To the Editor:
At the Town of Brookfield’s last Board meeting, as well
as in letters to this paper, it has become apparent that there are some very
unhappy people with our Town Boards decision to not extend the Moratorium on Gas
Drilling…and with good reason. There was concern expressed about our Town
Attorney voicing a legal opinion to the Board on the night of that vote that may
have influenced the Board…an opinion he reversed at the following meeting. The
recent Middlefield –Dryden appeal decision proved his initial opinion to be
incorrect. It’s clear to most people that this issue HAS to be re-voted on .
Not just because of the shadow of possible misinformation but because no
notification was given to the public that any vote on the Moratorium was to
have taken place at that meeting. One very upset member of the public who
pointed this out to our Supervisor, John Salka, was told by him that people
could have known because the agenda is a public document…except the agenda never
became “public” until the night of the meeting!
Another troubling issue is the reluctance of our Town
Board to perform a Judges audit for 2013…We’ve gotten nothing but excuses and
delays.. A annual Judges audit is REQUIRED by The Unified Court Act and Town
Law 123. It is especially relevant to our Town this year with the death of one
of our Judges. The Board, by law, must do the audit itself or cause it to be
done by a Certified Public Accountant or a Public Accountant within 60 days of
the end of the fiscal year. At our June meeting I asked when this audit (already late)
would be done, as they had already discussed it at a meeting earlier this year.
Incredulously, I was told by Mr. Head that it had already been done by our
accountant. I had to remind them that our accountant had done the 2012 audit not
the 2013 one. I was told again by Mr. Head “ all I know is that it’s already
been done”. I asked when the other audits for Clerk and Supervisor would be done
( no Town Clerk or Town Supervisor internal audits have been done in years), I
was told “ no idea”. The Board came a bit more “up to speed” at our meeting
this month and are now saying they are planning on doing audits, they
have spoken to someone to do them, or help them, but they don’t know what it
will cost yet. …and would still not say when it will be started. The last
Judges audit was done a full year late, let’s see how long this one
takes.
Jackie Mineo
