I reviewed the video of last Thursday’s Cape Vincent Town
Board meeting. Something very interesting came up in the meeting discussions.
The issue of the reappointment of CV Zoning Board of Appeals
chairman Dennis Faulknham was discussed, as well as the reappointment of Planning
Board member Paul Docteur, and PB alternate Karen Bourcy.
To her credit CV Councilwoman Michelle Oswald questioned the reappointment process
indicating these positions should not be renewed simply because a person
already holds the position, but should
be advertised to the whole community and then each candidate, including the
ones up for reappointment should be interviewed, then voted upon.
I agree.
However, there is a more insidious side hidden in this than apparently Ms. Oswald really wanted
to get into.
There was a great deal of discussion on this point, and if
you have been paying attention the past couple years to CV politics surrounding
the new zoning law and the zoning officials who are supposed to uphold it, there
is a lot more here than meets the eye...or was discussed… or this board is
probably unwilling or too embarrassed to admit.
And like many things I report on, it is all in the record to be reviewed,
and should be very carefully reviewed before these appointments are given, as
well as other future zoning appointments that may be given away because you
have been a ‘good boy”!
I’m sure some people on the Hirschey board (the Hirschey
loyalists) hoped these appointments would just slide through with little
question. Apparently Ms. Oswald was not
willing to let this just slide and had some very pertinent points to discuss
that go right to the heart of “open govt”. and good ole boy politics.
For the sake of this discussion let me state I have no
particular issue with Mr. Paul Docteur of the PB, other than two summers ago
during the solar zoning fiasco I think he failed to grasp the depth of the
problem evolving before him on his board and how his board failed in its responsibility
as did Faulkinham and most of his ZBA except for ZBA member Hester Chase who
Councilwoman Oswald brought up as a very pertinent point. More pertinent than some may realize.
There was an assumption or false premise voiced by Oswald
and others, however, when she raised her concerns.
That was that the people in the current positions to be reappointed
where competent or were doing a good job and that was not the question.
I disagree, and the record shows why, but I’m sure she did
this to smooth over what she would really have liked to say in more depth.
I am not going to put words in Ms. Oswald’s mouth. But there
is much more to the story in my opinion and it hinges on the treatment of ZBA
member Hester Chase. And Oswald was very
smart to invoke Ms. Chase into this discussion to make her strong point! It was a well timed blind side that gave
her a ton of clever leverage to back her case.
Note in the video that Ms. Oswald makes a point of fairness
and consistency, indicating that when Ms. Chase was up for reappointment to the
ZBA she WAS re-interviewed for the position she held on the ZBA when she was up
for reappointment, when the appointment
of Faulknham, Docteur, and Bourcy were going to be voted on now with no interview
or even an announcement that these positions were open for appointment. Other appointments have also been handled in
this manner by the Hirschey board as well.
Good point Michelle…but the whole issue of WHY was avoided because
to dig into it exposes some uncomfortable truths.
So why did this happen to Hester Chase? Why was she forced to interview for her
reappointment when some other Hirschey loyalists aren’t???
To put it bluntly, in my opinion… it really comes down to
whether you are a Hirschey loyalist and willing to keep your mouth shut or not,
and not ask the tough questions on critical issues that actually promotes the
open and transparent govt the Hirschey crowd is so quick to point to.
In the summer and fall of 2013 many of our town officers
were up to their eyeballs in a solar zoning fiasco that got out of control,
even involved the town supervisor Mr. Hirschey and his own illegal solar
project, as well as another solar project belonging to Roger Alexander of Lazy
Acres Trailer Park.
I uncovered this mess and it even reached the front page of
the Watertown Daily Times and became a huge embarrassment to the town and it’s
zoning process and officials and their brand new zoning law. And that would be
after I had repeatedly told them they were likely to screw up the solar zoning
in the draft law because I felt they had not researched it carefully. They were simply in love with solar.
The crux of the
matter was that the town officials who had created the law failed miserably in
understanding and applying the zoning they had written and passed only a year
before. A law that was the shining
center point of their very election!
If you would like to see this in detail and documentation why
Mr. Faulknham and some others of the Hirschey zoning establishment should NOT
be reappointed, go back on this blog archive to about July – Oct. 2013 and read
the issues I uncovered involving the illegal solar project of Mr. Alexander,
and his neighbor Mary Grogan who was protesting the illegal project, and how
Mr. Hirschey the CV town supervisor was also directly caught up in it. All the
documentation is there.
The CV Planning Board, particularly Mr. Brown and Mr. Macsherry,
and Faulknham and most of his ZBA failed miserably in my opinion to conduct
proper zoning practices, and when caught in the zoning fiasco they and other
town officers did nothing more than damage control trying to sanitize the mess
they created. Of course a lot is at
stake when the town supervisor has unwittingly put up his own prohibited solar
project. One he on his own temporarily took
down till the zning could be re written to allow such projects like his and others. Geee Imagine that!
For example when Mrs. Mary Grogan wanted to challenge this process and
the illegal project proposed next to her property by Mr. Alexander, ZBA chair
Faulknham could not clearly delineate how she should bring an appeal before his
board (probably a stall), AND indicated the permits were legal and she probably
couldn’t win the appeal anyhow. What
about fairness and impartiality did Mr. Faulknham not understand? How did he KNOW the permits were legal and
she couldn’t win BEFORE he and his board had even heard Mrs. Grogan’s
appeal???? It was a sham! Faulkham could even find the proper paperwork for Mrs. Grogan to start her appeal and it was finally sent to her by Hirschey only a few days before the deadline for her appeal. Maybe they were hoping Mrs. Grogan would go over the official deadline and the whole mess would just go away.
