TnT Saga (or: Et tu, Toni and Terry?)

I've really been doing my best to learn about the lawsuit.  I've talked to the mayor and supervisor, waded through various comptroller's opinions, been shown laws and budgets, and I've even been given some competing history lessons.  Finally, I consulted Guy Visk's Magic 8-Ball.  I wasn't happy with the results.

Let me try to get my head around the two positions.  I've gotten some pretty wordy explanations that I will try to summarize, and I'm confident that any mistakes I make will be quickly and politely corrected.

What is agreed upon by all is that Town taxes are divided into two parts:  stuff all residents pay for (the A fund) and stuff that only people not in the Village pay for (the B fund).  The B fund is for things that the Village takes care of on its own, and taxes Village residents for directly.  The rescue squad contract with the town was, up until some point during Don Wilen's adminstration, a single agreement with the Town and charged to the A fund - everybody paid their share because everybody could need these guys.  During Wilen's tenure, the contract was split in two, each municipality paying its own share.  The Town's contract was charged to the B fund.  Toni Hokanson placed those charges in the A fund.

Terry:  The Town's contract for ambulance services specifically states that it is for Town residents that do not live within the limits of the Village.  This means that Village residents are not only paying for their ambulance services directly, they're also paying roughly 25% of the Town's contract, as well.  This is not okay.

Toni:  The contract was placed back in the A fund because the New York State Comptroller indicated that it's the only legal place to put it.  The clause in the contract limiting service to residents outside the village is illegal, because the Comptroller said that services are provided on a town-wide basis.  Further, the Comptroller said that if a village in these circumstances wanted its own contract, it needs to be one that provides additional services beyond what Village residents would already get based on the Town contract.  The Village contract is actually the problem.

Terry:  The Comptroller's opinion doesn't actually say that services are automatically provided town-wide, only that it assumes that they are.  That's a different story.  The Town's contract is binding, and the Village is paying more than it should.

Toni:  The reason the contracts were split was because the Village residents were paying artificially low rates.  The contract is based upon a formula deriving from assessments - Village residents pay a portion based on their portion of the Town's assessed property values (right now about 24%).  When there was one joint contract, the Village paid that portion, plus an additional amount to reflect the fact that about half of all ambulance calls are within Village limits.  This extra amount was reflected in Village taxes even then.  The two contracts were apparently written to simplify this process, but the Town's portion still should be in the A fund, as the Comptroller indicates, so that everyone is paying for the level of service being received.

So does the Town's contract make some sort of de facto ambulance district, like I think Terry is claiming, or does it just include a mistaken line that is misleading to those uninitiated into the complexities of Town budgeting, which is the sense I got from Toni?  And what about that Magic 8-Ball?  I asked it, "Will this be able to be resolved without going to court?

Guy's 8-Ball is pretty old, and it's got all manner of air bubbles in it that sometimes don't let you get an answer for a couple of tries.  When I did get one I could read, though, it said, "My answer is no."

Come Say Hi!

I will be at Old New Paltz Day tomorrow, chillin' with the Mayor at the Broadhead gate from 1pm-3pm. Come say hi!

I guess I will ask him if he is the one who gave me the parking ticket. Which, by the way, I pleaded "No Guilty" to and await a court date. But Michael Zierler said he would testify for me. :)

kt Tobin Flusser

Building Freeze Looms

Last night the Town Council voted 3-1 to move forward with an 18-month moratorium on subdivisions of four or more lots.  David Lewis was not present, and Toni Hokanson cast the dissenting vote.

• The vote shows that, at least sometimes, the Town Council doesn't blindly follow Toni's lead, as I've often seen written in That Paper's letters column.  It may happen, but it didn't happen last night.
• Toni has been consistent in her opposition to a moratorium before the comprehensive plan update is done - she feels that the time for one is afterwards, when the zoning code changes are tweaked.
• Kitty Brown was consistent in her position that this type of idea should really come from the Planning Board.
• Jonathan Wright, the gadfly and Planning Board member who has pushed for this for over two years, has been unable to get that body to recommend a moratorium.  He has always maintained that having the moratorium now is critical, because the zoning is broken and we should not be allowing any more bad subdivisions (read:  McMansions and strip malls) to be approved before we take a look at what types of development will really benefit the town, economically, culturally, and environmentally.
  
