Apparently Cape Vincent citizen Dennis Pearson is accusing the CV Town Board of holding an illegal meeting. He also photographed the meeting. And apparently the CV Town Board is claiming attorney client privilege since they were meeting with their Syracuse attorney Paul Curtin concerning Article 10 issues with BP.
There was an article in the Watertown Daily Times related to this issue and it was linked on the Pandora Box of Rocks blog. However, when I tried the link there was a message on the WDT's page that the article was not available. The opinion I have linked below from Robert Freeman at the NYS Open Govt Committee will explain some things since it appears to have a direct relationship to the CV issue and Mr. Pearson's accusations.
http://docs.dos.ny.gov/coog/otext/o3012.htm
According to this opinion it appears the Town Board may be acting legally.
But not so fast. The other consideration is just how much business is being conducted behind closed doors using attorney client privilege as a justification on an issue of such critical importance to the community?
STOP, The regional wind energy industrialization of one of New York State's most beautiful and environmentally sensitive areas, the 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River and the Golden Crescent of Eastern Lake Ontario. If you don't think you are seeing the most recent posts click on the current month in the archives to the right.
Art, it seems clear the meeting itself was legal on the basis of attorney/client privilege.
ReplyDeleteThe point of contention would appear that Mr. Curtin allowed other members of the community who would not qualify as clients to be present, but then refused Mr. Pearson attendance.
It hardly seems logicical or proper that members of WPEG would qualify simply because they have received intervenor funding. How would this in any way tie them in an official position to the town?
It has been often stated in the last 10 years that any hint of impropriety must be avoided in order for the community to have trust in its government. If anyone should be aware of this ,it would be this current administration. Open and honest government should be exempt from partisan policy.
9:37
ReplyDeleteI agree.
Keeping in mind that last summer these same players created a major screw up in zoning over the solar fiasco created by the CV planning board and ZBA in which our own town supervisor and other CV property owners were embroiled or are still embroiled. This resulted is the discovery that our zoning law had significant problems in solar zoning or the enforcement of it and maybe other areas. It also revealed some serious problems how our zoning officials did not understand their own law, or how to apply it correctly and are distorting our law and the process meant to protect all CV citizens. And this law is supposed to be the critical key to the Art. X and BP (or whomever) wind issue.
My point being that these things surfaced because of an in the open (well sort of) public record...much of it on video as the zoning process and the officers who we were supposed to trust melted down. There behavior in trying to sanitize the solar zoning mess became more and more bizarre...on the record. Even the local paper took significant note of the issue.
The public record in that case provided the opportunity for the citizens to be informed and try to hold accountable these officials, even though they scrambled to sanitize their zoning mess as much as they could behind the scenes among themselves.
Now on another video of a recent ZBA meeting, a video I in part funded through Steve Weed productions...now we see Ms Hester Chase a member of the ZBA questioning the manner in which the ZBA and planning board are conducting business with records and access to them and other matters.
The same players conducting this meeting with the attorney are the same players who showed a gross lack of judgment last summer on the solar zoning fiasco and now they are meeting behind closed doors on an issue critical to the community.
Pearson may have gone a bit overboard on his approach before he thoroughly researched the matter, but knowing what I know now I would rather have him asking some questions than not.
And finally...let's not lose site of the fact that the attorney client privilege in this case only exists at all because the tax payer is footing the bill for the attorney. He isn't the town board's attorney...he is OUR attorney no matter what the other legal language might say!
There is the law and what may or may not be strictly "legal"...and then there is ethics where sometimes the law doesn't apply. Keep in mind this group in power ran on ETHICS!!!
This has been one of my problems with the Hirschey govt. In there arrogance at times they think the own the govt. with their little exclusive club.
That certainly appeared to be the case with the solar fiasco...and we are yet to know if these zoning geniuses are going to distort our laws so Urban Hirschey our supervisor can have his solar project!