INSIDE DON ARMSTRONG

Frank Hogg 10/20/03 Draft

There is a lot of information here, almost too much, but covering Don Armstrong's actions over the last few years is the cause of it. Keep in mind that he works at the pleasure of his masters, the Town Board, and he would not still be working for them if he wasn't doing what he was told. I'm saying this is a draft article for now because at 6 pages+- there has to be mistakes. Please email with any errors.

"He's giving lawyers a bad name..." Overheard from a lawyer at a Town Board meeting.

For 5 years I've watched the Town Board and Don Armstrong. I am curious why with all the evidence presented here they keep him on. Surely they know as much, if not more about his activities than I do.

As you read this article ask yourself this question: "Why does the town board keep this guy on?" That might be a good question to ask candidates running for office.

(Donald C Armstrong is the lawyer for the Preble Town Board. Information and links to his firm are at the end of this article.)

 

THE SONG MOUNTAIN WELL:

My first experience with Don Armstrong came at a Town Board meeting on December 14, 1998 to protest the Song Mountain well. I had never been to the Town Hall before and had to ask directions. The room was filled with 50 people or so, all there about the well. Some of what was said is part of the official minutes. At that meeting Don advised the people in the audience that (a) there was nothing we could do to stop the well. (b) that we might be able to write an ordinance but that would not stop this well. There are several problems with this.

Marilyn Stoker was and is the Preble Town Justice during all this.

In the months that followed I talked to Don about his misinformation and thought, at the time, that it was just a mistake on his part, that he didn't know the right answer and misinformed us. I asked him that in the future if he didn't know he should say so rather than guessing. Of course I was completely wrong in assuming his 'misspeaking' was an error on his part. It now seems that it was one in a long line of 'misspeaking' and giving wrong information. On purpose? Perhaps, I think so.

THE CELL TOWER:

While doing some research looking at old town board minutes I ran across the meeting in 1997 when the cell tower was discussed. Peter Knapp was the supervisor/code enforcement officer at the time and signed an improperly filled out permit that allowed the cell tower. The cell tower was installed on Peter Knapp's brother's land, land that had been in the Knapp family for five generations. On the permit Peter Knapp stated the owner of the land was the cell company rather than his brother Paul. Knapp signed this permit after telling members of the board that he would not do so. During the meeting town councilor Ann Brennan made a motion to turn the cell tower issue over to the ZBA. There was no second and the motion failed. Don Armstrong was there and in his position as Town Board lawyer he should have advised Brennan that she could turn the cell issue over to the ZBA by herself and that she did not need a motion to do so. Armstrong claims to be an expert in town law so he had to know this law. His silence on the matter helped Paul Knapp to a $20,000 plus yearly lease for the cell tower.  It is possible that Ann Brennan, originally from Long Island and now living in Florida, knew this and it was all a ruse to appease the town folk. (It is my understanding the Don Armstrong does private legal work for the Knapp family.)

THE WATER PROTECTION COMITTEE:

The WPC was formed to create new laws to protect the water supply and to review the code. At the first organizational meeting that I attended Don Armstrong, seated a few feet from current supervisor Betty Pitman petitioned the members to rezone Song Mountain commercial. This idea was soundly knocked down by Dan Dineen, Cortland Planning who was also in attendance. Months later I was told Armstrong went to a WPC meeting and again petitioned the committee to make Song Mountain commercial. Then again I was told by Dan Dineen that Armstrong visited him along with Ann Henderson, chair of the WPC and again petitioned to make Song Mountain commercial. In this last meeting Dan told me, after I asked, than that was all Armstrong talked about during that meeting. This makes three times Armstrong did this and now the question was who was he doing it for? I called Supervisor Pitman and asked her if she knew who Armstrong was working for. She said it was not Song because "Song has their own lawyer" This tells me two things. (1) That Armstrong was NOT doing it for the town and (2) he was NOT doing it for Song. Who was his client? Many years ago Marilyn Stoker wanted to put condos on property she or her family owned just south but adjacent to and on Song Mountain. The land is zoned R1L and would have to be rezoned for Stokers condos. Stoker has used Armstrong in the past so it is reasonable to assume that Armstrong was working for Stoker in his petitioning the boards and Dan Dineen. In a call to Pitman about a week after my first call Pitman now saws that Armstrong "misspoke" about rezoning Song commercial. - Three times? The first time in front of her? Why didn't she speak up before this and why did she tell me that "Song has their own lawyer". It is clear that they all got together and created this flimsy story of "misspeaking" to try to cover for Armstrong. Why? (It is important to note that the taxpayers of Preble were paying Armstrong while he was doing this for his "other" client.)