• Jeff Logan worked hard on getting this passed, and showed a real commitment to doing to research and work necessary to be on the Council.  In other words, he's now officially underpaid ;) .

The language must be reviewed by the Town Attorney before a public hearing date may be set.

The Grass It Is A'Growin'

Watch out Villagers the Grass Police are taking prisoners! Or, well, at least threatening imprisonment! My lovely lawn guy (yes, I have a lawn guy!) (and he is lovely!) has informed me that the village sent out at least three of these letters in the past week, and those are just the ones he knew about.

1) First off, in my world we capitalize the "P" in New Paltz.
2) Does the village really need to yell in ALL CAPS in bold and italics and underlined about the need to remedy the situation IMMEDIATELY!
3) Does the village really need to threaten "fine or imprisonment or both" for this offense?
4) I spoke to (confidentially, due to the extreme social stigma) two high grass offenders (high grass, now that's funny) and neither were notified by phone or any other more personal way of warning before receiving this overly formal, overly harsh form letter. I thought we lived in a quaint little village in which we can expect neighborly, intimate relations (funny again) with our government... Guess not.
5) I have to wonder if we spent more tax dollars policing this and filing paperwork and paying postage than we generated in revenues gained from the fines.
6) Have you seen the code - do you know how tall your grass is legally allowed to grow? Guess what, 3 inches:
124-1. Maintenance of Grass Lawns
Grass shall not be allowed to grow in excess of three inches. This provision shall not apply to land under cultivation, naturally wooded areas or undeveloped areas which are at least 200 feet distant from any occupied building or residence.
Now that is just crazy silly for so many reasons, not the least of which is the burning of fossil fuels on a much too frequent basis for pretty lawns.
7) What is the big picture question here? Are we resorting to taxing quality of life issues in order to beef up the budget in these recessionary times? Jeez, that would be really pathetic.

(I got a parking ticket the other day at the municipal lot - the machine would not take money before 9:00am, I was there at 8:30am and was not able to run out and put money in the machine at 9:00am. My silly day job has prevented me from getting down to Village Hall to contest the ticket -- what do you think my chances are?)

kt Tobin Flusser

Time to extinguish firefight?

Kudos to Malone Vandam for proposing a detante for the, erm, firefight at Village Hall.  It's the only commentary I've seen that's done anything but fan the flames of folks whose tempers have been understandably rubbed raw all around.  In general I prefer we all play nice even if we disagree, even going so far as to referee comment fights, and Vandam's suggestion to give Shari Osborn the benefit of the doubt makes sense.

As Rachel Lagodka said of Brian Kimbiz, "I have to work with whoever gets elected."  I don't doubt that the calls for Shari's resignation could build up steam and perhaps even succeed.  But really, is that the best use of human effort?  A drawn-out, unpleasant squabble that will sell papers and slow down any real progress on funding the fire department.  At least it would be contributing to the local economy.

Who says Bruce Kazan can't build?

Rosario Agostaro of Gardiner wrote a letter to this week's issue of That Paper expressing frustration for Bruce Kazan, owner of the Main Course, in his quest to develop the property at 175 Main Street.  Rosario says:

As of this date, Mr. Kazan, a business owner for over 19 years in our community, has had to invest over $18,000 in legal fees to try to navigate through what appears as an endless nightmare of bureaucracy.  Should a respected member of the local business community be expected to support his vision at 5 separate Planning Board meetings, supported by an architect and lawyer on hand, to keep the discussion focused on the real issues of the project? Is it possible that we have a lack of communication between members of local government?

I'm not sure what Rosario is complaining about, actually.  Mr. Kazan received approval for his project months ago.  Then, he and his architect changed the plans significantly from what was approved, moving the loading from inside to outside, moving the kitchen to another location in the building, and making several windows into doors.  That all should have been included in an amended site plan application before the work started, but despite the fact that the work was well underway, the Planning Board then went ahead and approved the amended site plan.

So Bruce Kazan got his approval, built something much different than what he agreed to, and then got retroactive approval to use the new plan.  I myself was conflicted; I've stated both at public meetings and in this blog that I supported his idea, but ultimately I voted against the amended site plan because I felt that the modifications (particularly the outside loading) did not reflect the original compromise with the neighbors.  Even if the amended site plan had not been approved, Bruce would have be entitled to go ahead with his original plan.  (At that point it would have meant a lot of expensive changes to the building, but I have to think that this is the risk of making the business decision of building it before you get approval, instead of following the rules.)

