Important issues in the Town of Claverack and Village of Philmont
Residents of Claverack and Philmont are facing a number of crucial issues. And no matter who you are, how old you are, whether or not you have children at home, what your economic situation is, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or a Conservative or are not affiliated with any party, many, if not all, of these issues affect you.
Click on the links below to read the "position papers" that we developed during the 2005 campaign, and to learn what the Democrats feel needs to be done about these concerns of residents of the Town of Claverack and the Village of Philmont.
Click on the links below to read press releases and other documentation:
Position Papers
Election Issue #1: Young People
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR KIDS.
Claverack is a wonderful place to live, but if you’re young, it’s not necessarily a wonderful place to play. Or work. Or make a home.
When they’re kids, our kids don’t have enough places, opportunities and facilities for recreation. There’s a winter ski program and a summer playground program. And that’s about it.
When our kids grow up, there aren’t enough good jobs that pay well. Many of them have to leave home to find work.
Even if they do get jobs, many of them can’t afford to buy a house in which to raise their own kids. It’s a vicious cycle, and it means we stand to lose our best natural resource and become a town for second-home owners.
Our Town Board should and could work to make Claverack more kid-friendly, all the way from a skateboard park (requested by teenagers six years ago), to good jobs for high school and college graduates, to affordable homes for young families.
We can do better.
We can organize and support a Community Youth Center with real programs and good supervision to help get kids off the street and into a safe and attractive place to play and learn. There are plenty of unused buildings, plenty of grants and plenty of community support for this. Hudson has managed to get thousands of dollars for their kids. So can and should we.
We can institute a jobs bureau for kids who need and want to work summers and after school.
We can attract good businesses with well-paying jobs by offering incentives to move their headquarters here, and by more aggressive marketing of business opportunities and available land.
We can support agricultural training programs for young farmers. We can apply for grants for the purchase of development rights of farms, so children of farmers can go into the family business without losing their shirts. And we can help negotiate affordable and durable lease arrangements for young farmers who don’t have family farms and can’t afford to buy farmland.
We can form teams of developers, builders and architects of affordable homes of good design and sound construction, and we can give them tax incentives.
And, if we are elected, we will do all of that. And more.
Election Issue #2: Agriculture
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR FARMS.
Claverack's farms are vanishing at an alarming rate, and with them, our farmland.
The skyrocketing price of land, the advancing age of our farmers, the inability of their children to make a decent living from farming, and the indifference of our national agricultural policy makes it hard for farmers to keep farming. It's just as hard for young farmers to start. And it's just plain crazy to sell apples from Washington and Chile in local supermarkets, when Columbia County is famous for its apple harvest. Farmers and consumers are already working together to support agriculture in Community Supported Agriculture groups, and at farmers markets and stores. But our Town Board should and could work with farmers, consumers and landowners to go further and make Claverack the center of agricultural redevelopment.
We can do better.
We can seek grants from public and private sources to purchase the development rights of existing farms. We can connect our Comprehensive Plan Committee with nonprofit programs that have new approaches to zoning that favor farming, like Keep Farming from the Glynwood Center. We can pair landowners who are not farmers with farmers who can’t afford to buy land, and we can help them negotiate affordable long-term leases. We can sponsor a farmers market to sell local food to local people. We can promote local food to local schools, supermarkets and restaurants. We can work with the County to form an Agricultural Development Corporation to help finance farms and suppliers, market farming opportunities, and act as a clearinghouse for existing and future farmers. We can make sure that current agricultural districts are maintained.
We don’t lack for ideas or tactics. We just have to pick the tools from the box. No one wants to see farms disappear, but we seem to lack the commitment to do something about it. There are many ways to hold onto existing farms and bring in new ones. We’ve just got to stop wringing our hands and get to work.
If we are elected, that’s exactly what we’ll do. And more.
Election Issue #3: Open Government
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR CITIZENS.
Open government is the cornerstone of democracy. It’s the way our voices are heard. The way we find out how our government is doing its job. The American way.
Unfortunately for us, the Welcome to Claverack mat is stuck in the corner of a Town Hall closet. Until Democratic candidates Max Dannis, Katy Cashen, and Cyndy Hall spoke loud and long enough, agendas and minutes were not available at Town Board meetings. Until Max, Katy and Cyndy lobbied long and hard, there was no Town website. (While we were waiting, we put up a website ourselves.) Max, Katy and Cyndy have been unofficially representing Claverack citizens by regularly attending meetings for the past two years, opening doors for us all.