THE PAUL KNAPP REZONE:

On 7/9/01 the town board voted to rezone Paul Knapp's farmland commercial so that Paul could get an artificially high appraisal on that land and get about $750,000 from the NYS Farmland Protection Program. Everyone knew that an Article 78 lawsuit would be filed but they rezoned it anyway. On the day of the trial before Judge Rumsey Don Armstrong was not there and was replaced at the last minute by his partner Fran Casullo (Just elected JP for Cortlandville and assistant county attorney for Cortland) Casullo was embarrassed because he was only told at 5 PM the night before that he would be handling the case and he did not have adequate time to prepare. The question is why would Armstrong shirk his duty to the town this way. We found out later that Paul Knapp got his appraisal the DAY AFTER the town board voted to rezone! Even thought the appraiser, Fred Hudson, knew there would be a lawsuit he gave it to them anyway. No honest appraiser would do this, he would wait for the outcome of the lawsuit. The judge overturned the rezone and the end result is that the State of NY paid an inflated commercial value for non commercial property. Not even a pig in a poke, more like an invisible pig. If Armstrong knew that the Knapp's got their appraisal he would have been hard pressed to argue before the judge that the judge needed to uphold the towns rezone. If the judge asked Armstrong certain questions he would have had to either admit this fact or lie. He could not admit it because that would be a disservice to his client the town. If he lied and was caught he could lose his license. (Note: The appraiser Fred Hudson was given a letter of admonition by the Department of State following a formal complaint about this issue.)

THE BARDEN HOME ISSUE:

Don Armstrong has intimate knowledge of the inner working of Preble politics and may even have some leverage with town officials. In other words he may know where the bodies are buried because the town board covers up for him even though he has proven to be a problem for the town.

At the September 2003 Town Board meeting Pat Snyder replaced Armstrong for the purpose of reviewing the Barden SEQR. Don had stepped aside because of his conflict of interest. He didn't step far. He sat at the table, leaning forward, and within arms distance from Snyder and looked over the shoulder of a council person following along with the form as Pat Snyder read through the questions. Armstrong did not make any comments while this was going on.  It is my understanding that what Armstrong and the town are doing is illegal because as Barden's lawyer Armstrong has intimate knowledge that would give Barden an advantage in their dealings with the town. This could be used by someone in a lawsuit. (I and everyone I know welcomes Barden to Preble and it will not be because of us if they decide not to move here.)

THE ZBA ISSUE:

Don Armstrong mishandled changing the ZBA membership from 7 members to 5. Not once, not twice but THREE times. He even made FRONT PAGE headline news in the Cortland Standard for his mistakes. This is covered in the resources in the next section.

 

RESOURCES: (I made an attempt to organize this and I'm sure there is more on the site if you want to look. However, this should be enough to give you an idea of what has been going on.)

Preble NY - Aquifer Protection District "Don Armstrong encouraged the town to look at rezoning some areas of Preble to encourage commercial development."

Preble NY Special Town Board Meeting "Armstrong loses it! In an unprofessional display, Don Armstrong, town attorney, lost his temper last night. Special Town Board Meeting about the Knapp rezone lawsuit. 8/9/1"

Preble NY | 2002 The Year In Review "The attempt to create fire lanes was based on advice from town attorney Don Armstrong that turned out to be incorrect."

Preble ~ Town Board Restricts Access to Public Records "Don Armstrong (Town Board Atty.) looked bewildered as usual and the Town board didn't know quite what to do, as usual. So I just told them I would mail them a letter with the information so Don could look it up, (he being the expert in town law and all)... "

Preble NY - Bed and Breakfast Ellen Shirly 12/2/02 "At the three-board workgroup meeting some months ago Don Armstrong, town attorney, suggested that this should be done and that Song Mountain's status should be changed to commercial. Dan Dineen from county planning vehemently opposed it."

Preble Town Board pulls a fast one! 6/8/1  "Then Don Armstrong stating that the meeting was legal because it was an emergency, the emergency being that they didn't get their act together in time to do it at a regularly scheduled meeting."

Cortland County Legislator Max Stoker accuses his constituents of being terrorists. "Don Armstrong, town attorney, did not feel he had a conflict of interest when he advised the town people and myself there was nothing the town could do about the illegal well. This was untrue and Armstrong knew or should have known that and perhaps he has an ethical problem with that. Stoker's friend Supervisor Knapp greased the way for the well that also created an atmosphere of distrust in the people about their town officials."

Preble News Barden Homes "ONE LAST JOKE During the discussion about Barden Homes Don Armstrong said his office worked for Barden on occasion and he would have a conflict of interest and couldn't represent the town in this matter. The joke? This is the first time in the many times in the past when Armstrong had a conflict of interest and he offered to step aside. I'll be going into that sometime in the future but for now the joke may only be funny to me, but then again I often find hypocrisy funny."

Preble Town Board Ignores the Will of the People! "Does town lawyer Don Armstrong understand the Freedom of Information Laws or is he confusing it for Freedom of Town Stalling/Concealing Information Law? Decide for yourself."

The Staley Conspiracy | Preble NY | 12/16/02 "Don Armstrong, town attorney. He might have been able to influence this because he does advise the board. However, if it was then he would likely be fired and more likely be brought up on ethics charges."

