During last Thursday's town council meeting the board was asked for its reaction to the Ellenville Journal's revelation that it was the highest paid board in Ulster County and that it had voted itself seven raises in the last eight years.

Their response, other than a bad joke about planning to give themselves a 20% raise, was to say nothing. They passed on the opportunity to justify their salaries and health insurance: they didn't explain how hard the job is, how time consuming, how the money was really just a small token for the countless hours they have given to the better governance of this town. Perhaps because they knew better; perhaps because underneath they were ashamed of what they had taken from their constituents. Instead, what they gave voters was a bad joke, some smiling faces and silence — the response an embarrassed child gives you when you catch him with his hand in the cookie jar.

To add insult to injury, the board demonstrated its lack of public responsibility with taxpayer monies when it voted to give a 1% salary increase to over sixty town employees. Now there is nothing wrong with providing a yearly raise to employees but they had already received a 3% raise for the year.

The final one percent was, according to a policy enacted by this town council, to be given in whole or in part based on a performance review. However, the review never took place — the council never got around to actually performing it. So, due to their laziness, they decided to give every nonunion town employee a raise regardless of their job performance. If the board is too lazy to enact its own policies in a timely fashion, what hope do residents have that they will be proactive in finding real solutions for the problems facing Wawarsing?

Sadly, it appears that we have a board out of touch with its constituents and their problems. While new town council members wait in the wings for the start of January, we can only hope that they are not preparing to gauge their efforts by the members of this town council. Where is the economic development officer? Where is any coherent plan to help local businesses? Where is the sense that the town council wants anything to do with the public other than at board meetings and on the campaign trail, when they are forced to?

Recently, there has been some discussion about exploring the idea of a town manager style of government — a form followed by the administrations of Ellenville, the Ellenville Regional Hospital and the Ellenville Central School Board. The objections that have been raised are twofold: expense and lack of accountability. It seems pretty clear that this town council has no problem spending taxpayer money. And when council members refuse to answer a direct question, how can there be any more of a demonstration that checks and balances are no longer in effect?

COMMENTS about this article (7)