Our Town government shines a dim bulb on its workings. It’s no way to treat people and no way to run a small town. We can do better.
We’ve done better already. Virtually every forward step of the past few years was taken slowly and reluctantly at the initiative and insistence of Claverack citizens—Max, Katy and Cyndy again. The website, the Comprehensive Plan Committee, Greenway, the hamlet water district. They brought up those issues meeting after meeting, as long as 6 years ago.
We’re doing better already. We’re holding weekly open forums in our headquarters in Philmont called “What’s On Your Mind?” And when we get into office, we’ll continue to be accessible and accountable, responsible and responsive.
We’ll hold an open meeting once a month, so we can keep talking about what’s on your minds. We’ll make it easier for people to know when issues that concern them are discussed, understand the decisions we make, and track our progress during implementation. We’ll publish easily understood guides to Town procedure, including how to get copies of documents, apply for site plan or subdivision approval, or open a business. We’ll put our entire Town code on the internet for easy access to our laws and regulations.
We’ll work to align all the things our government does (what gets funded in the budget, how we spend discretionary funds, what efforts we put into business development) with the wants and needs of all our citizens.
We’ll listen to everyone who lives here, because we will represent everyone, not just those who agree with us. And we’ll look for the common ground that spans the divisiveness that is so destructive.
We will do better. Because we can.
Election Issue #4: Budgets and Assessments
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR TAXES.
No one likes to pay property tax, but it’s how our local government and schools are financed. Like income tax for state and Federal governments, it’s a necessary evil.
In Claverack, however, property tax is a little more evil and a little less necessary. The size of our burden is based on two things—our property’s assessed value and our Town and School Boards’ budgets.
For years, our Town Board has been carrying an excessive budget surplus, which has been criticized in reports by the State Comptroller’s office. As a result, we are overtaxed.
As for assessments, they are supposed to be in line with the value of other, similar properties. When assessments are raised (which doesn’t necessarily mean taxes will be raised), they are supposed to be raised by the increase in value of each individual home or parcel of land. But many new property owners have watched their assessments double, while assessments of seemingly identical properties have been raised only by a small percentage. A property’s sale seems to trigger a huge leap in assessment, based on the sale, in comparison to an identical property that hasn’t changed hands recently. Even if all assessments were raised by a fixed percentage, it may not be as fair and equitable as it sounds, and no effort is made to find out. The tax rolls are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies.
We can do better.
We can budget more efficiently and accurately and keep the tax burden in line with our Town’s true needs.
We can comb the tax rolls for mistakes and correct them, one by one. It will take time and effort, but the Town owes it to its residents.
We can apply the same standards to everyone’s individual assessment, making sure that if the same percentage is used across the board, that it really is fair. And we can make sure that it really is applied to everyone, without prejudice and without exception, so no one has to carry more of the burden than anyone else.
Keeping in mind that new residential development can cost us more in services than it brings in tax revenue, we can be smarter about the kind of development we attract and accept. We can help the Comprehensive Plan Committee by building in development guidelines. We can apply for matching grants for the purchase of development rights of farms. We can promote commercial development in the right locations, to take the tax burden off residents and farmers.
And if Max Dannis, Katy Cashen, Cyndy Hall and Jenny Post are elected, we will.
Election Issue #5: Getting Older
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR SENIORS.
Growing older in America isn’t easy. It’s no easier in Claverack.
Older people often have to leave the homes they’ve lived in for decades, even if they’ve paid off their mortgage. Because they can’t afford to pay their taxes, or maintain the house, or because they’re no longer fit enough to climb the stairs, or take care of a big place, or drive.
In our town—well, mostly in our village, in Philmont—there have been a few strides. There is Richardson Hall, which contains attractive apartments. And there’s the Albert Tripp 60+ Food and Friendship Center which offers affordable lunches and social life. And the Claverack Senior Citizens Club, a wonderful group that holds monthly meetings and occasional outings, and provides some support services.
But there are few affordable houses for sale, and the tax break isn’t enough to make staying in one’s own home affordable. There is no pharmacy, no transportation, no daily or even weekly recreation.
