In the October 25 Photo News, there appeared a letter supposedly authorized by the Woodbury Town Board. This was a campaign stunt by Frank Palermo to distract the residents from the real offender of the public trust.
Woodbury Town and Village Boards were fully aware of the land swap as demonstrated by their combined vote of 9 to 1 in favor (Palermo dissenting).
The land swap was being done to facilitate the management of departments by the municipalities (i.e. Highway Department was originally on town land and was managed by the village). The land was specifically subdivided using the fence line around the senior center and library to preserve the parking lot and the ingress and egress for the highway department as documented.
The town attorney charges by the minute which is why we used our capable staff that was able to file the documents without any additional cost to the taxpayer.
The Town Board authorized me as Supervisor, to sign any and all documents needed to execute the transfer.
The town attorney, Joe McKay, was consulted via phone as per the board’s wishes and had no objection at that time. His billing corroborates that there was a phone conversation pertinent to the land transfer. (Interesting that Joe McKay’s firm is now representing the town in the suit against the village).
Municipalities are exempt from going in front of the Planning Board and the alleged conversation between the Planning Board Chairperson and myself simply never took place. It is now estimated that the current Town Board has cost the taxpayers $250,000 to fix a clerical error as Frank stated in the lawsuit.
Rather than fixing a perceived error, the Town Board decided it more prudent to punish the taxpayers. This is a perfect example of a lose/lose outcome. The only person guilty of abuse of power and unethical conduct is Frank Palermo.
All this is can be verified in Town and Village Board minutes.
David Sutz
Woodbury