HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-19-WorkSession TOWN BOARD WORK SESSION
MARCH 19.. 2013 AT 6:00 PM
AT THE TOWN HALL
Those Present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor
Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman
Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman
Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman
Fran Casullo, Attorney for the Town
Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent
Joe Graham, Highway Association Representative
Rick Neville, Highway Association Representative
April Scheffler, Town Clerk
Robin Cargian, Deputy Town Clerk
Absent: Richard B. Gamel, Councilman
Also Present: Jen Schwade, Carole Daugherty, Joan Packard, Barbara Clark
The purpose of the Work Session was to discuss the proposed local law for the formation
of a Board of Ethics with department heads and Highway Association representatives.
Rick Case said that he felt that this local law was not needed and it represented a
redundancy of laws already on the books that he has to follow as a highway
superintendent. He explained that Highway Law clearly states that the highway
employees work for him, not the Town Board. The Town Board approves the money to
pay the employees, but he is in charge of hiring and firing and taking care of any
problems.
Joe Graham and Rick Neville said that they felt the highway employees should be
excluded from the proposed law. Attorney Casullo explained that he put in a section
saying that their agreement would take precedence over the proposed law. Graham
said that he didn't like the wording and he wanted it to say that they were exempt.
Attorney Casullo said he could work on the language. Graham and Neville also did not
like that the law could be used to bring charges against people and could be used
against them by someone who just doesn't like them or has an axe to grind. Graham
said that they wanted no part of it and wanted to be taken out of it. The Board agreed
that the highway employees should be taken out of the law.
April Scheffler said that if the highway employees are going to be taken out of the
equation because of their contract, then the deputy clerk should also be taken out
since Section 30 of Town Law says that the deputy is hired and fired at the pleasure of
Town Board Work Session March 19,2013
the town clerk. It is also the case with the judges and the court clerks. The Board
agreed that the deputy clerk and court clerk would be taken out.
The judges were not present at the work session as they had been advised by the
Magistrates Association that as judges they are prohibited from being involved in the
creation and enacting of laws. They had given Clerk Scheffler several of the emails
received from top judges in the Magistrates Association and she quoted the opinion
that "for a judge to have to follow ethics rules promulgated by a town board is a
patent violation of the separation of powers." Scheffler went on to say that she agrees
with this and feels that it is also a violation of the separation of powers between the
other elected officials and that the town board does not have the authority to punish
another elected official. She feels that this would undermine the basic foundation of
town government. Attorney Casullo thought that this issue must have been dealt with at
one time or another and that most local ethics laws are written this way. He also said
that the Association of Towns apparently does not see a problem with it and is in favor
of these ethics laws.
Robin Cargian asked if they had thought of giving any training on ethics. She feels that
if people are thinking of ethics on the front end and deciding at the beginning whether
or not they have a conflict of interest and disclosing it, that you wouldn't need a board
of ethics to do clean-up at the tail end.
After further discussion, it was clear that those people not on the Board were against
passing a local law to form a board of ethics. Scheffler said that she thought the
current code of ethics was enough and suggested that they just keep that and add a
section on disclosure and recusal that had been taken from a model code of ethics
from the State Comptrollers Office. Supervisor Morey made it very clear that he felt the
Town needed a board of ethics to help address conflicts of interest if and when they
arose. At that point, Attorney Casullo said that the Board needed to decide whether
they wanted to forget about passing a local law or move forward and make edits to
the proposed law. After more discussion the Board made the following resolution.
RESOLUTION #13-032 - PROCEED WITH CREATION OF LOCAL LAW ON ETHICS BOARD
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby declares that having heard the concerns of
other officials and employee, that it still intends to pass a local law for the creation of a
board of ethics.
Scheffler said that if they were going to go ahead with a law, that she had quite a few
things that she would like to address in the draft. One was that she was under the
impression that they were going to build on the current code of ethics, which is very
easy to understand, and that the draft law is completely different and very difficult to
understand. She feels that if the Board expects people to read it and abide by it that it
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Town Board Work Session March 19,2013
needs to be written in language that is easy to understand. She spoke about Open
Meetings laws, as well as other laws that the ethics board would need to have an
understanding of. She also felt that having five people with no knowledge of these
laws conducting investigations that are just short of an actual trial is pretty scary. All
issues were discussed and addressed. Attorney Casullo said that he could do some
more research on some things and edit anything that the Board wanted to.
Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Clark, at 7:00 pm.
Unanimous.
April L. Scheffler, RMC
Town Clerk
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