Our Town Board should and could work to make Claverack a better place to cope with the stress of aging in our society, all the way from fairer assessments to a taxi service.
We can do better.
We can plan for residential development where seniors are able to function best. (Philmont’s Main Street was a good choice. The hamlet of Claverack would be another.) We can offer tax incentives to developers, builders and architects of houses of good design and sound construction.
We can attract businesses that would provide services seniors need and want within walking distance of home—a pharmacy, doctors’ offices, a restaurant, café or diner, a farmers market.
We can organize and support a senior center, where people can gather for classes, meetings, games and just plain gathering. There are plenty of unused buildings and grant money.
We can give seniors a better tax break, so they can afford to stay in the homes they know and love. And we can help older farmers stay on their farms, and help their children become farmers themselves, by applying for grants to purchase the development rights of their land.
When we are elected, we will do all of that. And more.
Election Issue #6: Business
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR ECONOMY.
We all seem to agree on one thing: Claverack needs and wants economic development.
We need new businesses to share the property tax burden. We need good, well-paying jobs for young people who want to stay in Claverack after graduation. We need farming to become a viable, lucrative profession. And we’d certainly like to have more places to eat, drink, bank, shop, gather, learn, and play.
But the emphasis has been on trying (or hoping) to attract industrial development, which is really neither feasible nor desirable. We don’t have the infrastructure, or the access to markets, we don’t really have the work force and we don’t need the pollution or the blight.
We’ve done nothing to attract clean retail or tech business, nothing to support farming, and nothing to encourage home-based business. In fact, the only change in our zoning code in the past few years, besides the mining overlay, has been an added restriction on home business, which makes it illegal to use an outbuilding or hire more than one employee without a variance.
We can do better.
We can work actively to attract retail and service business—based in or out of the owner’s home—with our high quality of life, which is what we have to offer business and what they have to offer us. We can promise them a modern, vigorous Comprehensive Plan and a zoning code to match. In return, we get three good things—jobs, taxes, and a product or a service we need or want.
We can reduce restrictions on home-based businesses to allow for the use of a barn or other outbuilding on the owner’s property, and the employment of more than one or two workers, as long as the business isn’t an aural or visual nuisance to its neighbors.
We can support a planning process that zones for commercial development in Philmont and in the hamlets, especially the hamlet of Claverack, and we can actively seek tenants for the empty commercial buildings in all those places by offering specific enticements.
We can capitalize on the talents of local entrepreneurs, to launch both home-based businesses and larger enterprises. We should focus less on getting big companies to move here, and more on making it easier for local businesses to start up and grow.
When we are elected, we will do all of that. And more.
Election Issue #7: Development Pressure
WE CAN DO BETTER FOR OUR FUTURE.
Development pressure has become more and more intense in recent months, threatening to surround us and change the face of Claverack forever. And our town is not ready.
Our town government finally joined Greenway, and has finally formed a Comprehensive Planning Committee, but only at the initiative and insistence of individual citizens, who are now running for office as our candidates—Max Dannis, Katy Cashen, and Cyndy Hall. We were nearly the last town in the county to join Greenway and one of the last towns to create a comprehensive planning committee, with not much more than lip service given to its work. Too little, too late, again.
Why is planning so controversial in Claverack? Why does our Town Board tell us there is no threat, that because there hasn’t been much development in our recent past, there won’t be much in our near future, and, anyway, our boards do a good job. Why, when a highly controversial, highly visible subdivision that many believe is a perfect example of suburban-style sprawl, was just approved with a split vote? Why, when there are rumors of much more to come, and we are already confronted with a proposal for the largest housing development in Claverack’s history—a 243-unit project in an undeveloped area, with no forethought given to siting or design.
The truth is, our boards can’t really do a good job, because our zoning code is inadequate. The truth is, random wrongheaded development is a serious threat that demands a level of expertise, enterprise, conviction, and vision, that our Town Board fails again and again to demonstrate.
We can do better.
We can look for common ground among opposing factions. We can give leadership and real support to the Comprehensive Planning Committee, by increasing participation by members of all our boards, and by encouraging the committee to write a modern plan that includes guidelines to preserve open space, and increase access to open land for recreation. We can match the Plan with an equally modern zoning code and provide training for all board members so the plan is implemented and the code is enforced. And we can determine what to do in the meantime, so we really are protected.
