The town of Berne has been without a functioning government since Aug. 13 — for more than six weeks.

Three councilmen resigned then in frustration, raising further alarms about the state of the town finances. An audit in 2021 had pointed up serious problems and made 11 recommendations. A year later, a follow-up audit showed only one recommendation had been followed.

The resigning members said the town’s finances are in much worse shape than the public is aware. This cannot be rectified without a functioning government.

The vacancies on the board cannot be filled since only two members remain and a quorum is needed to pass any resolution.

When our Hilltown reporter, Noah Zweifel, broke the story on the resignations, he cited the state’s Public Officers Law, which says that, if a vacant elected position cannot be filled by appointment, “the governor shall, unless otherwise provided for by authorized local law, resolution or ordinance, make proclamation of a special election to fill such office within ten days of the occurrence of a vacancy, specifying the district or county in which the election is to be held.” 

Other media repeated this citation in the stories that followed. It was also referenced by an Albany County election commissioner in answer to our queries.

Meanwhile, New York Association of Towns Executive Director Christopher Koetzle told us that Hochul had recently made town board appointments in Hermon, New York, in St. Lawrence County. 

Koetzle called the situation “pretty unique,” and cited a different section of Public Officers Law, §43.

That section states, “If a vacancy shall occur, otherwise than by expiration of term, with no provision of law for filling the same, if the office be elective, the governor shall appoint a person to execute the duties thereof until the vacancy shall be filled by an election.”

We believe a special election would be the better choice so the will of the people is followed. Even though the entire Berne Town Board was made up of members backed by the GOP, the three councilmen who quit all said the reason was difficulty working with the supervisor who, they said, would not share information to which they were entitled and which was necessary to do their jobs.

Berne’s financial worries continue as Zweifel’s front-page story this week indicates further financial lapses.

In either case, whichever method is used to fill the vacant posts, the governor needs to act. She needs to either call a special election or make appointments.

Well over 10 days have passed — 44 as of today — and there has been no proclamation.

Even worse, the governor’s office seems to be operating under a cone of silence, unwilling to answer essential questions about what the choices are and how it is proceeding to restore a functional government to Berne.

Throughout these past six weeks, our reporter has made repeated calls and emailed many inquiries to the governor’s office. We believe the people of Berne deserve some answers.

After weeks of waiting — and checking with the Albany County Board of Elections to learn the board had been given no directives — Zweifel finally received this brief non-answer on Aug. 30 from Katy Zielinski in the governor’s office: “Hey Noah, The Governor's Office has received communication from the Town of Berne and we are reviewing. Thanks.”

Then back to radio silence.

So that day, Aug. 30, Zweifel filed a Freedom of Information Law request, asking the governor’s office “for any and all communications, proclamations, or other documents related to official actions, concerning the Berne Town Board and its vacancies” in the timeframe between Aug. 1 and 30.

The Freedom of Information Law, one of New York’s two sunshine laws, states that “a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions.”

It further states,“that government is the public’s business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government.”

If staff at the governor’s office wouldn’t answer our questions, we sought documents that might tell the story to Berne residents.

Finally, on Sept. 10, Zwiefel received a response, denying our request with the explanation that a request must be “reasonably described.”

The denial went on to explain, “Whether a request is reasonably described may be dependent upon the nature of an agency’s filing or record keeping system and agency employees are not required to engage in herculean or unreasonable efforts to locate records.”

How “herculean” is the task of typing into a computer “Berne” and seeing how much comes up for 30 days in August?

We are, of course, appealing.

But the bigger issue is: Why is the governor’s office not responsive to the needs of its constituents?

We see in the results of a Siena College Poll released on Sept. 19 that Kathy Hochul’s favorability and job-approval ratings are at an all-time low.

“While Hochul’s favorability rating has never been outstanding — she’s never been viewed favorably by 50% of voters in a state where 49% of the voters are Democrats — it has now hit an all-time low, 34-54%,” pollster Steven Greenberg said in an analysis of the results. “Her job approval rating, 39-56%, is also a record low.” 

Greenberg went on, “It is also worth noting that Hochul’s favorability rating, 20 points under water, is worse than Trump’s, 18 points under water. To repeat, Kathy Hochul has a lower net favorability rating in New York than Donald Trump.” 

We understand that national politics predominate in the run-up to federal elections, especially for an election that 79 percent of New Yorkers believe is the most important election of their lifetimes. The same Siena poll showed that 82 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Republicans, and 75 percent of independent voters feel that way.

So, yes, it’s understandable that Hochul’s focus has been on the national elections, especially after Nancy Pelosi’s accusations that Hochul’s narrow victory in 2022 was part of the reason Democrats didn’t keep the House majority, as four New York seats flipped to the GOP.

Hochul responded on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, “I’ll tell you this, no governor in the history of the state of New York has worked harder to elect members of Congress than I have.”

That may be true. As The New York Times notes, Hochul is “trying to transform the state’s Democratic Party from a perennial punching bag into a sophisticated turnout operation with 37 field offices and nearly 100 staff members.”

And, yes, it may take a strong political party to win elections.

But shouldn’t the central focus of the governor’s office be governance, not politics?

And shouldn’t the governor’s constituents matter more than national races?

Isn’t the point of winning an election to serve the people?

The people of Berne, all 2,689 of them, need a functioning town government.

It’s up to the governor’s office to make that happen.