Because behind the scenes many town officers had in my opinion
improperly conferred trying to clean up the huge zoning mess they had created (including
their town supervisor) well before Mrs. Grogan’s case was even heard.
So how does Hester Chase figure into this and the points
Councilwoman Oswald made about her and appointments and reappointments???
It is quite simple.
Do you keep your mouth shut, or try to
run responsible open and fair govt? Chase opted for good govt and it almost cost
her her ZBA position and Councilwoman
Oswald knows it!
During the solar
zoning fiasco that swept across the town zoning establishment Ms. Chase started
asking some uncomfortable questions. Not
only about this mess and how it occurred but about how certain records of the
planning board and ZBA were being handled and who should have access to them
and how.
Some of this put her head to head with the ZBA chairman Mr.
Faulknham and PB member Robert Brown and Dick Macsherry.
During the Mrs. Grogan’s ZBA appeal on the solar project,
Hester voted against the permits and approval of this illegal project
indicating that the permits and the process had become such a mess she could
not vote in favor of it. And she was the
only one in all of CV town govt to officially questioned what was going on and
supported Mrs. Grogan’s appeal.
It is important to note here that ZBA chairman Faulknham and
a couple of his ZBA officers even admitted this zoning mess was not carried out
correctly and probably would not hold up in court…but approved the permits
anyhow!!!!! Pure genius!!
Do we really want to reappoint people who admit a process would probably not hold up in court but approve the process and put the town in legal liability anyhow? Really???
And keep in mind that Ms. Chase who was willing to stand by
the law and the proper process, in my opinion was later hassled and intimidated
when her reappointment came up. A point
to which I think Ms. Oswald is eluding to.
So when Hester Chase’s reappointment came up, you can damn
well bet they were going to give her grief.
Thus as Oswald points out…she was re-interviewed to hold her ZBA
position AND there were a number of town officials who probably did not want to
see her reappointed perceiving a lapse in “loyalty”.
Interview some people, don't interview others??? That system is flawed, and full of potential abuses.
That is the backstory Councilwoman Oswald was not revealing
at last Thurs. CV town board meeting, but I am willing to get into, and everyone
should know before these appointments are considered.
Of course I’m sure the fact that Ms. Chase was a woman who
had strong opinions and would stand by them and against the boys club…that was
working against her at that time.
Fortunately she was ultimately reappointed.
In my opinion Oswald is correct on the appointment process
to keep it open and transparent and open it to all and interview all.
It is also my opinion that based on behavior
during the town’s embarrassing solar zoning fiasco that these men created, that
Faulknham should not be reappointed, nor should Brown or Macsherry of the PB
when their terms are up. Their behavior
was inexcusable, as was the legally questionable solution they and other town officers came
up with to sanitize the mess.
These men and others involved in this zoning mess at a
minimum should be grilled and questioned thoroughly before they are given any
sacred responsibility to be stewards of the town’s land use.
As for Mrs. Bourcy, in my opinion she does not even deserve
the PB alternate position after her questionable votes with her wind conflicts
of interest on the old Edsall planning board.
Votes that significantly moved along the wind agenda and created legal and
social havoc for this community and even became the subject of a NYAG
investigation. Why Hirschey and his
previous board reappointed her is beyond logic for me.
Even Mr. Paul Docteur of the PB should be questioned as to
why he sat quietly as this solar zoning mess unfolded before him.
These appointments all have major baggage attached to them
and should be scrutinized very carefully, not just given a pass as Councilman
Bragdon implies simply because they hold the job now. That is reckless.
And note on the video when Councilwoman. Oswald raised this
question of simple reappointment and invoked Hester Chase’s name that Mr.
Hirschey the supervisor seemed to become a bit flustered about the vote and
issue losing track of what was going on.
He in fact after initially favoring the lopsided appointment process because that is how they have done it,
then changed his position to agree with Oswald as did Byrne. I’m guessing that when the Hester Chase issue
was brought into the argument, Hirschey probably didn’t want to explore that
issue much further and where it might lead.
And as an interesting side note, as long as we are talking
about the judgment of people we are
about to appoint to important town zoning positions…then take a closer look, because
the fiasco continues.
During the original solar zoning fiasco involving Mr.
Alexander’s illegal solar project, one of the KEY justifications of zoning
officials and I suppose the town lawyer as well for allowing the permits, was
that Alexander was heavily vested in the project, and some of them had
supposedly visited the project claiming Alexander had a significant investment
in equipment so the permits should be approved so he could move forward ASAP. This was a pressing issue and a big deal in
the justification.
I said it was a lot
of nonsense, and the courts have overridden that justification in some case law as
well.
Problem is Alexander took the town for a real embarrassing ride
on this one too.
As of last summer and
after this entire zoning fiasco on his
behalf he had done virtually NOTHING of consequence on his solar project!!! And in fact Alexander applied last summer to
extend his permits once again and was finally refused.
When I left in mid November it appeared still nothing had been done on
the project.
Ooooppps!!!
I would like Mr. Faulknham, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Macsherry to explain that one away before they get reappointed!
I guess Alexander was not as vested in his pressing project as
the town claimed he was. That was a shaky
zoning scam in my opinion to justify a real embarrassing zoning mess…to which
Alexander took these zoning officials and the town for a real ride!!!
Actually it is the second time Alexander has taken the town
for a real zoning ride. You will note he
has a private wind turbine that has never worked and has sat there inoperative
since 2009. Something else the Hirschey
zoning establishment has refused to deal with.
That is one of the reasons Mrs. Grogan as a neighbor was
protesting the new illegal solar project on the same property as the defunct
wind turbine. Yet our CV zoning
officials have just turned their heads on the entire zoning disaster.
Once again...time to start asking some tough questions.
