Industrial Strength Chutzpa

Joel Petlin, the school superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District has written a letter to LOHUD (the Journal News' website for the Lower Hudson valley).  He complains about the awful actions by... 
...elected officials (who) are now attempting to limit democracy as it relates to the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish population of the Hudson Valley.

An Assemblyman has proposed a bill to create a state commission to better enforce the Freedom of Information and Open Meetings laws. His press conference and press release made it clear that this legislation is targeted toward a single municipality – the Village of Kiryas Joel, inhabited by a Hasidic Jewish population.

The Assemblyman and his colleagues that joined him at his press conference have been longtime critics of any actions taken by the elected leaders of Kiryas Joel. So it comes as no surprise that they would propose a new law designed to constrain a growing neighboring municipality. What is curious, however, is why there is a need for the creation of a new layer of government, at a proposed annual cost of up to $15 million, when all laws, including FOIL and open meetings, are already reviewable and enforceable by the judiciary.

The unnamed Assemblyman (who's initials are James Skoufis) is, it seems, seeking to restrict KJ's democratic right to illegally hold secret board meetings and ignore FOILS.

Who'd A Thunk It

It turns out that if you want to communicate with the Town Board you'd best contact the board members individually and directly.

A Ms. Maria Hunter sent a communication to Woodbury Town Supervisor Ralph Caruso asking that the Board remove and then add various members of the Beautification Commission - a power residing in the Town Board as a whole.

Surprisingly, Mr. Caruso chose not to pass this request on to the Board, but, rather, took it upon himself to reject the request. Thus saving time and protecting the Town Councilmen from having to worry their pretty little heads with town business.

Efficiency!

Addendum:  Does this seem petty and whinny?  Perhaps it may be, but the point is this isn't the way things should go.  And it's just one of many, many examples, in just three months, of Caruso refusing to act like a town supervisor and instead acting as if he were town king.
And it turns out that under New York State Municipal Law there is no such position as town king.

Foiled Again

From an AP posting:

A sampling of NY journalists' open government challenges

MIDDLETOWN TIMES HERALD-RECORD
As part of an Open Meeting Law project in 2012, a reporter made repeated efforts to determine when and where the village of Kiryas Joel's mayor and trustees would meet in order to attend the session in February. But the reporter was rebuffed by the clerk's office and ultimately told by the village's attorney that the meeting had been canceled and would not be rescheduled.

When the reporter returned to Kiryas Joel's municipal offices the following month for the next scheduled meeting, there wasn't any. After placing a call, a secretary told the reporter that the mayor and trustees would meet that afternoon instead and that she would call once she knew the time, which she never did.

Another Sign Of Spring on Museum Village Road.

Roadside love seats.

Signs Of Spring

Mr. Cone and Wally's are open.

For extra credit, what were the previous names of these two, fine establishments?

But, Does NYS DEC Care?

Commission says draft outline for KJ annexation is 'shallow'

mages in yellow represent the properties whose owners have asked to be annexed from the Town of Monroe into the Village of Kiryas Joel.


Bob Quinn, Photo News
MONROE — The Town of Monroe Conservation Commissioner has released its review of the draft environmental outline for the proposed annexation of 507 acres from the town of Monroe into the Village of Kiryas Joel."We are concerned that the DGEIS amounts to a shallow analysis of the resources and land use in the Town of Monroe," the commissions chairman, John Ebert, wrote in an email exchange with The Photo News.He added:
The evaluation of the tree inventory will result in better understanding of the impacts of deforestation and degradation of watersheds from development.A significant proportion of the Town of Monroe's UR-M and all of the Light Industrial zoned lands is incorporated in the annexation request affecting the Town's ability to provide adequate, safe and decent affordable housing and economic opportunity as per the Town's Comprehensive Master Plan."The MCC also believes it is imperative that applicants provide permission to members of the Town's Conservation Commission and Planning Board for complete access to the annexation parcels for evaluation and analysis purposes," Ebert wrote.

Enforceable Laws? What A Concept!

