Road paving has been postponed due to scheduling issues with the company that will be paving our roads. Paving is now tentatively scheduled to begin on August 22nd.
Our Music in the Park concert series starts tomorrow night (August 2nd) at 6:00 p.m. in Onderdonk Park. Music will be provided by Band of Gold.
On August 6th, there will be a volunteer community weed pull and clean-up at Hanpton Manor Lake from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. This event is sponsored by the newly-formed Hampton Manor Action Group. See their Facebook page for more information on the group and this event.
The Town Festival will be held on Saturday, August 20th starting at noon and ending with fireworks over the lake at 8:00 p.m. This is a great event put together by our Town Services Coordinator Jessica Lansing.
| Public Notice: Special Meeting |
The Town Board of the Town of East Greenbush will hold a Special Meeting on August 4, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall, 225 Columbia Turnpike, Rensselaer, NY 12144 for the purpose of scheduling a public hearing on a Local Law to waive the residency requirement for the Commissioner of Public Works.
Is there a reason Town Board minutes aren't being kept up to date on the town website?
ReplyDeleteAsk the Town Clerk why the minutes aren't up to date. It's her job.
ReplyDeleteGadfly, what's your take on the minutes issue? Over the last two years people have brought it up to the board, including Lee, as well as it was brought up multiple times (even from people on the EG1st campaign) that the previous board failed to post minutes in a timely fashion. In fact, open meetings law requires that they post them within two weeks. A point also brought up multiple times. Yet, EVERY SINGLE meeting the new board has held, went against open meetings laws because NOT one meeting minutes was posted within two weeks. Only recently until it was brought up on here did they even post the last few months. While yes, 6:30 points out bring this up to the clerk, well, who's running the show? Everyone was quick to blame the last board....just saying. For a group that ran an entire campaign on transparency, at least follow what you complained about and at least get the minutes up in time!
ReplyDeleteThe Town Clerk is an independently elected official. So, as far as the minutes go, the clerk is running the show. That has been the case under all the administrations. The EG1st group did not run a candidate for Town Clerk, maybe they will the next time.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with Kim Carlock. She thought she'd prepared and posted the minutes. She promised to look into and correct the situation.
ReplyDeleteSorry, 11:44AM was me.
ReplyDeletePete Stenson
PS Kim was also very apologetic about the missing minutes.
I hope Kim is not going to be a carbon copy of the previous Town Clerk who was a terrific person but kept her head in the Stone Ages when it came to technology and digital communication. We need an automated Clerk's office - not to mention a more up-to-date system in Toni Murphy's office. Actually - she must have a glorious system or nothing to do since she can't be bothered to keep her office open full time. We must remember that both positions are elected positions and Jack can do little to assist their offices to run efficiently if they do not want it. Keep close watch on these departments.
ReplyDeleteOur Town Board controls the salaries of both those departments as well as having the ability to change town law relating to the operation of those two departments. So Jack and the entire Town Board are directly responsible for the rules of operation in those two departments. It is the responsibility of our Town Board to oversee and manage every tax dollar they spend on our behalf.
DeleteThank you
I'm not sure about that - I think the Town Attorney should weigh in on just how much control the Supervisor and the Town Board have over these 2 elected officials. But I do know in the past elected officials were given stipends and sick-leave cash backs and other perks which they shouldn't have received. Padding salaries as it were.
DeleteToni Murphy is forced to close her office early due to insufficient funding for her part-time staff. She should receive the same staff funding as the Town Clerk's office!
DeleteOR.... is Toni not working the hours she was elected to serve....requiring the Town to pay for her absence???
DeleteToni is not working the normal Town Hall office hours under the direction of the Supervisor.
DeleteToni isn't forced to close her office early. If she wanted to, she could stay for the full day. It's her call as an elected official. She's been doing her job for a long time and she knows the best way to run the office.
DeleteBring back Keith Langley and Chris DeFruscio?
