Letter To The Editor – A Hidden Agenda?

To the Editor:
I was dismayed to read your account of the Hoosick Town Council meeting held on February 29. Apparently, the Council voted to suspend the process of hiring an engineering/architectural firm to study the cost of keeping the Armory as the Town Hall, versus building a new building.  This action was taken based on the unexplained advice of the absent Town lawyer, despite clear evidence that the Request for Proposal process was completely legal and untainted.
Mr. Patire then tried to scare Hoosick residents with made up costs of removing lead and asbestos, although he willingly stopped the process that would have allowed us to learn if he is correct in his assumptions.  Mr. Cipperly offered the Armory to a local non-profit organization whose main purpose has been to provide opportunities for the youth of the community. Do the Board members want to save themselves exposure to toxins but allow our youth to be exposed?
I don’t believe so. I think the asbestos and lead gambit is a red herring being used by some Town Councilmembers to avoid keeping the Armory, but what I can’t understand is why. Why would they want to abandon the downtown anchor when they could buy it for $1 and renovate it over time? Why are they claiming to believe that our local non-profit could afford the upkeep and renovations when they say the Town can’t? Why have they refused to accept the free services of a hydro-geologist who can tell them whether the underground oil tank is leaking – one of the many things they say might be too costly to replace? Why have they stopped the process of finding out the true costs of keeping the Armory? Perhaps because there is hidden agenda at play. Who stands to gain if the Armory is abandoned by the Town government?
That is a question I can’t answer, but I urge the residents of the Town of Hoosick to go to the next Council meeting on Tuesday, April 3, at the Armory at 7 pm and ask it. Even if you don’t think the Armory is the right place for the Town Hall, go and ask why our elected representatives have stopped every attempt to find out the real costs of keeping the Armory and are instead hiding behind fake issues and bad legal advice to abandon the most beautiful building in town. Why?
Margaret O. Casey
Rogers Avenue, Hoosick Falls