RENSSELAERVILLE — Responding to widespread animosity and mistrust, the town board voted unanimously last Thursday to close the Cass Residential Center for delinquent youth.

Residents, adamant about closing the facility, applauded the town board’s resolution.

Cass is run by the state, and it appears the resolution may have no bearing on its operation, although Alexander Gordon, who represents the Hilltowns in the Albany County Legislature, told the crowd that the town could control Cass’s destiny and should first consider what it could be throwing away.
Gordon said a memorandum of understanding between the state’s Department of Conservation and the Office of Children and Family Services, the state agency that runs Cass, gives the town "an opportunity to participate."

Cass was recently emptied of its residents and is slated, for the short-term, to be used as a training facility for staff, a spokesman for OCFS told The Enterprise last week.

Seven youths had escaped from Cass in the last two years, and a kitchen worker was raped and kidnapped by a resident in 2004.
"I think that Camp Cass served a function," Gordon said. "I think there’s a function that Camp Cass can still serve"Is it the function that it served most recently" I don’t think so. But I don’t think that throwing it out is the smartest thing that the town could do," he said.

Residents showed disdain toward Gordon throughout the meeting; some turned hostile.
Resident Robert Bolte accused Gordon of meeting with Cass officials "three times a week behind our backs in favor of Camp Cass."
"Could we deal in facts, sir"" Gordon responded, adding that he met with Cass officials on Dec. 27 and Jan. 25.
"We don’t believe in the word ‘camp,’ and we, as a community, will close that damn thing," Bolte said.
"You do not represent us. You do not do your job," said Dorman, a member of Cass’s Citizens Advisory Board.
Gordon said last week he understands the impetus behind the motion to close the facility, but is unsure whether it will have any standing on how Cass operates. Gordon said there is "another direction that the town board could go in that could have a positive effect"."
"If the town board wants to actively amend how Cass operates, it needs to pass a resolution and send that on to the people that can make that change — our state legislators, Mr. McEneny, who is very receptive to this, and Mr. Breslin — and that’s how you can go forward with this," he said.

Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg was emphatic.
"There are other ways for us to go forward with it," said Nickelsberg, "and we have made a statement tonight in the most direct, dramatic, passionate terms. We have paid a horrific price with just one family, no less seven additional families"We’ve paid a horrific price to have a non-revenue-generating institution in this town.
"The town is unified against it, and we do not believe in being legislated without being represented, and we, the people — the owners of this town — are now telling you, our representative, ‘We do not want this institution in our town,’ and we expect you to carry that on."

The hall erupted with applause.
"That’s very clear on your part," Gordon responded.

Memorandum of Understanding
The memorandum of understanding between OCFS and the DEC outlines cooperative responsibilities between the two state agencies, and "provides guidance for the administration of sites on state lands under the jurisdiction of the [DEC]."

It was enacted in 2003 and will end in 2013, when it may be renewed.

The memorandum applies to all OCFS residential centers on land under the jurisdiction of the DEC — eight of the office’s 31 facilities.

The memorandum, Gordon told The Enterprise after the meeting, was sent to him from a person "who is very interested" in keeping Cass open. "There are a lot of them," he said. "They don’t come [to Town Hall]."

Cass, he said, generates $1 million in payroll.
"We have nowhere in this town to spend a dollar of that income," said Bolte at the meeting. "It all goes out of this town," he said, and added, "We only get the bad effects of Cass"."
Two weeks ago, the facility’s mission was changed from a delinquent detention center to a training facility for new state employees. Unions responded, saying OCFS violated a labor law by not giving a 12-month notice of its change. Last week, OCFS spokesman Brian Marchetti was unclear about the future of Cass, saying, "At this time, no children will be placed at Cass."

Seven youths escaped the facility in two years, and a Cass kitchen worker was raped at knife-point in December of 2004. Since the most recent escape in November, area residents, fearing for their safety, demanded answers from OCFS.

Gordon read a petition, on behalf of the woman who was raped, at the town board’s January meeting, calling for Cass Residential to close. Cass officials were invited to the meeting but declined; they attended a town meeting the following month.

The rape survivor told The Enterprise this week that Gordon’s comments last week were "a slap in the face."
"He appeared to be one way, and then he went the other way," she said, adding that she thinks Gordon "hurt himself politically."

Councilman Gary Chase speculated about Cass’s future at last week’s meeting, saying his biggest concern is that prisons are being consolidated statewide, and the state is shutting some down.
"If they decide to put that fence up at Camp Cass," he said, referring to a security measure OCFS officials had proposed, "they’re going to combine those facilities"and they will make that a more violent-offender-friendly facility," he said.
Chase said a fence was discussed at a special meeting last month, "and Sandy’s point was well taken because we should cover ourselves either way."
Putting something in the memorandum, Chase said, could limit the type of offenders that are placed at the facility. "Even though we don’t want this thing here," he added.
Nickelsberg was then more receptive to the memorandum, saying, "I think what you’re saying is you believe in controlling our destiny, and I think that’s a good idea. We should explore all the options and make sure we control our destiny."

Confusion, passion, and duty
"I’m extremely confused because I hear on television one day that it’s going to be used as a training center, and the next day, I hear that it’s going to be opened with juveniles in it," said a frustrated Rensselaerville resident.
"I have no idea who to believe. Are the news people reporting one thing, and then another without following up on details, or is it New York State not having any type of clarification in terms of what"is going to take place"" she asked.
Councilwoman Dorman responded, saying, "New York State does not know what they’re going to do".You, madam, are not the only one that’s confused. Everybody in this room is, and it’s not at the hands of the press. It’s at the hands of the Office of Children and Family Services."
"Who, at the end of the day, work for us. End of sentence," Nickelsberg said.
Cheryl Baitsholts, Rensselaerville’s dog-control officer, said that "while we’re very passionate," elected officials have to be impartial.
"This has been a situation that we’ve lived with for two years," Nickelsberg responded. "We had to be emphatic about the position that we have, and, I believe, also, that the health and welfare of the citizens of this town is first and foremost"and I think it’s a very definite, black-and-white issue," said Nickelsberg.
Baitsholts clarified, saying, "My personal opinion can’t enter the job. It seems like Sandy was caught in the cross-hairs, and I understand that and why, but we all have to do our jobs, and figure out the best way to work through things."
"And he was elected to represent us," Nickelsberg responded.

Hands and signs
A sign, saying "Keep Camp Cass Closed," was placed behind the town board at the beginning of last week’s meeting by resident and frequent volunteer, K.B. Cook. Cook recommended having signs made for town residents’ yards. Some residents put signs up this week along Rensselaerville roads.

As of Tuesday, two signs had been placed along Route 85, near the Rensselaerville-Westerlo border.

Prior to last week’s town board meeting, no residents had spoken out in favor of Cass at a board meeting. Nickelsberg asked for a show of hands of those in the hall in favor of closing the center. Of approximately 65 attending, all but five raised their hands.
Nickelsberg then asked for those who wanted Cass to remain open "in some form." Five residents, including Gordon, raised their hands. The supervisor then asked who was in favor of keeping the center open "with prisoners." The five in favor of Cass remaining open "in some form" again raised their hands.
"If you act as a town board and modify the agreement they operate under, you get to debate that issue. That’s what I’m telling you," Gordon said.

Resident Charles Howard James said that only a small number of town residents represented the town at Town Hall, and asked if the town could have a referendum. The attorney to the town, Ben Niedl, was uncertain and needed time to do research.
"A referendum would not be legal," Eamon Moynahan, spokesman for the Department of State, told The Enterprise this week, adding that there have been prior rulings, and a referendum would not have a lawful purpose and would cost money.