Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutB - 01 Special Town Board Minutes 02/23/23 FEBRUARY 23, 2023 4:33 P.M. SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING The Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Cortlandville was held at the Raymond G. Thorpe Municipal Building, 3577 Terrace Road, Cortland, New York with Supervisor Williams presiding. Members present: Supervisor, Thomas A. Williams Councilman, Jay E. Cobb Councilman, David J. Donlick Councilman, Jeffrey D. Guido Councilman, Gregory K. Leach Town Clerk, Kristin E. Rocco-Petrella Others present were: Town Attorney, John DelVecchio; Deputy Town Clerk, Abigail Albro; Town Justice, Mary Beth Mathey. Town Court Clerks: Margaret Capps, Amy Keefe, Susan Soule; Town Residents: Pamela Jenkins; Greg Reed; Karen Snyder; Andrea Niggli; Barbara Leach; Lenore and Clyde LeFevre; News Reporter: Jacob Mack from the Cortland Standard. Others joining via Zoom video/telephone conference: Assistant to the Supervisor, Amanda Rainbow; News Reporter: Kevin Smith from Cortland Voice. Supervisor Williams called the Special Meeting to order. Supervisor Williams offered privilege of the floor to Pamela Jenkins. Town resident, Pamela Jenkins offered her comments to the Board, which she later submitted to the Town Clerk for the record. Pamela Jenkins, Town Resident: … I just learned from Mr. Williams that the Cortlandville Town Board will not be going into Executive Session to discuss tonight changing the terms of the elected part-time Town Justices to instead be 1 full-time Justice, again instead of 2 part time Justices, and then to appoint/award that position to one of the Justices which the Town Board has chosen to fill that elected position. Again Mr. Williams just informed that will not happen tonight … they will discuss it at the next Town Board Meeting. I know it hasn’t been discussed. It wasn’t discussed at the last Town Board meeting that I was at. There is so much wrong with this plan. Cortlandville has one of the busiest town courts in New York State. It’s too much for one full-time justice to cover 24 hours per day around the year. But most importantly, our legal system relies upon an independent Judiciary, so, of course, neither the executive or legislative branches of Cortlandville government can choose or appoint or award this position to anyone. Only voters can do that. Any qualified candidate must be given equal opportunity to run for the full-time position. I refer you to the Judicial Candidates Ethics Handbook, which I went through in as much detail as I was capable of doing today and there is very much to learn from it. Also, if you have received any type of approval for this from the Judicial Campaign Ethics Center or from the Office of Courts Administration I would FOIL request that proof at this time if it exists. When you considered changing the town board members’ terms from 2-4 years, voters were given the opportunity to approve or disapprove by voting on that proposal. If you are going to propose changing the terms of the elected Justice position by making it a full-time position instead of a part-time position or two part-time positions, this must go to a vote by the public, with any qualified candidate being given equal opportunity to qualify for and to become elected. You simply cannot choose or award or appoint someone to fill the full-time elected Justice position if it is created. Only voters can do that. If you would like to claim that this is a cost cutting measure, instead, please consider rolling back the non-required, non-mandatory payments being made to Mr. Williams who receives about $24,000 in addition to his Supervisor’s pay, to serve as financial officer, and to Mr. Tupper, who is being paid $12,000 a year for financial advice, and to several of the Town Board members who receive an additional $5000-$6,000 each, per year, for being named Deputy Supervisors. That would save around $50,000. To recap: Let the voters decide who they want to serve as Town Justice, and if they want that position to be part-time or if it needs to be filled by several full-time justices, uh part-time justices … if they want that position to be part-time or full-time and the numbers of people who are qualified for that. Thank you. Supervisor Williams thanked Ms. Jenkins for her comments. Supervisor Williams offered privilege of the floor to Greg Reed. Town resident, Greg Reed yielded his time in light of the disclosure that the Board would not be going into Executive Session. Supervisor Williams thanked Mr. Reed for his comments. FEBRUARY 23, 2023 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING PAGE 2 Supervisor Williams offered privilege of the floor to Town Justice, Mary Beth Mathey. Town Justice, Mary Beth Mathey made the following comments which she later submitted to the Town Clerk for the record. Town Justice, Mary Beth Mathey: … I have reached out to all Board members and I want to thank Jeff Guido and Greg Leach for giving me the courtesy of at least returning my phone calls. As Tom Williams has explained to me, it is your intention to abolish one of the 2 part-time Town Justice positions and create a new full-time position with a higher salary. My response was, “so that means in the fall rather than running for a part-time position, I would have to run for a full- time position” and Tom said, oh no, we’re just going to give this position to Judge DeMarco. We’re not going to put it up for election. This scenario presents several legal, as well as practical issues. First and foremost, Town Justices