We can use proven methods to save our farms before they’re all lost to us and our children—purchase of development rights, easements, and long-term leases. We can encourage small-scale clustered development surrounding our hamlets and Philmont, instead of allowing it to march across the open countryside. We can plan for senior housing by providing public transportation and passing laws to assure safe taxi service and then site it where we can guide development to include services seniors need, like a bank, a pharmacy, a market, and doctors’ offices.
We can save Claverack before it’s too late.
Election Issue #8: Philmont
We can do better for our village.
The Town of Claverack and the Village of Philmont have a long-term, love-hate, relationship.
Philmont is Claverack’s only real village. It has sidewalks, storefronts, restaurants, a bank, street life, not to mention the unbelievably beautiful and underappreciated High Falls and Summit Lake. It also has a real community, in which neighbors act like neighbors.
But Philmont has seen better days. Many of its storefronts are empty, many of its houses are rundown and many important buildings have been lost. Worse, Claverack’s Town Board acts as if Philmont doesn’t really exist. But the village is turning around. Many of its beautiful houses are being renovated. Citizens are working to revitalize and beautify Main Street. There is a palpable spirit of growth and energy.
It’s true that the village is its own jurisdiction, and, as such, has its own government: a Mayor, a Village Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board, police force, and fire department. The Town of Claverack has no jurisdiction over the Village of Philmont and yet, Philmont is contained within Claverack and pays taxes to it. In fact, Philmont taxpayers pay almost as much town tax as other Claverack taxpayers, as well as their own village tax. Because of the way county sales tax revenues are allocated, Philmont actually subsidizes the rest of the town.
We can do better.
We can’t legislate in Philmont, but we can embrace it as a great asset to Claverack and support it in every way, especially in its efforts to enhance its own identity, like the Main Street Committee, and the Philmont Beautification Committee. We can partner with Philmont’s Village Board to apply for every Main Street revitalization grant available.
We can make sure that Philmont taxpayers get a break and pay only their fair share of taxes to Claverack and no more.
We can find ways to work together on common problems and issues, especially those involving development and services for young people and older people. We can help to support a Youth Center that provides activities, training, mentoring, and internships. We can do the same for a Senior Center that provides recreation, lectures, classes, and meetings.
When we are elected, we will do all of that. And more.
Press Releases and Other Documentation
PRESENTATION BY MAX DANNIS AT BUDGET HEARING, NOV. 14, 2005
The 2006 Preliminary Budget increases taxes 23% over 2005.
How can we avoid paying 23% more tax in 2006?
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The
Town could easily hold taxes at 2005 levels with reasonable changes
to the Budget.
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Solution Point #1. Don’t use our taxes to increase surplus fund balances.
Solution Point #2. Base the budget on actual results, not just prior years’ budgets.
Solution Point #2.1. More accurately estimate expenditures.
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Conservatively,
appropriations could be reduced by $45-50,000.
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Solution Point #2.2. More accurately forecast revenues.
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Conservatively,
budgeted revenues could be increased by $110-120,000.
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Solution Point #3. Better utilize our surplus fund balances.
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With
the suggested changes in revenues and expenditures, the appropriated
surplus fund balance could be reduced by $75,000 and we would still
avoid the tax increase.
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I urge the Board to keep total taxes at the 2005 levels.
or
A household budget analogy:
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But
when the Town underestimates revenues and overestimates expenses,
it builds the Town’s savings account and forces us to pay
the extra taxes.
|
|
And
then we might really need that second job.
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Claverack
Democratic Committee
George Rodenhausen, Chair
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
November
6, 2005
CLAVERACK--The Claverack Democratic Committee issued a statement today in response to an advertisement placed in today’s Register-Star by the Claverack Republicans.
“We are shocked and outraged that the Republicans would accuse the Claverack Democrats of using the Hometown Party line to mislead and confuse the voters,” said Virginia Martin, Director of Operations for Claverack Democrats 2005.
The truth is that Claverack Democratic Town Board candidate Cyndy Hall first used the Hometown Party line in 2000, when she ran a previous race for Town Board. This year, on August 19th, the Democratic candidates put the Hometown Party line on the ballot again. This was well before any Republican use of their "Hometown Team" slogan, which first appeared in a photograph in the Register-Star on September 4th and then was repeated on their billboard which went up later in the month.
