PRINCETOWN Town Board picks Maura over Bishop for Planning Board slot BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.
No matter what, Nicholas Maura Jr. always seems to land back in town government. Less than two weeks after relinquishing his seat on the Town Board, the former Princetown supervisor was appointed to a vacancy on the Planning Board. Maura replaces Planning Board chairwoman Patricia Bishop after her seven-year appointment expired this month. Bishop and Maura were the only two applicants for the appointment. Supervisor Melanie Whiteley declined to discuss the reasons behind the board’s choice of Maura, citing that the board came to the decision following an executive session during their organizational meeting. “That was what the majority decided,” she said Wednesday. Town Board members also opted against naming a new chairman to replace Bishop, who served fi ve years at the helm of the Planning Board. Whiteley said the chairman’s position wasn’t discussed with Planning Board members in advance, so the Town Board decided to allow them to choose a new leader during their meeting on Jan 27. “I don’t think it’s fair to appoint someone on a whim,” she said. .................>>>>...................>>>>............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01100&AppName=1
I read with interest the Feb. 20 article about Glenville’s diffi culties keeping its Town Board meetings on public access TV. Here in Princetown, we have no such difficulties because our Town Board meetings have never been available to residents on public access TV — despite the willingness of Princetown Cable to air the meetings and the low cost of producing the videos. Those with busy schedules or reduced mobility may not be able to attend town meetings on a regular basis. So with the goal of making town government more open and available to all, several residents have entreated the Town Board a number of times to have board meetings videoed and aired on public access TV. The answer always given by Supervisor Melanie Hasbrouck Whiteley has been that there isn’t enough money. But estimates for a videographer and production of a DVD are in the area of $70 per meeting, totaling a mere $840 a year. This seems a small price to pay to offer residents the opportunity of seeing their government in action. But other attempts to make information more available to residents have been similarly quashed. The portable sign outside Town Hall that had for years been used to announce upcoming meetings and events was removed toward the end of 2009. When asked about a replacement, Supervisor Whiteley again told residents that there wasn’t enough money to pay for it because a new sign would cost between $5,000 and $10,000. Yet a concerned citizen got estimates showing a decent sign could be erected for as little as $2,500. In its budget, the town had money for contingencies (otherwise known as a slush fund) in the amounts of $20,000 last year and $25,000 this year. Surely there is enough to get Town Board meetings taped and a sign back out in front of Town Hall letting residents know when important events are coming up.
PATRICIA L. BISHOP Princetown . The writer is the former Planning Board chairwoman
In just the last three years, Princetown taxpayers have paid almost $367,000 ($125,000 in 2010 alone) in interest on the loans for the public water system that serves the approximately 240 residences in the southern end of town. And we are on track to spend another $114,000 in interest for 2011. Over a year ago, a Town Board member suggested that the town take advantage of “historically” low interest rates — rates most likely never to be seen again — to try to refi nance Princetown’s loans. At a recent Town Board meeting, Supervisor [Melanie] Whiteley, stated that she is still continuing to look into refinancing those loans. Before Ms. Whiteley was supervisor, she voted as a member of the Town Board to approve budgets for those years. So when Ms. Whiteley was elected supervisor in 2009, this issue was front and center. If the town could refinance all or part of the loans [at current rates], the taxpayers would save approximately $11,000 a year in interest. And over the term of the loan, that could save town residents thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of dollars. While the argument can be made that only the residents who have access to the water are paying the bill, the fact is that all residents of the town are responsible for that loan and, in some way, are paying through lack of improvements to the rest of the town.
PRINCETOWN Republican official questions town budgeting of legal fees Supervisor says line changed legitimately with board OK BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Princetown’s Republican Committee chairman is asking the state comptroller’s office to probe the town’s budgeting practices after its legal fees spiked in 2010. Norm Miller said the town overspent by roughly $18,000 over the initially budgeted amount of $20,000. Then late last year, he claims, Supervisor Melanie Whitely, a Conservative, increased the line item for the Town Board’s legal expenses to $36,000 so that it wouldn’t appear as though it wasn’t drastically over budget. “There’s something very wrong,” he said. “You can’t just arbitrarily change a number without board approval.” Miller sent copies of the town’s financial documents to the comptroller, the state attorney general’s office and the state Association of Towns. He’s asking the agencies to comment on the legitimacy of the town’s accounting. But Whitely insists she did nothing wrong. She said the overages in legal expenses were transferred legitimately from other funds and with board approval. “We did it exactly the way we were supposed to,” she said. Whiteley believes that Miller, in drawing attention to the overage, is motivated by a political vendetta against her during a year when she must run for re-election. She said Miller has been gunning for her ever since she selected board member Todd Edwards over him for the deputy supervisor position. ........................>>>>.......................>>>>.....................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01000&AppName=1
PRINCETOWN Revised comp plan still draws opposition Whiteley hoping board adopts by September BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Supervisor Melanie Whiteley said Princetown’s latest incarnation of a comprehensive plan removes more than 20 pages from the document proposed in 2009, but protects the rights of property owners. A committee of five town officials took the 76-page draft submitted by the Comprehensive Plan Committee in 2009 and merged parts of it with the town’s old plan from 1988. Whitely said the result is a 55-page document that doesn’t have the controversial regulations contained in the original draft. The revised plan was presented during a public hearing last week and a final draft should be presented to Town Board members during their meeting in July. Whiteley is hoping to schedule another hearing on the plan for August and would like the board to vote on approving it in September. “I’d really like to put this thing to bed,” she said this week. The new draft was comes nearly fi ve years after the original nine-member comprehensive plan was formed. After three years of work, the committee produced a new plan, but it the document was never brought before the board for a vote. Supporters of the 2009 proposal argued that it provided the guidelines necessary to maintain Princetown’s rural charm into the future. Op- ponents claim the draft would add unnecessary layers of government that could prove costly to implement. After a prolonged period of inaction, the Town Board referred the document to the town’s Zoning Review Committee, which picked through the draft for nearly a year before returning comments in late December. But instead of acting on the comments, the board under Whiteley’s direction appointed the committee to merge the old plan with the new one. Now the new draft isn’t sitting well with Whiteley’s critics, many of whom accused her of purposely hindering the first version after she took offi ce in January 2010. Mary Reed, a resident who was urging board members to adopt the 2009 proposal, said the revision removes many of the land-use rules that were intended to protect Princetown’s rural charm. “The ‘meld’ plan is a hodgepodge of old and new: it’s too vague and inadequate, and will not give the town satisfactory and necessary protections,” she wrote in her comments to Town Planner Gino Santabarbara, the chairman of the committee. “In every area, the 2009 proposed comprehensive plan gives more current information and specific suggestions on updating and amending town regulations to meet the desires of the citizens.” EX-CHAIR’S CRITIQUE Former Planning Board chairwoman Pat Bishop also took issue with the merged plan for generally failing to incorporate adequate protections to guide the town for the next two decades. For instance, she said the new draft allows accessory apartments in single-family homes and also recommends getting rid of the usable lot area standard in the zoning. “The goals and implementation strategies contained in this ‘consolidated’ plan were literally cobbled together into a pastiche of outdated, unrelated, unfounded, and in some cases, already enacted, recommendations from the old 1988 plan and it will do little to guide the town’s future growth and protect it from undesirable development,” she wrote in her comments to the committee. “To even suggest adoption of this document is an insult to the residents of this town who expect more from the officials they elected to represent their best interests.” ...................>>>>.......................>>>>.................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01102&AppName=1
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