The five planning board meetings Bruce attended, the time he spent drawing up plans, and the delays in getting his building to turn a profit could have been significantly reduced if he had elected to simply build what was approved in the first place.  Nobody has discouraged Bruce to act on his ideas, as Rosario claims - he's just spent a lot more time and money because he or his consultants didn't do things in the proper order.  And his plan is approved, so I don't know why this letter comes now.

Yes, there is pending litigation regarding the application (about which I will do my best not to comment), but it was brought by Mr. Kazan and any delays that result from it will be his choice.  He still is completely within his rights to finish his building and open for business.  If one of his tenants sells artisinal bread as he hopes, I will certainly patronize that business as well.  At the time, the neighbors weren't happy that I expressed a fondness for such bread, but all was forgiven when I voted against the amended site plan.  I just wish Bruce would go ahead and finish building according to his approved plan.

Tit for Tat: Terry vs. Toni in That Paper

I've spoken to the mayor, I've read the articles and the letter wars between supervisor and mayor, and I've seen some of the documents in question.  I have some follow-up questions into them both, but based on what I've seen so far, I think the supervisor's rationale doesn't quite fit the particulars of this case.

In her letter to TP (or That Paper, as Mr. McPhillips likes to call it), the supervisor quotes the entirety of the comptoller's opinion about how to assess ambulance charges when you've got a village within a town, and they each sign their own contracts with the same ambulance company.  The comptroller felt that, since the town contract included everything in its borders, that the village residents really were getting the benefit of that, over and above the level of service they were getting from their own contract with the same ambulance company.  (The opinion is very clear that it applies only in cases where the contracts are with the same company.)  Because they were getting that extra level of service, a town could go ahead and put the ambulance charge in the "A" fund that comes from the taxes paid by all town residents - including the ones that live in the village.

Follow so far?  The comptroller thinks that the same exact ambulance volunteers that are on call at any given time would somehow replicate themselves should an emergency happen in the village, so the village residents should pay twice:  once for the town-hired clone, and once for the village-hired clone.

Granted that the opinion is specious at best and bizarre to the core, it is in fact a legitimate basis upon which to base a defense.  If the town ended up losing under those circumstances, it would really be the comptroller's opinion being reversed by a court of law, not an error in judgment.  However, I don't think that this opinion applies to New Paltz.

I looked at a copy of the town's ambulance contract, and it's pretty clear that services are being engaged for the town, excluding anything within the village boundaries.  The mayor is claiming that this contract is specific enough that there's no way any resident of the village could be benefiting from it, at least not while they're at home.  He believes that the comptroller's opinion just doesn't apply in this case.

What's going on at SUNY?

Ira Margolis has been a tireless advocate for opening all meetings by local government to the public - even those that aren't covered by the letter of the Open Meetings Law, like the stuff that happens on campus.  SUNY New Paltz is nestled in the village, but thanks to state law is immune to local public scrutiny.  As I mentioned to Toni Hokanson not long ago, it would probably take lobbying by town supervisors and mayors in all SUNY towns to get the laws to be changed so that the SUNY system was required to participate as members of those communities, instead of the monolithic and inpenetrable powers they have become.  Like any other large company, SUNY should have to interact with local authorities and community members, particularly since it happens to be immune to our medieval taxation system.

SUNY news that comes to me is usually in the form of rumor, innuendo, and Facebook chatter.  Here are some recent tidbits:

• The Students for Sustainable Agriculture are expecting their garden to be bulldozed this summer, when they're mostly out of town.  This is an organic garden that has been cultivated since 2005 in keeping with the club's mission to get the college to support local agriculture.
• The college is planning to kill its resident geese this summer (it's a great time to "do nefarious deeds" according to Rachel Lagodka).  Canada geese enjoy the lawns and open spaces of the campus, and alternatives that have been proposed, such as plantings that would discourage them from landing, have been passed on.
• The proposed expansion of the college southwards may end up being in the Village after all - I've heard they would like to hook up to our water and sewer, which would require annexation.  Our backwards system of taxing land will influence how this pans out, because the development would be taxable for the first forty years before returning the the taxless vacuum of state-owned land.

