Controversy as board disagrees on issues, land-use planning
...Cass closed, former supers arrested

RENSSELAERVILLE — In this rural Hilltown, 2007 was marked with controversy as the politically-divided town board disagreed on nearly every issue. Controversy also surrounded town planning as new laws were drafted for land use.

Theft on a large scale was uncovered after an investigator with the Albany County Sheriff’s Department came upon a suspicious check while the department was conducting another investigation. Further investigation by the sheriff’s department showed David R. Bryan, a former Rensselaerville supervisor, stole over $300,000 from four local organizations.
At monthly meetings, Town Hall was often packed. The largest crowd gathered for a special meeting in September — the day Bryan was indicted. Investigators with the sheriff’s department and the Albany County District Attorney’s Office came to the hall to update citizens on their investigation.

The hall was always packed — several times — as residents called for the closure of the Cass Residential Center, an all-male juvenile center run by the state.

Following an escape in November of 2006 of a youth from Cass, residents speculated about the boys remanded to the center — their prior convictions, daily routines, and nature. Citizens also questioned the state’s policies and the facility’s security. Cass is now closed.

In the town’s elections, Democratic town council candidates bested GOP candidates and will obtain a 3 to 2 majority on the town board starting Jan. 1.

Power shift

Rensselaerville has been the only town in the Democrat-dominated Helderberg Hilltowns with a Republican majority on its town board.

In November, in a race for two town board seats, GOP candidates were defeated by Democrats — incumbent Gary Chase and newcomer Marie Dermody.

Since Jost Nickelsberg, the town’s Republican supervisor, was voted into office two years ago, the GOP majority has voted together on every issue, often against the two Democrats.

On Election Day, as Chase and Dermody lead Republican newcomer Allyn Wright and incumbent Myra Dorman, the Democrats were planning changes.

Chase said the superintendent of highways, his father, G. Jon Chase, will sit with the board at town board meetings to answer residents’ questions and a new procurement policy will be put in place. The highway superintendent and the town supervisor were frequently at odds throughout 2007.

Democratic Councilwoman Sherri Pine said the shift to a Democratic majority will result in more unity and better communication among board members.

Both Chase and Pine said in November that they don’t know what is to be discussed at board meetings until they arrive.

Prior to the election, Nickelsberg and Dermody had been at odds since Nickelsberg eliminated the funds for the town’s board of assessment review, on which Dermody serves. Dermody has also questioned Nickelsberg’s use of the town’s newsletter and its representation of her comments during a board meeting. Dermody was a part of a committee in 2007 that detailed fees for advertisers, how space will be allocated, and editing and content standards for the newsletter.

Former supervisors charged

This year, two former supervisors were accused of stealing from the government.

John Geurtze, a former town supervisor who was employed as a property manager by Albany County, was charged by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department following an audit by Ed Lynch, the county’s commissioner of general services.

Lynch compared the mileage of Geurtze’s vehicle with his gas card statements, which showed Geurtze’s county-issued vehicle was only getting three miles per gallon, said county spokeswoman Kerri Battle.

The charge came after Geurtze was arrested in March for driving while intoxicated.

Just weeks later, David R. Bryan, another former supervisor who had served as the town’s Democratic chair and was in positions of trust in many town organizations, was charged with stealing funds from two historical societies, a church, and the Rensselaerville library.

When he was indicted on Sept. 5, Bryan had stolen over $303,000 from four Rensselaerville civic groups. The theft had occurred between April of 2003 and April of 2007. A house principal at Albany Vo-Tech, Bryan also stole $33,659.79 from the Albany High School Student Association, according to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office.

The day Bryan was indicted, investigators from the sheriff’s department and the district attorney’s office visited Town Hall and updated residents on their investigation. Bryan was Rensselaerville’s supervisor in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Because too much time had gone by since he was in office, investigators could not look into town records from his terms, they said.

In October, Bryan pleaded guilty to one count of larceny, a felony.
"He’s been extremely cooperative," said Bryan’s attorney, Terence Kindlon, following the plea. Bryan "fully accepted responsibility" and "acknowledged what he did was wrong and criminal," Kindlon said.

On Dec. 10, Bryan was sentenced in Albany County Court by Judge Stephen W. Herrick to two-and-one third to seven years in prison and he must pay full restitution to his victims.

Cass to close

Last year, a 15-year-old boy escaped from the Cass Residential Center, broke into a nearby home, police said, and stole money and a vehicle from Robert and Joan Johnston.

Following the escape, Cass was under close watch. For months afterward, television crews, reporters, government officials, and citizens filled Town Hall. Many of the town’s residents sought measures to close the facility; some contacted their senators, assemblyman, county legislator, and the press.

Youths had escaped from Cass before and, in December of 2004, a woman who had been a kitchen worker at the facility, was raped at knifepoint and abducted from the center. The rape survivor became an activist this year and circulated a petition, which called for the center to close; her petition was signed by nearly 500 area residents.
Following the November escape, an emergency notification, or "Reverse 911 call," went out to area residents. Some complained they hadn’t received the notification and those who did receive a call said the information they received was misleading.

