WESTERLO — One long-time Westerlo employee lost her job and the town clerk was required to pay for training in areas deemed problematic in her work, according to resolutions narrowly passed by the town board here on Aug. 19.

Each of the resolutions passed by votes of 3 to 2. All of the town board members have Republican backing but two board members — Peter Mahan and Joshua Beers — frequently clash with Supervisor Matthew Kryzak who made the motions on Aug. 19.

Councilwomen Amie Burnside and Lorraine Pecylak voted with Kryzak.

The resolutions stemmed from an investigation of complaints centered on Town Clerk Karla Weaver that was conducted earlier this year by William J. Keniry of the law firm Tabner, Ryan, & Keniry.

“The so-called Report is an outrageous and untrue attack on me both personally and professionally,” Weaver told The Enterprise by email in May, after the 16-page report was read at a town board meeting.

Weaver did not cooperate with the investigation.

The investigation was triggered by two formal complaints made in February by Lisa DeGroff, who is the confidential secretary for Kryzak, and who also heads the Westerlo Republican Committee.

When The Enterprise asked Kryzak this week what would happen if Weaver did not complete the training outlined in the board resolution, he said he could not comment because of “potential pending litigation” from Weaver against the town.

Asked, in general terms, if a town board could terminate the job of an elected official, like a town clerk, Kryzak said, “An elected official can’t be removed by a board … it actually has to be done by the public.”

Claire Marshall, who had worked as a Westerlo assessor before the town combined the posts of three assessors into one in 2020 and who most recently worked as a clerk to the code-enforcement officer, assessor, and planning and zoning boards for a salary of $21,200, was “terminated from the position of employment by the town effective immediately,” said Kryzak’s resolution.

Kryzak’s resolution also said that Keniry’s “confidential investigation” included particulars “pertaining to the conduct” of Marshall and alleged “violations of the Town of Westerlo Employee Handbook among other things.”

Beers, who voted against the motion, asked why an employee should be terminated in public.

“Can’t you just bring someone in and talk to them?” he asked.

Mahan asked, “Why weren’t we involved in this?”

“You were,” responded Kryzak. “You met with counsel.”

“Nothing was discussed about termination,” countered Mahan.

The board went on to authorize placing an ad for a clerk to the code-enforcement officer, assessor, and planning and zoning boards for a salary of $21,200 annually.

While Weaver was spared termination, she is to “promptly undertake and pay for no less then seven hours of online or in-person training and classes” dealing with “proper work-place conduct and professionalism ethics, bullying and harassment, hostile work environment anger management, sexual harassment, or ethics for government.”

Kryzak’s resolution went on to say that Weaver is to submit certificates of completion for each class before Nov. 18.

Neither Weaver nor Marshall could be reached by The Enterprise for comment.

Kryzak said this week that Keniry’s investigation had cost $15,000 or $16,000.

Keniry had written in his May report that Weaver:

— Harassed town employees, though not in a manner that is illegal under New York State Law;

— Created a hostile work environment “sufficiently severe to alter the conditions of an individual’s employment”; 

— Sabotaged DeGroff’s work as secretary to the supervisor by not responding to important messages in a timely manner, and also orchestrating a campaign of Freedom of Information Law requests that DeGroff had to respond to; and

— Violated the employee handbook through the above actions, and also by enlisting a third party to read aloud a letter that disparaged DeGroff, disclosing confidential information to a third party in order to “further her selfish desires, objectives and personal vendetta” against DeGroff.

The board on Aug. 19 also removed George McHugh, the town attorney, from his post as Westerlo’s records access officer. McHugh had been named the town’s Freedom Of Information Law officer in February after Keniry’s report had implicated Weaver in the “weaponization” of the FOIL process.

Kryzak told The Enterprise at the time that having an attorney handle FOIL requests ensures that the law is followed and sensitive information isn’t leaked inadvertently.

On Aug. 19, the board appointed DeGroff as Westerlo’s records access officer. In addition, Kryzak’s resolution said the town would engage the firm of Tabner, Ryan and Keniry on an hourly basis for matters related to the release of public records.

“Why are we relieving George of his duties?” asked Beers.

“Right now,” responded Kryzak, “we have a situation where the FOIL process has been weaponized and it’s turned into a harassment case again where people are harassing.”

“Do you have proof of that or is that just hearsay?” asked Beers, who asserted that McHugh was doing a good job and should be kept on.

Kryzak’s resolutions to dismiss McHugh and engage Tabner, Ryan, and Keniry “to help deal with the issues we’ve been having with FOIL and [its] weaponization” passed narrowly, 3 to 2.

Kryzak said board members could discuss the matter “with legal counsel” — presumably with McHugh who sat at the dais with the town clerk and board members — in closed session following the public portion of the meeting.

Kryzak told The Enterprise this week that, while Westerlo used to get a couple of FOIL requests a year, it now gets a half-dozen or more a week with “99 percent of them coming from Harold Vadney,” who runs a blog, which Kryzak called a “huge workload” and expensive for taxpayers.

“We needed to appoint another full-time person, full-time employee to deal with the FOIL requests just with the sheer amount of them,” said Kryzak, adding that McHugh “is still advising.”

Tabner, Ryan, and Keniry have a FOIL specialist who works closely with the state’s Committee on Open Government, Kryzak said, and will come up with new protocols for the town to follow.

Asked about the presence of Albany County Sheriff’s deputies on Aug. 19, Kryzak said he had been requesting them at meetings for more than six months “since an employee made a death threat against the town attorney.”

Other business

In other business at its Aug. 19 meeting, the Westerlo Town Board:

— Heard from Kryzak a broadband update. Mid-Hudson, he said, is “still working on the license agreements” and has “upgraded the fiber network in Rensselaerville,” which was needed to service the Westerlo network.

A grant from Albany County (see related story), Kryzak said, will cover all the homes in Westerlo that were not covered by the federal grant secured earlier by Congressman Paul Tonko.

“So we do have 100-percent coverage,” he said. “Right now, Mid-Hudson is just waiting on a little bit of the paperwork from the county …. So stay patient and we should hopefully have something moving by fall”;

— Heard from Kryzak that Westerlo now has an agreement with Ravena to use Ravena’s Mosher Park swimming pool. Westerlo residents must show proof, like a driver’s license or utility bill, that they live in Westerlo to use the pool, which cost $5 per day;

— Heard from Kryzak that American Safety Inc. will sponsor a defensive-driving course on Oct. 25 at the Westerlo Town Hall, which will save attendees 10 percent on insurance and reduce points on their driving record. The cost is $40 with a $5 discount for seniors. At least 20 people must register for the class; residents can do so by calling 518-797-3111, extension 1014;

— Heard from Kryzak that the Bank of Greene County has awarded three grants of $500 each for the Hometown Heroes banner program, for an inclusive and accessible playground at the town hall, and to update historical markers;

— Heard from Kryzak that the town received a New York State Transfer Station Grant for $47,741.20 that was used to purchase equipment;

— Heard from Bill Bichteman, former Westerlo supervisor who now chairs the town’s water board, “The water system in the town has several inherent problems in the water treatment facility and we have a problem that we don’t have a backup.” The board agreed to put out a request for proposals for an engineer to evaluate the system;

— Agreed to hire Callahan, the lowest of three bidders at $195,275, to pave the parking lots at the highway garage, for the town court, and at the town hall; and

— Decided not to refund a $200 deposit for a town-park rental because of “damage that was done during this party and during this rental,” said Kryzak, who shared pictures with the board of a truck “doing a burnout on the lawn and you can see all the dirt flying everywhere,” he said.