I've sent President Poskanzer an email asking for comment on the garden issue specifically - it's the one that I have the most credible information about.  I'm very curious to see if he decides it's better PR to reply or to ignore gadflies as insignificant pests.

School Board Election Results

Budget Passed 844 to 206

kt Tobin Flusser 826
Dan Torres 820
Don Kerr 802

write ins
Nikki Nielson 1
Jason West 1
Pete Healey 1

On identifying blog post authors

I have had two people express to me that they have difficulty figuring out who has written a particular blog post.  The way the free and easy layouts on Blogger work, the poster's identity is always listed at the end, like it is done in a number of newspapers.  It's located just below the post text, along with the labels, date and time of the post.  It's a little bit smaller than the post's text, and is preceded by the words "posted by" and a colon.  I changed the text color so it's a bit darker, but any other changes would involve me spending far more time on this volunteer exercise than I have available.

If you happen to be good at CSS already, I'd be happy to let you take a crack at it, but honestly I don't think it's such a challenge to look at the bottom of the post to see who wrote it.  You have to do the same thing with the New Paltz Times, and although that paper has gotten many complaints from many people, I've never heard anyone grump about the location of the byline.

I have hopes that this blog will grow in diversity so that it can't be easily located on a political map, and if that happens the number of writers will be larger.  So far no confirmed Libertarians, Right to Lifers, Anarchists, Communists, or Rosicrucians have stepped up to the plate, but if you're consistently intelligent and civil and disagree with me more than a third of the time I'd like to talk to you.

Two New Paltz Birthdays

This Saturday, New Paltz GreenWorks will celebrate its second birthday. GreenWorks is a joint Village and Town committee charged with reducing our community’s carbon footprint. First authorized by the Village as a Global Warming Task Force on May 16th, 2007, on September 20th, 2007, GreenWorks became a joint committee with the Town. Since its inception two years ago, GreenWorks has:

• implemented a recycling container project, which brought the town into compliance with current bottle and can recycling laws
• distributed over 10,000 reusable tote bags throughout the community, replacing plastic shopping bags
• been active in the Save the Middle School campaign and has sent letters of concern to the village, town, planning, and school boards about issues related to reducing carbon footprint
• placed Planet Aid Clothing Recycling Bins into key locations across the community
• participated in many familiar New Paltz events: Earth Day, the Regatta, the Turkey Trot, Clean Sweep
• helped institute new green-centered New Paltz events: No Petrol Day, Go Green Day, and the Sustainable Movie series at Water Street Market
• held educational forums at the New Paltz Teen Scene and the Highland high school about how kids can contribute to reducing our local carbon footprint

GreenWorks will once again host No Petrol Day on June 6th at the Water Street Market, and Go Green Day will be repeated in September. The next educational activity is set for the Mohonk Preserve this fall. GreenWorks is currently working with the Duzine-Lenape PTA to help them green their fundraising and with local businesses to develop green business recycling compliance programs. If you would like to join, it is an open committee; meetings are the second Monday of the month at the Mudd Puddle, 7:30 pm.

Also this Saturday is the inaugural Third Saturday Art Loop. New Paltz has joined Art Along The Hudson, a rotating monthly spotlight on art and culture in seven Hudson Valley communities. Starting May 16th, New Paltz will celebrate the arts on the third Saturday of every month through October, culminating on the Saturday of this year’s Celebration of the Arts.

An amazing group of artists, arts organizations, and community organizers got together this winter and brainstormed about ways to promote the art scene in New Paltz. The initial result was the installation of the Habitats for Artists in the village. The first habitat is right next to 36 Main Restaurant and there will be more to come on Historic Huguenot Street and the SUNY New Paltz campus as the weather warms.

Next is the launch of Third Saturdays Art Loop. New Paltzians can join their neighbors and friends this Saturday along the loop at one or more of the twelve venues in New Paltz from 4pm to 8pm. Each month will feature a venue who will host a mixer from 8pm to 10pm where one can mingle with the artists, gallery owners, curators, and the patrons who are supporting the endeavor while experiencing exceptional art, live music, light refreshments, and a raffle of artwork by local artists. This Saturday’s after-party will be at the Water Street Market.

This fall, COTA – the Celebration of the Arts, “where creativity builds community”, moves to Huguenot Street, is set for October 10th, and is predicted to be the best ever.

