January 15, 2009
-Councilman Phelps Threatened
-Town Clerk Betsy Marsh Given a Raise
-Dave Malachowski Appointed Chair of the ZBA
-Robert Church, Not Reappointed
Last nights Town Board meeting at the Community Center was an action packed event that provided a number of interesting developments for the Town of Sardinia
The first part of the meeting was the annual re-organizational meeting, in which such things as annual budget, Board committee’s, and policies and procedures are established.
Councilman Heather Phelps began the meeting by announcing that she had very recently received threatening letters regarding her Town Board votes and actions, aimed at both her family and her employment. She provided little detail except to say that they were anonymous and ugly and sent by a gutless person or persons.
This community is used to these kinds of attacks as many elected officials, including Deputy Supervisor Ron Kenyon, Supervisor Kathy Balus, and the editor of this paper have been the targets of anonymous and threatening letters and phone calls. We do believe that there are those out there that pose a real threat to public figures in this community. We are sickened by this, sickened by those that hide them, and hope that in the near future, whoever is responsible will be held fully accountable.
Hannons Demand and Get Raise for Betsy Marsh
The annual reorganizational meeting takes place after the end of the year meeting, which takes place after the towns fiscal budget is adopted, which takes place after a series of meetings and work sessions, including a public hearing, which takes place after the hard work of drafting a budget occurs. This all took place this year beginning several months ago. At this reorganizational meeting, held last night, the very first action of Mary Hannon, was to interrupt the meeting and demand that the budget be reopened, and that Town Clerk Betsy Marsh be given a raise of about $5,000 a year, or an approximately 20% raise, as a stipend to cover medical expenses. Supervisor Balus asked Mary Hannon why she had not brought this up prior to this meeting, for instance during the past 6 months, or prior to the public hearing, when the budget was in process and the public and the whole board had some involvement in thoughtful decionmaking. Ms. Hannon explained that the Sardinia Clerks rate of pay was not commensurate with other clerks in other communities and pointed to a stack of papers she described as “her study.” Balus and others on the Board indicated that they felt that the Clerk should certainly be paid fairly, that Marsh was a good clerk, but that this was a discussion that should have taken place prior to this meeting so that more time could be spent analyzing the figures that Councilman Hannon was presenting. Balus said that she was not aware that a pay raise for Betsy Marsh was an issue and that this last second request is “unusual.” After some discussion, a motion was made to raise Marsh’s rate of pay with Phelps, Hannon, and Montgomery voting in favor, and Uhteg and Balus voting against.
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Montgomery and Friends Still Going After Kenyon
Councilman David Montgomery made a motion to reduce the Deputy Supervisors (former Councilmember Ron Kenyon) annual stipend from $546.00 to $50.00. “He doesn’t do much anyway.” stated Montgomery. Balus explained that the Deputy Supervisor is always on call, handles a couple of Town Board meetings each year, and had to be constantly up to speed on a number of projects and issues. “Ron Kenyon works hard as my Deputy and has a couple of years of experience, and I trust him and I know that he knows the ins and outs of this critical job” said Balus. The motion to reduce Kenyon’s stipend was seconded by Hannon and was defeated by a 3-2 vote.
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Dave Malachowski New Zoning Board of Appeals Chair
Yes you are reading this correctly. Former Town Board member and long time and well known community advocate David Malachowski was appointed to the Town of Sardinia Zoning Board of Appeals, replacing Lewis Markel, whose term recently expired. Mary Hannon, whose husband Mike Hannon has been the controversial Chair of the ZBA raised several objections at one point stating, “I don’t know Dave Malachowski, how can we vote for him?” Supervisor Balus interjected: “He applied for the job and I provided you with his resume.” After a series of exchanges and motions Malachowski was appointed by a vote of 3-2 (Balus, Phelps, Uhteg yea, Montgomery, Hannon, nay)
Next Supervisor Balus stated that the Town Attorney, Tony DiFillipo has confirmed that the Town Board has the job of “appointing the ZBA Chair” and that she was recommending that Dave Malachowski be appointed as the Chair, replacing Mike Hannon. Mary Hannon objected vigorously and a series of exchanges and motions took placed characterized by Mary Hannon and Dave Montgomery exchanging glances and nods with Mike Hannon, who is also the Chair of the Sardinia Republican Committee. “It seems like you may have a conflict of interest with this vote” stated Supervisor Balus to Mary Hannon at one point during the exchanges. A vote was called for and Dave Malachowski was appointed new chair of the ZBA by the same 3-2 vote that confirmed him as a member.
Mary Hannon wanted to re-appoint Robert Church to the Town of Sardinia Planning Board and made a motion to do so that was defeated 3-2. Hannon and Montegomery voted to re-appoint while Balus, Uhteg, and Phelps voted no.
There were a lot of other issues and actions taken at last nights Board meeting, but you will have to ask someone that was there, or wait until the next issue of the Standard comes out to get the details. If you get a chance, make sure to attend the next Town Board meeting-Wednesday Feb 11, 730pm