In fact, Claverack resident Morgen Bowers wrote a letter to the editor, published in the Register-Star on October 4, shortly after the billboard appeared. It said, in part, "I was angered when I saw the slogan of the Republican Party candidates for Claverack Town Board on their new billboard: 'Claverack REAL Hometown Team.' Months ago, the Claverack Democratic Committee petitioned for and received 'Hometown Party' as an additional ballot line for the upcoming election."
Said Martin, "The Republicans obviously adopted their slogan when they saw that we were running on the Hometown Party line again. The use of the word 'real' in their slogan clearly indicates that it is a reaction to something--namely our use of the Hometown Party line."
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go
to Claverack Republicans' ad
of Nov 6 and 7
(jpg)
go to Claverack Democrats'
ad in response on Nov 8 (pdf)
Claverack
Democratic Committee
George Rodenhausen, Chair
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
November 4, 2005
Claverack--Eliot Spitzer, New York State Attorney General and front-running candidate for Governor, endorsed Max Dannis, Democratic and Hometown Party candidate for Town Supervisor of Claverack yesterday.
"Max is uniquely qualified for this position," said Spitzer, in a statement released by his office. "His ability to bring people together to resolve issues, and his willingness to listen to all sides, will serve the residents of Claverack well. He is the kind of public servant New Yorkers need. I urge the voters of the Town of Claverack to support Max Dannis for Town Supervisor on November 8th."
Dannis said he was "honored" by Spitzer's endorsement. "As a great admirer of Mr. Spitzer's unwavering commitment to the people of New York in the face of corporate pressure, I find his endorsement especially meaningful. I hope I can live up to the standard he has set for public service. That is certainly my goal."
Dannis' running mates, Katy Cashen and Cyndy Hall, candidates for Claverack's Town Board, and Jenny Post, candidate for Claverack's Town Clerk, were equally vocal in their support and admiration for their leader. "I hope we can live up to Max's definition of a public servant," said Hall. Cashen added "He's a very unusual man; he gives more of himself than anyone I know."
"He has extremely high ideals and expectations, none higher than for himself," said Post.
As for expectations, Dannis went on to say, "Even more important to me are the expectations of the voters. As I campaign from door to door to door, I hear more and more what people expect of me, of all of us, and I intend to fulfill those expectations."
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Claverack
Democratic Committee
George Rodenhausen, Chair
104 Main St., POB 144, Philmont, NY 12513
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
November 2, 2005
Claverack--Max Dannis, the Democratic candidate for Claverack Town Supervisor, went on record today as stating that, in the past three fiscal years, Claverack residents have paid 36% more in property taxes than was necessary. In examining the town’s finances from 2002 until the present, Dannis uncovered a number of questionable budget practices. Those practices include underestimating revenues, overestimating expenses, and, as a result, keeping a reserve that is almost as large as the Town's total annual budget.
Over the last three years (2002, 2003 and 2004), Dannis found a total discrepancy in budgeting vs. spending of approximately $1.4 million. In 2004 alone, revenues were underestimated by over $500,000. During those years, Claverack citizens paid property taxes to the town of about $1,000,000, when $750,000 would have been enough.
”We paid 36% more taxes than we needed to,” says Dannis. “It’s prudent to save for a rainy day, but when the surplus gets as large as this, it has to be questioned. Especially when the reserve is built up without any public discussion.” Dannis added that next year’s Preliminary Budget, which was, as usual, adopted by the Town Board in October with “no discussion at all,” tops the $2 million mark for the first time, up 10% over 2005, which was up 9% over 2004.
”The Town Board likes to focus on the tax rate--the amount of tax raised per dollar of assessed value,” added Dannis. “But with assessments going through the roof, even a flat tax rate means higher taxes for everyone.”
Katy Cashen, Democratic candidate for Town Board, said, “It’s hard to know what’s really going on with spending just by examining the budget. I’m very familiar with state and federal budgets and financial reporting. But the Town’s budget process doesn’t seem to ever reconcile with actual results, and there’s no information about increases in key line items. I think the taxpayers deserve an explanation.”
