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Preble Post Gazette 9/7/2000
Quick comments.
Town Board kicks two members
off the ZBA!
FOR NO GOOD REASON!
At the ZBA meeting tonight ZBA attorney
Francis Casullo instructed ZBA board members Carl Grillo and
Barb Frier to sit in the audience. He was told to do this
by his partner and Preble town attorney Don Armstrong. In
my previous
article I outlined why this action would be illegal. The
Town Board sent both Carl and Barb vague letters dated the
21st but mailed to them on the 24th from Syracuse. Note the
difference in the third and fourth paragraphs of Carl's letter
Vs Barb's letter.
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After the ZBA meeting John Steger, town supervisor
held an impromptu meeting on the sidewalk in front of the
town hall. He was asked many times why this was done and could
not give any reasonable answer. He seemed to say that they
(the town board) were doing this because they could and that
they wanted too. He had no response when challenged about
this.
A lot happened at and after
the meeting. Several lawyers are looking into the details
and hopefully I can relate some of that here. There is a Town
Board meeting this coming Monday at 8 PM. John Steger said
they would vote to change the ZBA from 7 to 5 members and
schedule a public hearing at that time.
I had a discussion with Anne Brennan in the
hall after the meeting. I promised her I would put her letter
from 1999 on the web. Here is Town Board Member Anne Brennan's
famous...
SWINE
LETTER
UPDATE #1 9AM 9/8/2000
TOWN BOARD MEMBERS DISRUPT
MEETING.
Town Board members led by Anne Brennan and
her friend Cindy along with town board members Betty Ann Pitman
and Catherine Etinger disrupted the meeting by gabbing loudly
making it difficult for people nearby to hear what was going
on at the meeting. Apparently this is a common problem that
has been brought to the attention of chairman Dan O'Shea but
he, fearing the wrath of the town board I guess, has done
nothing about it. This behavior by town board members is childish
at best, disrespectful at worst and shows a serious contempt
for the people of Preble. This report is according to people
sitting around them.
UPDATE #2 11 AM
9/8/2000
Before the meeting last night Fran Casullo told
Joe Oliver and I that he had been ordered by persons unnamed
(Town Board? his boss Dan Armstrong?) to keep costs down with
the ZBA. Does this mean that he will not properly defend the
town's laws in order to save money? Or is it just another
way for the Town Board to force its will on the people of
Preble?
As the meeting was breaking up and people were
standing up to leave I, sitting in the front row, leaned over
to a friend of mine, referring to the three town board members
in the back row, said in a voice low enough not to be heard
'There are three of the stupidest people in the world' Betty
Ann Pitman said, 'I heard that!' (So much for my low voice)
A short time later she came up to me and very angrily demanded
an apology. I immediately obliged her. She went on saying
that my comments were uncalled for. She is right. I didn't
mean for my words to be heard by them and I apologized. Frank
Hogg
Carl Grillo and Barb Frier both expressed there
opinion that the only reason the Town Board removed them was
because they did not like the way they voted. Several times
I asked John Steger why they did this at this time and the
only reason he could come up with was because the terms had
run out. Even when it was pointed out to him that this had
never been done before. He stuck to his script. Even though
both Barb and Carl told him they wanted to serve on the board.
He stuck to his script. Other ZBA board members expressed
concern about how this was done. John simply said that the
town board had the authority to do this and they were going
to do this. He said they would have a public hearing and then
vote on it, Barb asked him what would happen if the board
voted to keep it a 7 member board and John was shocked. He
never considered that. He acted as if the public hearing was
just a formality and that the decision was already made. All
5 of them signed both barb and Carl's letter after all. All
of the board members acted very arrogant. Like dictators,
they were going to do whatever they damn well pleased and
we, the public, don't matter. I told John that this was going
to divide the town more than anything else they had done.
He told me that they (town board) would get heat no matter
what they did. He just didn't seem to care about what would
happen. As a matter of fact Anne Brennan told me in the hall
after the meeting that I 'just didn't matter'. I'll get the
exact quote off the tape and post it later. I think she said
this before she called me 'swine' but maybe it was after she
called me 'swine' I don't remember exactly. I'll get that
whole exchange transcribed later and post it. I guess that
even though she was a schoolteacher she must have forgotten
than a 'hog' with one 'g' is a 'swine' and that my last name
'Hogg' is a proud old English name. Calling me a swine in
an attempt to insult me would only work if the insult came
from someone that I respected. Besides with a name like 'Hogg'
I'm used to these kinds of things. Although I haven't heard
any since I left grade school... till now.
UPDATE #3 1 PM
9/8/2000
The ever interesting story of Dan O’Shea, chairman
of the ZBA and the Town Board's puppet in chief.
At the sidewalk meeting both Carl and Barb asked John Steger
why he did not talk to Dan O'Shea about this before doing
it. They both said they had talked to Dan after they got their
letters and Dan said he knew nothing about it. John said that
he had TWO one-hour meetings with Dan 3 or 4 weeks ago about
this. Hmmm He also said that Dan did not agree with it. By
the way as soon as the meeting adjourned Dan disappeared.
Can't blame him I guess.
Jennifer Molloy from the Cortland Standard
was there last night and I think she will have a story in
today's paper. You can usually get one in Tully after 3:30
PM at the drug store or the Nice and Easy. I will likely update
this again this evening and over the weekend. Make a note
to be at the Town Board meeting on Monday at 8 PM. See democracy
in action.
I apologize for the slow server this morning. More people
have accessed this site this morning than usual. That is why
I made this all text page to reduce the load. It seems to
have cleared things up.
I've been getting a lot of phone calls from people who heard
about this. For that and other reasons this will be the last
scheduled update today.
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to the regular PrebleNY home page.
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