Grafton Town Board Action – A FOIL Request By A Councilman

by Thaddeus Flint
When a Town Councilman, in order to do his job, feels he must resort to the Freedom of Information law in order to obtain documents from the very town he in part oversees, it could raise some eyebrows. But when Town of Grafton Councilman Rick Ungaro did this at the Town Board meeting Monday night, nobody in the packed Town Hall seemed all that surprised. Such is Grafton.
[private]Ungaro’s FOIL request reads: “Under the prerequisites of the New York freedom of Information Law, article 6 of the Public Officers Law, I hereby request copies of all listings of all FEMA funds received by the Town of Grafton, N.Y., and any and all disbursements from these funds for the years 2012 and 2013 to date.”
According to Ungaro, “FOIL was the last ditch effort to obtain information for myself and the other Board members so we can successfully do our job.” Ungaro had already requested this information over three months ago. “As an elected official I feel access to information has been denied to myself and to other Board members through the Office of the Supervisor,” Ungaro wrote in an email on February 12.
At the Board meeting Ungaro noted that his position on the Grafton Highway Committee makes it important that he know exactly how much FEMA aid was received and what it was used for. “The use of the FEMA funds,” said Ungaro, could be used to “update the highway garage and/or equipment.” However, since Ungaro feels he has been denied access to this information, the last Grafton Highway Committee meeting concluded that “without an accounting of the FEMA funds received along with the disbursements the Committee is hard-pressed to move forward with any updates.”
And that was pretty much the entire Town Board meeting.
The Grafton Ambulance Squad reported that they had been on 8 calls and travelled 223 miles. The dog warden had nine calls, one of which was a dog bite, and the animal was quarantined. Councilwoman Barbara Messenger noted that the Town was aware there were some street lights out and National Grid would be apprised of the situation. The Town Board is awaiting the State Comptroller’s Office audit report.
And then Cathy Goyer got up and asked Ungaro why he didn’t just get the information he needed himself. “Go back there,” said Goyer. “Go get it.”
Perhaps Town Supervisor Ray Darling could have explained why Ungaro needed to file a FOIL request, but Darling was absent that night.
“You guys have to work together,” said Goyer, who also thanked Ungaro for putting his email address on the Town’s website. Ungaro and Darling are currently the only Board members who have done so.
“It’s the wave of the future,” pointed out Goyer. [/private]