From WAMC, Northeast Public Radio

A New York state assemblyman introduced legislation today to dissolve the Committee on Open Government and replace it with a commission that has enforcement powers. He says the bill was prompted by the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel’s alleged closed government tactics.

Democratic Assemblyman from Orange County James Skoufis introduced his Integrity in Government Act standing with a number of local elected officials. He says the bill would replace the state Committee on Open Government with a commission that has the power to bring enforcement actions, to fine elected officials who abuse the Open Meetings Law and compel the release of records of municipalities that do not abide by the Freedom of Information law. Skoufis cites the Village of Kiryas Joel as the driving force behind his proposed bill.

“Right in our backyard, the Village of Kiryas Joel has proven time and time again that they have no respect for the Open Meetings Law and for the Freedom of Information Law,” says Skoufis. “They are flagrant violators of both of these laws.”

Credit WAMC, Allison Dunne

Paul Larrabee is spokesman for the Village of Kiryas Joel. He says it is up to the legislature to decide the merits of the bill, yet questions the motive behind it.

“Many of the participants at today’s event have been long-term adversaries of the Village of Kiryas Joel with clearly different political agendas,” says Larrabee. “And it is the premature conclusion of an open and transparent environmental process that causes many to have concern today about their motivation.”
The process to which he refers is the current proposal to annex 507 acres in the Town of Monroe to Kiryas Joel. The village was designated as lead agency to oversee the State Environmental Quality Review. Skoufis says passage of his bill is critical to ensure an open and transparent process for this proposal. Executive Director of the Committee on Open Government Robert Freeman says he provided input for aspects of Skoufis’s legislation and that there would be a monetary cost.

“Every state has some sort of a Freedom of Information Law, an Open Meetings Law. They’re all different. There’s only one state, and it’s Connecticut, that has a created a quasi-judicial kind of committee that has the power to decide. And, to the best of my knowledge, it has a staff of approximately 20. Its budget is at least a couple of million dollars,” Freeman says. “And if we extrapolate in New York, we think about the size of the state physically, we think about the population of approximately 20 million, my question is what would it cost to carry out this function in New York? My guess is that the cost would be more than significant.”
As opposed to his committee’s current cost.

“We are free. In fact the staff of this office is only two of us,” says Freeman. “The cost of us running this office is less than a penny per person per year in New York.”

Credit WAMC, Allison Dunne

Skoufis affirms there will be a cost, but does not yet have a dollar figure. Freeman says there is another issue.

“Kiryas Joel is an aberration. It’s an aberration,” says Freeman. “And my hope would be that there are other methods, perhaps, that might be available to encourage compliance.”

Republican Orange County Legislator John Vero laments Kiryas Joel’s alleged continued Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Laws violations.

“It’s somewhat disturbing that a bill has to be proposed to the Assembly to enforce this,” says Vero. “I think it’s just something you take for granted it should be done.”

“I think the bottom line here is and the driving point is that everyone should be respecting all the laws all the time, not just when it’s convenient,” says Skoufis.

Larrabee says village officials have acted in an open and transparent manner and encouraged public input with regard to the annexation proposal. Meanwhile, Freeman says that if Skoufis’s legislation were to become law:

“It would represent a sea change in New York. It would give, let’s call it, unusual authority over virtually every unit of government to this new commission,” says Freeman. “In my heart of hearts, I would love to have that kind of authority, but I’m not sure that the state legislature or a governor would want to provide that kind of authority to an independent commission.”

After all, he says, there are the courts. Village of Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan, who stood alongside Skoufis, likes the idea of a commission having enforcement power.

Credit WAMC, Allison Dunne

“All we’re asking for is that everybody has to play by the same rules. And I think it’s important that we have some enforcement measures in the laws so that they will be forced to play by the same rules as us,” says Queenan. “My philosophy is very simple, if you’re going to have laws, enforce the laws. If you’re not going to have laws, remove the laws so everybody is playing on a level playing field.”


Skoufis says there are discussions with a Republican to carry the bill in the Senate, but declined to name the senator.