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Claverack
Democratic Committee
George Rodenhausen, Chair
104 Main St., POB 144, Philmont, NY 12513
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
October 20, 2005
CLAVERACK--On October 20, 2005, Joan Steiner, Treasurer of the Claverack Democratic Committee (“CDC”) and Claverack Democrats 2005, requested that the New York State Attorney General’s Office, the New York State Board of Elections and the Columbia County Board of Elections investigate serious shortcomings in campaign finance disclosures by the Columbia County Republican Committee, the Claverack Republican Committee, the Claverack Republican Club, and the Claverack Republican candidates for office.
Such disclosures are required by the New York State Election Law to bring transparency to elections by allowing the public to see what type of financial support candidates are receiving and how and where the funds are being spent. The law requires periodic filings itemizing every contribution of $100 or more, including name, address, and amount, as well as notarized statements from each candidate stating which organization(s) is/are paying for their campaigns. The most recent periodic filings were due October 7, 2005 (32 days prior to the election) as were the candidates’ notarized statements.
Steiner acknowledged that complying with campaign finance law is time-consuming, but she tries to be meticulous as possible. “I was up until 1 a.m. reviewing receipts and filling out the forms for the Claverack Democrats. I think is it very important for these filings to be accurate, so that the public understands who is supporting the party and contributors know where their money is going. I am proud to say that our reports show broad support across the community with a very large number of individual contributors.” (Steiner does admit to missing one deadline herself back in January. “It wasn’t campaign season, there were no contributions or expenditures to document and, unfortunately, it fell through the cracks.”)
In contrast, as of October 19, 2005, 12 days past the deadline, at the height of the campaign, Claverack Republicans have missed a number of required filings. One of their organizations, the Claverack Republican Club, is known to have contributed $5,000 to the campaign and yet they have failed to submit any report (four were required) since January of 2004. The individual Republican candidates have all failed to file the notarized statement, due October 7, indicating who is handling their campaign finances and financial disclosure. Another entity, the Claverack Republican Committee, has filed its reports very late and only after repeated requests by Steiner as conveyed through the Board of Elections.
The Republicans have also formed a new campaign organization called “Claverack’s Hometown Team” (not to be confused with the Hometown Party which is running an opposing slate of candidates). The Hometown Team’s report showed that more than half of its money came from other Republican organizations which themselves have failed to identify their donors. Thus, many supporters of the Hometown Team remain unidentified.
“This is what sent me to look at the county committee’s report in the first place,” said Steiner, “and I was shocked by the dearth of information.” In the Columbia County Republican Committee’s report, exactly one donation of $250 is itemized. The remaining $23,220 in contributions is listed as a lump sum with the notation “picnic.”
“Are we to believe that, in this entire calendar year to date, the county Republicans have received only one donation in excess of $99? This is preposterous and, in fact, we know it to be false,” insists Steiner. “For an organization of this size, which has over $125,000 in the bank, to flout the law in this way is an outrage.”
Steiner’s letter itemizes numerous violations, including failure to file, late filings, failure to itemize contributions and expenditures and inconsistent balances. It requests that the Attorney General and the State and County Boards of Election press for compliance, and, if appropriate, sanction the Republican groups. “Why do the Republican organizations act as if compliance were optional? I am not talking about the occasional slipped deadline or wrongly coded item, but rather the significant and repeated failures to comply,” asked a frustrated Steiner.
“I wasn’t surprised by the scarcity of information provided by the GOP,” says Max Dannis, the Democratic and Hometown Party’s candidate for Supervisor. “By using organizations like the Claverack Republican Club and the county Republican Committee to finance their campaign, and by failing to identify the source of the funds, the Republicans are able to limit the public’s access to the identities of the true supporters of their candidates.”
Morgen Bowers, a CDC Executive Committee member, stated that the CDC was very concerned by the lack of information in the Republicans’ filings. “It shows a complete disrespect for the citizens of Claverack and for the State’s laws. Is there something they are trying to hide?”
For Dannis, the heart of the matter seems to come back to open government. “Open government is the cornerstone of democracy. If candidates aren’t open about a simple matter such as who is contributing to get them elected, how can we trust them to be open with us about anything?”
“This is typical of the way this Town Board operates,” added Cyndy Hall, Democratic candidate for Town Board. “It wasn’t until we prodded them for years that they actually provided minutes and agendas for meetings. They have no interest in being accountable to the people. It seems an inconvenience to them.”
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