E.B. White said, "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."

New Paltz lets you do both. Happy Birthday GreenWorks and Art Loop!

kt Tobin Flusser
(who, yes, is a member of both the GreenWorks and the New Paltz Arts steering committees)

Village Board: new election results!

The recount is in, and the results are a bit different:

Patrick O'Donnell still has 98 votes,
Brian Kimbiz now has 95, and
Pete Healey stays at 94.

The village clerk told me that one of Brian's votes was due to a counting error (more than I would have predicted), and the other three were write-ins the local election inspectors ruled invalid but the County deem overruled them on. I suggested that for future elections, it might be instructive if the announced count includes the number of votes thus invalidated. She agreed it was a good idea, but I don't know if there's any bizarre law that would prevent them from doing so in the future.

Pete is within his rights to challenge the results, but I do not know his intentions.

The Claims that Bind

There's been a fair amount of discussion about the Village suing the Town, because Terry Dungan has found what looks like about $75,000 in taxes to Village residents that the Town shouldn't have charged us.  The notice of claim is available at Town Hall or that link, and has all the relevant details.

Of course it's not the Village suing, it's a number of residents (not including, as some have noted, His Honor).  I wonder how many of those residents asked who would be paying to prosecute this suit, or to defend against it?  Because whether or not they're right, once it's on, attorneys get involved, and you can be sure that the Town is going to have an attorney answer this notice of claim . . . and they'll charge it to the "A" fund that we all pay.

Now I understand that the situation is complex - that's why Terry needed to have "lawsuit parties" where he would spend an hour or so explaining it to a group of people before asking if they wanted to sign on or not.  But in the clusterf*ck that is one government within another, does it occur to anybody on that notice that the only people that are going to pay to litigate or settle this mess is us?  This is financial masturbation, plain and simple.

How about the two boards sit down and talk it out?  Figure out a solution - and leave your damned egos at home, thanks.  I understand that some of your are steamed about being sued, and some of you are irked about being swindled, but every person in New Paltz will be paying to fix what was likely a mistake.

Terry Dungan is known for not telling his own Board anything, and I think he probably didn't make a real effort to work with the Town - or if he did, no one knew what he meant.  He's smart, but not a real communicator.  Toni Hokanson will defend the Town's interest fiercely, and despite her protests will forget that the Village is part of the Town.  We can't afford to have Terry push forward with a suit that's premature, nor can we afford for Toni not to work out a solution that benefits the citizens.  I don't really give a damn which government gets the money in the end, as long as it doesn't end up in my tax bill.

Let's watch how this unfolds carefully.  If, by the next election, it's not settled with NO cost to the taxpayers, can we agree to vote out of office anyone who comes up for election?  And to continue on that route until all ten have been replaced?  This is the reason why unification needs to happen:  I don't want them fighting over how much of my money they get to piddle away hating each other.  I know that not every sitting Board and Council member is responsible for this debacle, but we need to send a message that they will all be held accountable if this is not ended now.  I'm sure that cooler heads will prevail if it's clear that people in New Paltz are serious.  It's an embarassment, an unnecessary expense, and should have been avoided by working it out like adults.  Okay, mature adults.

Let's count that again!

News from the Village front: there will be a recount of last night's election tomorrow at 10AM, as requested by Brian Kimbiz. According to the deputy clerk, it will be in the small meeting room in Village Hall. Don't miss it!

Village Board Results 2009

I tried to be fancy, and wanted to show a video of the results here, but my camera and computer are no longer getting along, so we'll do it the old-fashioned way.

Patrick O'Donnell:  98

Pete Healey:  94

Brian Kimbiz:  91

Jason West:  25

Brittany Turner:  7

A few stray votes here and there

All in all, a good race.  I don't think anyone can complain about a stolen election (and yes, I really hate that kind of whining, even when my guy loses).  Brian Kimbiz, whose petititons were invalidated because he didn't realize that he needed to be registered here in order to witness the signatures, got every vote he deserved regardless, so I don't think he could argue that he would have gotten three or four more if he'd taken the time to understand the rules.  Jason West and Brittany Turner were offered up as last-minute write-ins and got a respectable number of votes, given that they were only being talked about for hours at best.

