Were There Really Secret Negotiations By Our Town Board About BP?

A stunning quote from our Town Supervisor Mr. Urban Hirschey during the Feb. 21, 2013 town board meeting. Do they actually want to discuss secretly negotiations with or about BP and Art X???? Here is the statement as best I can decipher it from the Steve Weed videos.

"Ah...we are now going into exec. session. Ahhh… I am going to make a motion that we go to executive session. "

There were some interruptions about voting on vouchers, then Mr. Hirschey continues:

"The purpose of the executive session is to discuss negotiations of ...ahhh of ...ahhh how do I say... ahhh with (or about) the wind farm and that will be ahhhh be a necessity of confidential information”

Now I know the 1st reaction of many Hirschey loyalists is going to be Oh Pundt is just stretching the truth, mis-quoting, or again picking on Mr. Hirschey. Well…use this link to Steve Weed productions and see for yourself what Hirschey said.

http://www.steveweedproductions.com/TOCV2013.php

Save time by taking the video time slider and go all the way to the last couple minutes of the video. You will hear them talking about the vouchers and then Mr. Hirschey announces the exec. session. Listen carefully to what he says the exec. session is about. I think councilman Schneider tries to help Urban with the explanation saying it’s also about Art X.

So what you hear, despite what might have been meant, is that the town board is going into exec. session to talk about negotiations with the wind farm (BP) and Art X. and it must be confidential!!!! Is he kidding?????

First, you can’t just drop into exec. session on anything that suits your fancy that you want out of public view. NY Open Meetings Laws are very specific on that and you can see those rules below at the end of this post. Second what is so sensitive about negotiations with BP (the wind farm) and Art X that it has to be confidential and held out of public view?

Third, and this is the mind boggler to me, is that even though this may have bee a mis-quote by Urban and Clif, that NO ONE seemed picked up on this or even questioned it at all. The papers didn’t mention it as far as I can tell, and the other CV blogs only mention the exec. session in passing and nothing about the subject matter.

Let me get this straight….Our town board says it is going into exec. session to talk about confidential information about negotiations with or about BP and Art X, secretly and everybody just yawns and is perfectly OK with that and no one bats an eye or even asks a question? Have we reached the point of being so paralyzed in CV that this doesn’t even raise a question?

This is the “monkey” I was talking about in a previous post that was in plain view and it is as if no one even saw it happen!

Not to mention there is a record everyone can look at on video. Is CV completely paralyzed on the wind issue, is it complete blind faith of this town board, or are we all paralyzed that this kind of thing just slips unnoticed into oblivion???? Thank God for the video. Mr. Hirschey may have meant something else but he sure as hell said what he said!

Now I ran this by my wife and some others to see if I heard it right. They all verified the quote. Others have indicated that is not really what Mr. Hirschey meant. Well, Urban has this knack of leaving a trail of vague misleading statements on the wind issue that everybody later has to scramble to explain the real meaning of. I guess they have the secret decoder ring that allows them to understand what he really means no matter what he actually says.

Now let’s give the benefit of the doubt and say this is not what Hirschey or Schneider meant about the exec. session, or that in fact that wasn’t even the subject of the session. That would mean the video record, which is an official town record mind you, is badly in error on a very sensitive subject, and exec session is governed by strict clear rules. Haven’t we had enough of inaccurate or missing minutes on the wind issue??? So do we just leave this glaring error uncorrected? That leaves open some interesting perceptions. And as Councilman Byrne pointed out earlier in the meeting about ethics that he learned at the meeting of the Association of Towns…ethics can be ALL ABOUT perceptions? And the perception here is not a good one by any means if you are paying attention!

Of course we will never actually know because that is what exec. sessions are intended to do is keep things from public view. Hirschey’s statement still is what it is, and we probably will never have proof that the exec. session was about something other than what he, with Clif’s help said it was about. That is the rub! As it stands now the statement says they had a secret exec session meeting about negotiations with or about BP and Art X out of public view that must be confidential!

The laws basically say that minutes must be taken in exec. sessions but only if a final determination and vote are taken. So we may never have an idea what was discussed other than what Urban said was going to be discussed. BUT. why in the hell didn’t another board member speak up and say something to clarify and correct Urban’s statement if indeed he was incorrect or mis-quoting the subject matter? That is a very interesting question to ponder. This entire wind issue and how it is handled is extremely controversial, and hot and these kinds of things don’t help cool it down any! Fact is, not many people are willing to question Mr. Hirschey. And this is an example of the consequences of that blind faith!

Maybe some board member who was in the session would like to at least give a more clear explanation of what the meeting generally was actually about, because we have been told many times there will be open and transparent govt. and our zoning law is final, we will defend it, and there will be NO negotiations with BP.

In light of that alone and this exec. session statement by Hirschey, and considering the sensitive and controversial nature of the issue it seems to it would be irresponsible for some board member not to clear this up ASAP, preferably the town supervisor who said it and may have meant something else.

There are no minutes of this general town board meeting posted yet on the town website. It will be interesting to see if they quote Hirschey saying what he actually said on video about the exec. session. Now at the next TB meeting minutes must be approved. If they are not accurate, or this question still lingers on this issue, or what was said, let’s make sure the minutes reflect the video as to what was actually said, no matter what was meant, and then the board can clear it up and vote to amend the minutes for greater accuracy and public understanding and confidence. Seems to me certain of our current board members were real upset with our past CV govt about what they perceived as “secret meetings”, so what do ya say we clear this up ASAP! My blog is open to any town board member who wants to respond and I will make it a priority post.

Below are the rules for exec. session. I certainly don’t see anything that would allow them to talk about negotiations with or about BP or Art X out of public view. And if Hirschey only mis-spoke then what was the exec. session generally about? You will note in section 105 of open meetings laws they DO need to give a general public reason why they are going to exec. session and one would assume that must be an ACCURATE explanation.

God help us that it wasn’t actually what Urban said it was about because then we have some very serious problems!

Below is a list of rules for exec. sessions from the NYS Dept. of State. In light of Mr. Hirschey’s explanation…or if he mis-spoke, see if you can figure out on this list what they needed to go to exec. session for and keep it confidential from the public. Were ANY issues about BP or wind discussed? If so what…and why keep it secret?

Also here is the link to the exec session rules:

http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/openmeetlaw.html


§105. Conduct of executive sessions.

1. Upon a majority vote of its total membership, taken in an open meeting pursuant to a motion identifying the general area or areas of the subject or subjects to be considered, a public body may conduct an executive session for the below enumerated purposes only, provided, however, that no action by formal vote shall be taken to appropriate public moneys:

a. matters which will imperil the public safety if disclosed;

b. any matter which may disclose the identity of a law enforcement agent or informer;

c. information relating to current or future investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense which would imperil effective law enforcement if disclosed;

d. discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation;

e. collective negotiations pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law;

f. the medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation;

g. the preparation, grading or administration of examinations; and

h. the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property or the proposed acquisition of securities, or sale or exchange of securities held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof.

2. Attendance at an executive session shall be permitted to any member of the public body and any other persons authorized by the public body.