Grafton Town Board Action – Are You Ready To Rumble?

by Kieron Kramer
Too often, since months before the election last year, the Grafton Town Board meeting turns into fight night. Unfortunately this was the case on Monday when the Town Board members seemed unable to work together and the divisiveness on the Board that was obvious to all evolved into a very polarized, very heated open discussion by the public in which the few genuine questions and ideas were lost in the clamor.
[private]There are two main issues that caused friction on Monday between Board members – that is friction between Town Supervisor Ray Darling and the other Board Members, Barb Messenger, Rick Ungaro and Marie Claus – Mike Crandall was absent. One is the Board members’ contention that the Supervisor’s lack of providing the agenda, the Supervisor’s report and other information well before the meeting does not allow them “to do their homework,” as Barb Messenger said. Board Member Rick Ungaro would put these items on the Town website (http://grafton-ny.us/) before the meeting so that the public would know ahead of time what the issues will be in the meeting. He sees this as an issue of “transparency in government,” an issue on which he and Darling had run during the election. Messenger asserted during the discussion of Darling’s failure to provide these documents that the Board had passed a resolution in the spring requiring that they be disseminated 7 to 10 days before the meetings. The question is – does the Board think there is a lack of leadership on Darling’s part and is trying to fill the void or are they in fact overstepping their roles by prescribing how the Supervisor should run the Town’s business. The resolution that Messenger referred to was agreed to when Darling was in hospital and Deputy Supervisor Kathy Goyer was in charge. Another consideration is that when one is as profoundly ill as Darling was to miss four months worth of meetings, and has looked into the abyss, one’s priorities and sense of urgency about certain issues change. In the raucous open discussion later in the proceedings one resident expressed upset at seeing the Supervisor attacked. “Why can’t you call the Supervisor prior to the meeting to find the answers to your questions?” she asked. To which Messenger said, “Communication goes both ways; I want to prepare for the meeting, and I don’t want to come to the meeting without first thinking about the issues.”
The second issue the Board members criticized Darling about was the budget process. They met on October 3 in a workshop to review the tentative budget. At that time, according to Board Member Marie Claus, the Board agreed to hold the budget to the 2% tax cap increase. In the latest tentative budget circulated to the Board the tax increase stands at 4.6%. Ungaro wanted to know why the tentative budget wasn’t on the agenda. “You campaigned on economic reform, but you are proposing a 5% [4.6%] budget.” Since it is too late, according to the consensus of the Board, to override the tax cap, it would be illegal to have a 4.6% tax increase. Clearly Darling is not seriously offering that; he is probably just starting with the department heads’ requests as submitted at the first workshop. “I expect the Board to whittle away until you get down to 2%,” he said. Rather than propose a budget with cuts in it, he wants to share the responsibility, or the blame, for the cuts with the entire Board. He did state however that the tentative budget has a 3% increase in employee salaries. During the open discussion Pat Ivory and Nancy LaRoque both questioned the increase in these tough economic times. Darling replied, “The budget has not been accepted by anybody, not the Supervisor or the Board members.” One necessary bit of information needed before the Board can develop next year’s budget is the total amount of FEMA money the Town will receive and how it will be allocated between funds. Messenger pressed Darling on this point. Darling said that most will be allocated to the highway fund and 5% to the general fund but none of the $505,000 received so far has been allocated yet. In the open discussion Deputy Town Supervisor Kathy Goyer said that the Town Bookkeeper is working with the Association of Towns to determine how to allocate the FEMA funds. Presumably this will be done by the next budget workshop on October 29 when the Board will whittle down the budget to a 2% increase. A public hearing on the budget was scheduled for  Thursday, November 8, at 7 pm.
Resolutions
A letter was received from Bev Stewart asking the Town Board if the Berlin Central School Board of Education could use the Grafton Senior Center for its meeting on November 20 at 7:15 pm. The Board authorized this.
Pat Niebuhr requested by letter the use of the Town Hall for a local historians meeting on Wednesday, October 24, from 2:15 to 5:30 pm. Since Town Clerk Sue Putnam will be available to open the Town Hall and lock it up afterwards, the Board voted to approve this use.
The Board passed a resolution to transfer monies between appropriation accounts in the general and highway funds.
The Board passed a resolution to pay all bills as audited.
Rescue Squad Report
The Grafton Rescue Squad traveled 134 miles and expended 27.45 volunteer hours in the last month. They responded to two motor vehicle accidents, one seizure, one allergic reaction, one fall, one sick person, one difficulty breathing and provided mutual aid to Petersburgh on one occasion. Two patients were taken to Samaritan Hospital, one to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, three refused medical aid and in one case no patient was found. There were no new membership applications, but one trained new member is pending relocation into Grafton.
Other Letters
A letter was received from Time Warner requesting a letter of support from Supervisor Darling for Time Warner’s application to New York State for Last Mile funds so that they can provide broadband internet access to the Town of Grafton. Since the letter was requested for October 3, Darling went ahead and sent the letter of support.
A letter was received from Patty Nash asking why the Grafton Ambulance gives a report at the meeting but the Fire Department does not. The answer given is that the Town funds the Ambulance while the Fire Department is under the jurisdiction of the Fire District, which is a different municipality from the Town. Claus suggested asking the Fire Department if they wanted to make a report, and Darling said he would ask Fire Chief Jim Goyer about it. Nash also asked why the Highway Department works four ten hour days a week. Darling said you should ask Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck. These hours are the same as the County works, and Sue Putnam emphasized that these are summer hours.
GES Deadline Extended
A letter was received at the last minute from Superintendent of the Berlin Schools, Dr. Stephen Young, asking the Grafton Town Board to reconsider its decision on the transfer of the Grafton Elementary School to the Town. The School Board has extended its original deadline, and Young asked for a meeting between the legal representatives of the Town and the School Board. Darling said he would forward the letter to Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo for his review.
The GES situation raised hackles in the open discussion. Rick Goyer asked why there was no referendum on the issue and was told by Claus and the rest of the Board that Ferlazzo had told them that it could not be put up to a referendum. But, surely a non-binding referendum is within the purview of the Board to do and would have provided important information to the Board.
A Big Tent
It would serve no purpose to repeat the recriminations and personal attacks in the open discussion. Almost lost in the noise was Mike Petricca of the Grafton Trail Riders thanking the community for its support of the over the mountain ride and Connie Alderman’s important questions about the Youth Commission’s swim program. Normally in politics the phrase “a big tent” refers to including diverse people and opinions. But at the end of this meeting someone said, “You want to talk about a circus; we should put a big tent over this place.”[/private]