Should Town Vehicles Be Used for Personal Trips?

Although it wasn’t posted for public notice, sassy commentary was at the top of the agenda for the July 14 Patterson Town Board meeting; not to mention the slew of items that Deputy Supervisor Edmond O’Connor added to the itinerary without warning. Patterson’s other board members, Supervisor Michael Griffin, Councilmen Kevin Burns, Joseph Capasso, and Ginnny Nacerino, didn’t disappoint in terms of heated arguments.

The agenda was temporarily ignored for about 15 minutes after Nacerino mentioned the highway department and its acting superintendent Gene Brandon. According to Griffin, Brandon wrote that Capasso told him not to pave the roads in town; whereas Capasso said he never said anything of the sort and that he has tried on several occasions to schedule a meeting with Brandon. “We want to know what roads they intend to replace … if we could save taxpayer money, why not?”

O’Connor continually defended Brandon as being very busy due to holding two positions within the highway department—that of foreman and acting superintendant. Brandon took on the superintendant role when the elected superintendant Charles Williams was charged with stealing from the town in February. In June, the Courier reported that Williams is facing 24-count indictment charges that range from grand larceny to multiple counts of official misconduct for allegedly stealing property from the town for personal use, as well as threatening to harm District Attorney Adam Levy.

According to O’Connor, Brandon requested to use a town vehicle to commute back and forth to and from work and his home in Dutchess County. He said he hasn’t received a raise and is working under very difficult circumstances, but “he is doing a very good job and it would be easiest to say we understand and allow him use of the vehicle during the day.”

O’Connor made a motion to allow Brandon the use of the town truck, citing that the previous superintendent was allowed use of it and that it has been a standard “perk” for this position. Burns asked if there was a written policy for town vehicles and later said he’d second the motion as long as the word “perk” was removed from the proposal.

Nacerino had an issue with even discussing the topic because it was not on the agenda and when O’Connor made a motion to have it added, she requested to table the item but was denied since it wasn’t an agenda item.

“God help us,” said an audience member listening to the chaotic disagreement.

“I don’t have a problem as long as he is only using it for work,” Griffin said. He continued that allowing Brandon to use the truck could end up being more practical because in cases of emergency, given that he is on call 24/7, he wouldn’t have to drive to work and then drive to wherever he was needed. Nacerino agreed as long as there was some sort of stipulation added. In the end, all councilmen voted in favor to allow Brandon the use of the truck until September 30, and he must keep a log of his use and emergency responses.

Once back on track, Burns announced that the board received a resignation letter from Patterson planning board member Maria DiSalvo, the board accepted her resignation unanimously and discussed the new appointment candidates. Burns said that last year during interviews for an open spot on the planning board there were two candidates who stood out as “impressive”—Tom McNulty, who was hired at the time, and Ron Taylor, who remained interested in the position and is an “active member of the community.” Burns made a motion to appoint Taylor to complete DiSalvo’s unexpired term.

Nacerino said she was confused by the urgency of needing to replace DiSalvo. “I’m not disputing Taylor, it’s just the process that I’m advocating for … the position should be duly posted for all who may be interested.” In the end, the vote was carried with Burns, O’Connor, and Griffin in favor of appointing Taylor to the planning board, with Capasso against, and Nacerino abstaining.

During the public portion, resident Patricia Ploeger, who has run for town board twice, asked if there was any penalty for violating town code in regards to campaign signs—Greg Ball is the only politician with signs currently posted. Patterson law says campaign signs can be posted 30 days before an election. “This is the third time he’s run, he’s a resident of Patterson … he knows the laws and is blatantly ignoring them,” she told the Courier. “Here’s someone who’s running for state legislature and he doesn’t even follow the laws in his own town.”

David Raines, fire code inspector, said he spoke with Griffin because there had been complaints. Ball’s campaign officer was notified that the signs must be removed “within 72 hours, if they’re still posted, Ball must appear in court and a judge will decide if there will be a fine or not,” Raines said. As of press time on Tuesday, Ball’s signs remained throughout Patterson.

O’Connor began to defend the posting of Ball’s signs but Ploeger interrupted into the microphone, “He does it every time. The law says 30 days, Ed, you know that as well as I do.” In the audience, O’Connor’s wife joined in on the debate of whether or not it was appropriate to have the signs up this early, pointing and shaking her head at Ploeger.

Griffin gave an update of the MS4 project, which is a water protection program that affects Putnam County as part of the New York City watershed. Finally, Rich Williams, town planner, was asked to speak regarding water tanks at Covington Greens. He said, the DEC has given the town three weeks to get the tanks decommissioned. Griffin told town attorney Tim Curtiss that they expected to have $3,500 from an escarole account.

Also, Patterson residents have been experiencing problems with Verizon. Verizon is claiming Patterson has been delinquent in its account. “This is a lie,” said Griffin, looking and pointing directly at the camera, “If you people [Verizon] are watching this, stop lying to the town.” O’Connor mused, “We’re bad enough without people trying to pin us for this…okay that’s just me,” he said after another board member said, “Hey, speak for yourself.”

In other news, it was approved to have the town purchase new recording equipment for the surveillance of the town hall for $2,200. Also, the justice court was granted permission to purchase a new mailing machine from Pitney Bowes.