I don't buy the whole idea of a stolen election, but honestly, if you want someone to run for office, do you think you could ask them far enough in advance that they could run a campaign, if you really want them to win?  Both were gracious enough to let me know that they were no opposed to being written in, but both candidates could have made a real showing if they had taken the time to do it right.  

• Jason just got back in town and simply didn't have the time - he wasn't here for the petition period.  But if he wants to re-enter local politics, I think a thoughtful campaign would do him much better.  He is a politician, and each campaign he undertakes should be part of his larger strategy, whatever that may be.  It was just too impulsive to offer his name up.
  
• Brittany caught a lot of flack for daring to run, last minute, for Town Council.  This time, she's starting to look like the perennial write-in protest vote.  Brittany is extremely knowledgeable about the local scene, but has never had the opportunity to express her views in a candidate forum.  I think she's too intelligent to be tossed in the race at the last minute - let's see what she's got and actually vote on her stand on issues, not just for the fun of it.

I think some of the votes for write-in candidates may have been protest votes - people didn't like the names on the ballot and voted for someone they didn't actually believe would win.  That, in my view, is a waste of the democratic process.  If I had my way no candidates would be on the ballot and we would have to actually pay attention to know who to vote for, but I don't have my way very often.  Some very talented people were written in and could probably have won, given the opportunity for a serious campaign.  A lot of races in this town could be decided very differently if folks started thinking about them earlier than, oh, the day before the election.

Congratulations to the winners, and kudos to the incredibly respectable showings for the other candidates.  Now go play nice.

Village Election Results

98 patrick o'connell

94 pete healey

91 brian kimbiz

25 jason west

7 brittany turner

Two weekends, two messy events

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activities in New Paltz, and I only got to go to some of them. However, I got a little time with some local politicians as part of the bargain.

New Paltz Clean Sweep
I don't remember what made me miss out on Clean Sweep last year, but I was delightfully surprised by the layout of food at St. Joseph's for the volunteers. I found Toni Hokanson sitting alone at a table designated for the Town Council (she told me about health issues that prevented two of them from showing up, and I later found out family obligations kept the other two away), and joined her along with Kraig Kallmeyer of SealTech Sealcoating.  We three scoured the area around Town Hall and Moriello Pool.  Our supervisor definitely is willing to work her butt off picking up litter, and that area is a real prize.  I pulled a tire out of the wetland north of the pool, and gave up on an moss-covered bumper (I would need two strong adults with waders, poison ivy resistance, and thick clothing to keep the brambles at bay to get that baby out).  Pretty sure I picked up poison ivy that day, because the stuff that runs rampant through my yard definitely couldn't be the culprit . . . 

New Paltz Regatta

I can't tell you a thing about the regatta, because my wife and I awoke that morning stricken by some horrible disease.  We were in bad enough shape to need medical attention, and FirstCare in Highland was the nearest place open on a Sunday.  They had a backlog, but nurse Jeff Logan took good care of us.  Turns out his grandfather built our house, and now that I'm no longer delirious I'm going to give his mother a call to learn more about its history.  No, we don't have swine flu (or any other), but we got tested even though the symptoms didn't match that well.  I wasn't so delirious that I felt that need to remind Jeff how he annoyed me last Election Day, but I give him credit - I don't think he would have done any less of a job caring for us even had I done so.  Looking back, and considering my own encounters with mindless school bureaucracy as I futilely tried to figure out what a member of HAC does, I'm sure district employees follow inane directions like "open the door despite the amount of heat it will waste for our taxpayers" because that's how the bureacracy trains them.  Our conversation showed me that he does think independently; anyone who's being sued by the chairman of his own party really has no choice.  (Corinne Nyquist, chair of the New Paltz Democratic Committee, signed on to Terry Dungan's village citizen lawsuit against the Town).

Village Elections

So today I'm healthy enough to vote in the village elections.  There are two official and the usual explosion of write-in candidates for the two open seats.  Please don't write me in - if you must write someone in, I would think Jason West is a better choice than the college kid.  I've read the petitions, and I know challenges can be used to intimidate, but his were so flawed I think he needs a little aging in order to be ready for an elected position.  I just found out Brittany Turner is being run as well, but apparently it's without her knowledge and I don't agree with that.  You could also vote for the candidates on the ballot, but please remember that these races are won by a handful of votes, so your vote really does count.

Drumroll please...

The Town of New Paltz Democratic Caucus is set for September 14th.

Details to follow...