Preble News 2003-06-01 Archives "Don Armstrong has been spending the last year lobbying everyone in sight to make Song commercial and when that was questioned they said he misspoke, he meant recreational which is just a guise for commercial. Oh come on, we can see what's going on here. It's the same old charade to try to juggle the law to do a bennie for some friends. Which ones? Well, Don Armstrong was the lawyer for Marilyn Stoker back when they did the favor of letting Song put their well on Marilyn Stoker's property and that made a sale for Marilyn Stoker to Song. Now they are talking about condos on Song and perhaps some neighboring property and Don Armstrong is pushing for the rezone to 'eliminate a step' as he said at that meeting. What step you ask? You know, the step that protects us by stopping unwanted things. Why else try to rezone it."

ZBA Issues:

Preble ~  Incompetence on Parade 1/8/01 Town Board! "Don Armstrong admitted he screwed up... again... for the... (I've lost count... THIRD TIME!) about changing the ZBA from 7 to 5. (He didn't use those words of course, lots of lawyerly words, but he screwed up... big time!) Let's see, he screwed up when he didn't know the law back in September, made the front-page headlines of the Cortland Standard. So you would think he would have read up on that law and become an expert on it. That is what he claims on his letterhead, I believe. "

Preble Town Board Breaking Law 2 Issue of the 7 to 5 ZBA change. "Don Armstrong, town lawyer for many years, apparently hadn't read the new updated law that has been in effect since... oh... the mid 90's or so. He didn't know for sure just when it went into effect. Opps... sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to put the town through hell for a 5 days! "

Preble Town Board Minutes 010108 More on ZBA change "Local Law #1 Changing the ZBA from 7 to 5 Don stated that the matter had not been submitted to the County Planning Board, which in his opinion, it should have been. "

Preble Post Gazette "Anne Brennen disenfranchises voters, Peter Knapp tries to stifle free speech and Don Armstrong screws up the ZBA change... for the THIRD TIME!"

TownBoard to kick Barb and Carl off the ZBA... again! Part 2 "Don Armstrong was looking through his papers as well as the other board members. (I was amused by this confusion. I found it hard to believe that after last months debacle they would not have read the one page law that covers this.) All the board members are now talking at once and it is hard to distinguish one from the other. I hear Anne, Peter and Don on the tape. I remember all of them fumbling through their papers."

ZBA 7 to 5, The Final Chapter 4/5/1 "Don Armstrong made a mistake and did not follow proper procedure and the December 2000 law was void."

Preble ~ Town Board Meeting 3/12/2001 "the Town Board at Don Armstrong's direction erred again in it's desire to change the ZBA from 7 to 5."

Thoughts on the upcoming workshop to discuss the 'Master Plan' on July 29th, 2002 "The zoning book is solid and we need to be careful if we make any language changes and these need to be reviewed by the ZBA attorney, not by the town board attorney Don Armstrong."

CELL TOWER Issue:

Minutes to the 8/18/1997 and 9/8/1997 meetings "On Monday, August 18,1997 the Preble Town Board held a special meeting to discuss the communications Tower to be placed on Preble Road."

SONG MOUNTAIN WELL Issue:

ZBA 6/1/2000 Meeting Report "Preble town lawyer Don Armstrong is still Marilyn Stoker's attorney. Last year when this came up Mr. Armstrong said he would remove himself as her attorney to avoid this conflict of interest. I wonder what changed his mind? Keep in mind that Marilyn Stoker, our town justice, in order to sell her land to Song Mountain, wants our town to ignore our zoning laws with the help of our town lawyer so that she can make money."

REZONE Issue:

Preble NY Town Board Meeting 7/9/2001 "the rezone of Paul Knapp's 82 acres. The town board wants to move this along as fast as they can so they had it set up between Don Armstrong and the Knapp's lawyer to do the long form SEQRA."

Preble NY Letter to the Town Board "This law authored by Don Armstrong, who is the same lawyer that screwed up the ZBA law 2 or 3 times, may be challenged in court in an attempt to overturn the sunset clause. This would cost the taxpayers of Preble."

Andrew Leija Paul and Maureen Lawyer Blew It! 1/21/02 "Fran Casullo was there instead of Don Armstrong. Armstrong created this law and he was here to defend it the last time so why was he missing this time when it was really important? "

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Pomeroy, Armstrong, Baranello & Casullo, L.L.P. 

16 Tompkins Street, P.O. Box 828
Cortland, New York 13045-2541
Phone: (607) 756-7501
Fax: (607) 753-8913

Their web site is embarrassingly slight with little information or details about them. For example all you will find for Don Armstrong is this:

Litigation Percentage: 15% of Practice Devoted to Litigation
Bar Admissions: New York, 1980
Education: Albany Law School Union University, Albany, New York
Birth Information: 1954

The partners in the firm are:

William J. Pomeroy

Donald C. Armstrong

James J. Baranello

Francis J. Casullo

 

The End... for now.