ReplyDeleteToni Murphy was hired to do a job. I expect she should work whatever is considered a full week - 35-371/2 hrs. The part-timer was hired to fill in the gaps because of the way she designed her work schedule, which did not average a full week. At the very least she could come in later and leave at closing hours for the entire building. Her behavior is disgraceful and disrespectful to the taxpayers who pay her salary. She should retire now instead of using the job to merely pad her pension
ReplyDelete11:01 AM- Toni Murphy was the top vote getter in the last election. She is so highly regarded that both the Repubs and EG 1st did not choose to run a candidate against her. Toni Murphy has been doing an excellent job and the vast majority of the voters in East Greenbush have confirmed it on multiple election days.
DeleteLet's hire a full time Deputy Tax Collector then!
ReplyDeleteThe thing is - Toni Murphy would still be collecting her salary for doing twice as much nothing as she does now.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen or heard of any work not being completed, or any taxpayers not being served due to the Receiver of Taxes Office being closed at 3pm. The 3pm closure is a result of budget cuts imposed by then Supervisor Langley and ratified by a majority of the previous Town Board. Let's give Toni Murphy credit for still being able to get the work done in the shortened hours. Toni should be praised, not criticized, for doing more with less for the EG taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteThe Town should do away with the elected receiver of taxes and go with a drop-box system. The position is a patronage job in the first place - to feed the machine.
ReplyDeleteThe criticism of Toni Murphy is unwarranted. Upon taking office in January, we discovered that the Receiver of Taxes Office had been underfunded in the enacted 2016 Town Budget.
DeleteFaced with that fact, a proposal was developed to reduce the office hours. I supported that proposal. As a result, the Receiver of Taxes Office now closes on a daily basis at 3pm, instead of 4:30pm. I sincerely apologize to all who have been inconvenienced by this action. The buck stops with me on this one!
Toni Murphy should be commended in continuing the high level of professionalism of the Receiver of Taxes Office, despite the reduction in hours.
Best,
Tom Grant
Town Councilman
Thank you Tom, for setting the record straight. Some people are quick to criticize, & assume a degree of corruption is still occurring.
DeleteI can honestly understand that thought process, because up until the current board members took the oath of office, there was plenty of corruption, from most in politics. It never even mattered, which party was elected.
So I applaud you, Tom, and our current board, for shining the light on the politics here in OUR TOWN.
Tom - thanks for clearing the air. So now it looks like the Receiver of Taxes position is really not a full-time job. Maybe it is time for the Town Board to take a close look and decide whether there is any need for that position at all. This is no reflection on Toni Murphy - who has always provided a high level of service to the community. Lots of municipalities conduct tax collection in cooperation with a bank. Could save the taxpayers money over the long haul if you include pension and health insurance after retirement. Just a suggestion.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne
Perhaps the Receiver of Taxes office had been underfunded in the enacted 2016 Town Budget but not the R. of T. herself during her career. When is the new and improved town board, the moral majority, going after the longevity and sick leave payments she improperly took from 2007-2011 in the whopping amount of $27,000? Last year, CP Matters moved a resolution requesting the voluntary return of the money but it failed to pass. The stipend rip off was an inside job from the top down in the total amount of $141,000 of taxpayer dollars over three years. Some of the stipend takers are still on the town payroll, namely Toni Murphy, Kate Bennett, and Susan McCarthy our new Assessor at $50K. Shouldn't the town board at least attempt to get this money back from the two elected officials who most improperly took it, former supervisor Rick McCabe and Rcvr. of Taxes Toni Murphy?
ReplyDeleteCP Matters can and should move the same resolution requesting that Ms. Murphy return the money she owes at the next TB meeting. Certainly the current TB would support recoupment of this money.
ReplyDelete2:08 p.m. If the current town board supported recoupment of the stipends, especially those illegally taken by elected officials, CP Matters would have moved her resolution again by now. She has not moved the resolution. Draw your own conclusions. When it comes to protecting taxpayers, THIS is where the rubber meets the road.
ReplyDelete