in New York State are elected, they are not appointed. The judiciary is a separate and equal branch of government and cannot be appointed by a Town Board. Both Judge DeMarco and I were elected to specific part-time positions. Any new judge position which you may wish to create must be an elected position and go on the ballot in the fall. I had further information to discuss the inappropriateness of you having to discuss this in Executive Session. I’ve been advised since I arrived here that you are not going to be doing that. That being the case I won’t address that issue. After I spoke with Tom and advised him of these legal issues, someone identifying himself as “from the Town Attorney’s office” called Josh Shapiro, who is legal counsel to Town and Village Justice Courts from the Sixth Judicial District. Josh advised the caller 1) there are no full-time Town Justices in New York State. They are all part-time, which is why the busier courts have more than one part-time justice. Josh further advised that abolishing one of the 2 part-time positions is “an incredibly bad idea.” I don’t know whether the individual from your Town Attorney’s office has shared this opinion with you, but Josh has expressed a willingness to attend any of your meetings and discuss or answer any questions you might have. The Cortlandville Town Court is the 7th busiest out of 175 Town and Village Courts in the Sixth Judicial District. One Justice cannot cover this court. Another reason why having a single judge is conflicts of interest. You should be aware that Judge DeMarco has declared conflicts of interest and recused himself in countless cases just in his first year on the bench based on his prior experience as Assistant District Attorney and prosecuting some of these people and in his experience as a private defense attorney representing them. Another practical problem with your plan as it was presented to me by Tom is that you cannot abolish Judge DeMarco’s current part- time position to which he was elected mid-term. So, if you abolish one of the part-time positions, and whether or not you create a new position, Judge DeMarco’s current position to which he was elected will continue for the 3 remaining years of his term. I feel like this plan has been hastily presented and not well thought out. I trust that you will proceed in accordance with the laws of New York State and put this matter on the agenda for open discussion and put any new position up for election. Thank you. Supervisor Williams thanked Hon. Mathey for her comments. Supervisor Williams explained that the Town Board would not be going into Executive Session. Instead, the Board would continue with the meeting. He recognized Councilman Guido noting he is also a Deputy Supervisor. Councilman Guido explained he had a resolution to read aloud that would not create a new position but would eliminate one Town Justice position and go back to what the Town had in 2013 [one Town Justice]. Councilman Guido made a motion to read the resolution into the record. Town Justice Mary Beth Mathey interjected asking for point of order as the resolution was not on the agenda. She noted that the agenda for the meeting was for an Executive Session for a personnel matter. Supervisor Williams indicated that he changed the agenda. He discussed his understanding of Executive Session, the Open Meetings Law, and that personnel matters that are done in private until such time as action needs to be taken. As the matter was now public information, there was no need to protect anyone. He explained that he made the decision to cancel the Executive Session and to proceed in public. Attorney DelVecchio interjected. He advised the Board that since the agenda item was labeled as an Executive Session, he suggested Councilman Guido read the proposed resolution but not introduce it as a formal motion. The resolution would then be out to the public. If it were the Board’s intent to take the matter up formally at the next meeting and take potential action, a motion could be made at the next meeting. Supervisor Williams agreed, indicating that was also his intent. FEBRUARY 23, 2023 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING PAGE 3 He informed the public that the proposed resolution would be made available on the Town’s website by Friday, February 24, 2023 [via the public document portal]. Attorney DelVecchio asked if Councilman Guido would like to read the proposed resolution. Councilman Guido stated it was not necessary, as the resolution was made available to those in attendance at this time. Attorney DelVecchio made a few comments to the public. He explained that the proposed action is specifically governed by Section 60-A of Town Law. If the Town Board decides to take this action, there is no appointment of a judge. The proposal is to eliminate one of the part-time judgeship’s in the Town. If the action passes, what the law states is that the position of the part- time judge whose term ends first, will end at the end of the term. He wanted it clear for the record. The law is clear on the procedure. This Board has no power to appoint any judge and will not appoint any judge. With no further comments or discussion to be heard, Supervisor Williams adjourned the Special Meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kristin E. Rocco-Petrella, RMC Town Clerk Town of Cortlandville *Note: The draft version of this meeting was submitted to the Town Board for their review on February 28, 2023. The final version of this meeting was approved as written at the Town Board meeting of .