In January, J.T. Campbell and Craig Apple with the Albany County Sheriff’s Department updated residents at a packed Town Hall about the department’s emergency notification system and its knowledge of the youths at Cass.
At the end of the month, Assemblyman John McEneny, state Senator Neil Breslin, and county legislator Alexander "Sandy" Gordon toured Cass.

Following the escape, some area residents asserted that youths at the center had grown increasingly violent. McEneny said the residents at Cass were not more violent, that Cass pumps $2 million annually into the local economy, and that he didn’t know if the facility will be closed temporarily, for the long-term, or permanently.

After declining an invitation to the town’s January meeting, Tim Kelso, Cass’s director, and Ed Ausborn, the deputy commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, the state agency that ran Cass, attended the town’s meeting in February. Ausborn detailed security measurements that had recently been added to the facility and gave details about the most recent escape. Ausborn also outlined a measure for a perimeter fence to be erected at the facility. Residents and board members were skeptical about a fence, saying it would result in more violent offenders being placed at Cass.

At the town board’s March meeting, as the town board voted unanimously for the facility to close, Gordon implored the town board to consider what would be lost if Cass were to shut down. Gordon cited the number of employees at the center and had said earlier that residents from the center have made positive contributions.
Some residents continued their campaign against the facility, placing "Keep Camp Cass Closed" stickers on vehicles’ bumpers and erecting signs in their yards.

Workers from the center responded and campaigned against the closure, saying they wanted to continue working with youth at the facility. Ron Pullmain, a longtime Cass employee, questioned the media’s representation of Cass.
"We’re a good place. We’re good people," said Pullmain. "We’re getting bad publicity."

The juvenile center is slated to close in May of 2008, the state announced this spring.

Complex law-making

Planning for the town’s future was controversial throughout the year, as new zoning laws were drafted.

After 20 months, the town board unanimously adopted new subdivision regulations and zoning laws after a public hearing last week.

In the spring of 2006, a land-use committee of 13 residents was appointed to create a new comprehensive land-use plan, which would be used as a template to draft new zoning laws and subdivision regulations. A moratorium halting major subdivisions — those of over three lots — was narrowly passed in the spring of 2006, with the Republican majority voting in favor of the moratorium and the Democrats against it.

Throughout the planning process, lot size in the agricultural district was the most controversial issue. Since 1991 — when the town last adopted a master plan — one dwelling per five acres was permitted in the agricultural districts. During planning, the districts, which had been separate, were combined to form one large, contiguous district to protect the town’s prime soils.

The chairman of the land-use committee, Vernon Husek, resigned shortly after the town board unanimously adopted the plan in March of this year. Husek said later that it was clear that the committee, which also drafted new zoning laws, was going to vote for smaller lot sizes in the agricultural district.

Husek objected to smaller lot sizes and, after resigning, said the committee had changed from being data driven to being driven by politics. Husek continually cited lot-size recommendations of the town’s planner, Nan Stolzenburg, and the American Farmland Trust. Both had recommended less dense zoning of one dwelling per 20 or 25 acres. Husek formed a group — Rensselaerville Farmland Protection. Members of the group argued that smaller lot sizes would bring more development, higher taxes, and would not protect the town’s farmland and prime soils.

Thomas Mikulka was named the new chair of the land-use committee. He argued that the committee’s work was rushed and that larger lot sizes in the agricultural district would be unfair to owners of large properties.

At a public hearing on new zoning laws and subdivision regulations in April, some members of the land-use committee said their work was rushed and they needed more time. Some residents said their land is all they have to pass on to their children. David Lewis and his daughters, Susan and Becky — members of the land-use committee — argued that larger lot sizes create too much of a tax burden. At the April hearing, Lewis said he had no retirement plan but that his land is his retirement.
Mikulka argued that large-acre zoning is unfair and owners of large lots would see decreases in the value of their land while owners of smaller lots would see increases in their land’s value. Mikulka said he didn’t want to "screw over" long-time farming families, such as the Lewises and Kropps, whom he called "the backbone of the community."

Mikulka and members of the committee argued that other mechanisms, such as transfer of development rights and purchase of development rights could be used to protect farmland.

After the April hearing, the town board extended the moratorium on building for six months, and a new committee, with most of the same members who designed the master plan, was designated to revisit the draft zoning laws and subdivision regulations.

In September, citizens were surveyed by the town on how they want farmland developed; they were to choose between one dwelling per 5 acres and one dwelling per 20 acres in the agricultural district. After the survey was sent out, Husek’s group sent out a bulletin to area residents, urging them to vote for 20 acre-zoning.

Of about 2,400 surveys sent out, the town received 950 responses. About 650 residents voted for five-acre zoning.

As the six-month extension of the moratorium on major subdivisions was due to expire at the beginning of November, the town board extended it for another 60 days. In October, the attorney to the town, William Ryan, said one of his concerns was that, at the public hearing in April, a lot of people hadn’t yet had time to read the proposed laws.

On Dec. 19, the town board held a public hearing before adopting new zoning regulations — including 5-acre lots in the agricultural district.