Cold Spring's Minority Report ....

Do you ever wonder how the PCN&R "[obtains]" emails of our locally elected officials or appointed board members from which quotes are sometimes taken - as it did last week? Or how it knows to request specific or "any" pieces of communication from our clerks.     

I do.

Have you ever thought some of our elected officials or appointed board members might be sharing communications with the PCN&R or encouraging them to request specific internal correspondence to give them an insider's scoop on their columns?     

I have.

Do you have any idea who might do that?     

I do.

Recently, I've been characterized as "rogue", pursuing a personal agenda or discharging my work as a Trustee without 'permission' from the rest of the Village Board.  This is funny to me because I'm not the person sharing these communications with the PCN&R.

This practice of sharing with the press emails not intended by their authors for that use is one of several unfortunate and recent duplicities that breach the public trust, as well as the trust of colleagues whose confidence is important to the work of functional government.  

The long-time, oft-invoked (and recently expanded) Open Meetings Law does not protect us from this practice; neither does its cousin, the Freedom of Information Law.  

Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law were enacted in New York State in their earliest forms in 1974 and 1976 to ensure equal access of every person to the work of local, county and state government.  These laws are important and valuable to each of us.  They guarantee each of us may have knowledge of and understand the legislative actions taken in our names, and that we may have access to the information that informs those actions.  Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law set meaningful standards that our neighbors in Village and Town leadership and volunteer boards honor and live in the work of public service.

However, today, in our community it seems like these laws are invoked more to promote distrust of public servants and volunteers than anything else.  In their names controversy is ginned-up where none otherwise exists. In the name of Open Meetings Law neighbors are disparaged with fabricated transgressions. In the name of the Freedom of Information Law time and focus of staff and volunteers are occupied with paperwork in service to columnists’ fodder and pedants' egos.

 
On Monday, the columnist and Reverend Tim Greco emailed the Village Clerk to say he "would like to FOIL any communication between Trustee Hawkins and the Mayor in regards to CHA tree planting on Main Street over the past 3 months. That would include the any of the Tree committees communication with CHA." (CHA is the engineering firm working on the Sidewalk & Street Lighting Project funded by the Transportation Grant.)

A recent PCN&R piece by this columnist and his editor quotes former Trustee Serradas (... who may be running for election in 2015 already!) characterizing unanimous Village Board vote and support for a project as "rogue" work of one trustee. The same column seems to question the integrity of two projects I'm working on for the Village.

I think I know why Reverend Tim Greco emailed the Village Clerk this week.

Do you?