s) of any of the staff that the supervisor alleged had advised him not to file “so that a violation with a bond anticipation note wouldn’t be part of the town’s record” as he wanted to personally address this false statement with them.

The supervisor said he had no names. This is ridiculous on multiple levels:

— First, it is blatantly untrue (there is and will always be a legislative record of the town’s error);

— What business professional, never mind one that makes a living in finance, does not record the name of someone giving them advice to break a law?

For the record, contrary to the claims of Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis, Knox’s population has been experiencing growth for years, not declining (including during the recession). The town’s population in 2000 was 2,647. It has steadily increased to 2,818 in 2017. And, the number of homes has increased, too, from 1,041 in 2000 to 1,167 in 2017. This data was provided by American FactFinder which publishes all the data from the Census and American Community Survey.

The supervisor talks about fairness in the makeup of the town’s volunteer boards. He boasts that a significant amount of family and friends used to be appointed, but now there are only two. I know of 10 people that are employed/serving the town with the supervisor’s approval.

Is it better that he appoints people who appear to be dependent on him financially? Or, who think only  like him? People who have little background in any of the areas they are making decisions on? People who don’t know the laws, policies, procedures and rather than educate themselves cast a vote anyway?  That is not any more diverse!

Claiming that the Multi-use Residential District is desired by a majority of the town based on a survey that had less than a 20 percent response rate? The lowest acceptable response rate that I am aware of in state government to claim a legitimate result is 40 percent … 

One number the supervisor got right is the $980,000 in cash reported at the end of 2015.  Unfortunately, his 2018 cash balance reported was only $1,310,966. While this may seem a significant increase in four short years, it doesn’t take into account that the cash was a high of $1,880,230 under Mr. [Michael] Hammond in 2009.  An amount that got depleted during the recession by not passing on the lower county distributions to the taxpayers, building the town hall, and covering costs associated with multiple emergencies including Tropical Storm Irene in 2010.

Many of those funds laid out to cover those unanticipated expenses were recouped in federal aid over the past few years during Supervisor Lefkaditis’s term (even though work to realize the funds was completed by residents and board members prior to him taking office and he was not involved in the sit downs with FEMA). So, he can’t legitimately claim that he has turned this town around financially. 

Unfortunately, we can’t use his $1.7 million as an accurate representation of cash on hand, because you have to compare apples to apples and that means end of fiscal year to end of fiscal year.  It is also suspect to believe those numbers, as we have no idea what the status of the current budget is.

His Oct. 23 budget workshop provided no year-to-date information on the draft budget (which has a column for Expenditures/Revenues to Aug. 31, 2019 — all left blank). It is impossible to evaluate whether his cash numbers or budget numbers make any sense for the next year without comparing them to actual numbers for this year. 

I have witnessed the zoning board vote to allow another business to open doors while the building was still out of compliance with ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] parking guidelines. Mr. [Dennis] Cyr brought it up, that it needed to be addressed, but then ultimately voted to allow the business to move forward.

I get it, why hold the young couple eager to start a business responsible, but if not for being unable to rent, why would the owner remedy the problem?  It had gone on for years. Considering that Mr. Cyr makes a living making prosthetic devices I hoped that he would be a champion for doing the right thing for those struggling with disabilities, but I was disappointed when I saw a “layer of protection” fail …

I have also witnessed Mr. [Thomas] Wolfe tell the planning board that it was OK to approve something despite a missing component that had been previously identified by the board as necessary in order to be able to act on the request. The board subsequently voted and passed the request. Another “layer of protection” discarded ...

Additionally, several planning board members have openly stated at times that they knew nothing about something before them for a vote, and, rather than ask for time to educate/familiarize themselves on the subject, they cast a vote.

I do respect people who volunteer their time, but there are many other noble causes that don’t come with the added perks of power or money and I recognize that we have many people in our wonderful community who give of themselves in many different ways, behind the scenes, unsung heroes.

I honestly had no expectation when I attended my first board meeting in March, 2018, that my life would be forever changed, sometimes for the good, sometimes not. I have spent countless hours doing research, compiling data, talking to state agencies, trying to hold our elected officials accountable and inform the rest of our community as well.

Do I have opinions? You betcha! But I also exist in the world of finance.

As far as I’m concerned, people lie, numbers don’t. Every number I have published has been reported by either our elected officials, the state of New York, or the federal government.

I don’t “shoot from the hip” when I talk about money, and I expect that anyone handling my tax dollars better not either. Please vote for the town you want to have, but please make sure that the candidates you choose will actually abide by the laws, policies, and procedures of the job(s). Make sure that they tend to tedious details, because in the end, that is what runs a municipality, not glory.  

 I have attached a summary table of the financials from 1995 to 2018 for your self-education.

Brigitte McAuliffe

Knox

Editor’s Note: Vasilios Lefkaditis responds that he did what the letter-writer calls for at the September 2017 meeting as reflected in the minutes. He also notes there is a legislative record of the Senate and Assembly bills dealing with the BAN error.

Thomas Wolfe, chairman of the Knox Planning Board, responded, "All of the members of the Town of Knox Planning Board are dedicated and thoughtful individuals who carefully weigh the merits of every proposal brought before our board. Mrs. McAuliffe may disagree with some of the decisions made by the board, but  it is unjustifiable for her to question their competency.​"