Tusten officials weigh action; seek second legal opinion in Narrowsburg school matter

Posted 9/30/09

The Tusten town board voted three to two to get a second legal opinion about whether it is advisable for the town to file an amicus brief to support the lawsuit brought by Brendan and Kathy Weiden …

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Tusten officials weigh action; seek second legal opinion in Narrowsburg school matter

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The Tusten town board voted three to two to get a second legal opinion about whether it is advisable for the town to file an amicus brief to support the lawsuit brought by Brendan and Kathy Weiden and 12 other residents against the board of the Sullivan West Central School District, and also to determine if the town had any claim against the school board.

The lawsuit claims the school district made several errors in the proposed sale of the Narrowsburg school. The school board agreed to sell the building to Joan Buto, who wants to open a drug rehab facility in it.

Councilmember Tony Ritter’s concern has been with the 14-acre lot on Kirk Road that went along with the purchase of the building. He said that was never listed on the Multiple Listing Service and never made available to the general public. He said early in 2013, the town board was told by the school district superintendent, Nancy Hackett, that the parcel was not for sale, and also said that the town would be notified if it came up for sale.

Town attorney Jeffrey Clemente said the town has no claim and should not file an amicus brief. He said, “We asked a question, ‘is it available?’ and the answer was ‘no.’ Now the fact that she said, ‘We’ll let you know when it is,’ is not a legally binding event.”

The board voted three to two to get a second opinion from the Albany law firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, which has been retained for use by the zoning board of appeals and the planning board, should the drug and alcohol rehabilitation project at the school move beyond its current phase.

Code Enforcement Officer Gary Amerbach informed the board that he had been contacted by Buto’s attorney, who explained how the attorney felt the project could fit with the existing zoning regulations, and by an engineer with a slightly different plan.

But Amerbach said his opinion is that the proposed facility doesn’t fit in with town zoning, and Buto is free to appeal that decision to the zoning board of appeals or seek an interpretation or clarification on the matter from the New York Department of State in Albany. So far, there has been no application for a variance.

There was quite a bit of discussion about a letter written by Councilmember Ned Lang sent to planning board chairman Ed Jackson. Jackson had said that the planning process for the rehab facility could take up to a year, and expressed other views on the topic.

Lang wrote Jackson a letter and copied Buto and her attorney and said, “I strongly urge you to rethink your position on this matter to avert almost certain litigation and its potential cost.”

Supervisor Carol Wingert said, “For you to make that statement and to send it to the potential litigants is absurd. It sounds like you’re representing them rather than the town.”

Lang responded, “If I want to make that statement, that assertion, that is my right as an individual.”

Some of the board members had been considering charging Lang with an ethics violation, for disclosing material that should not have been disclosed, but because the information was discussed during an executive session that was never called to order, the matter was dropped.

During public comment, Iris Helfeld, a member of Narowsburg Organized for Responsible School Use (NORSU) said the group had commissioned a report on the school from a professional planner and would provide a copy of it to the town and to its planning and zoning boards once it was printed.

Another member of NORSU urged the town board to support the group’s effort to help prevent the rehab facility from opening, but Clemente said the town board should not come down on one side or the other.

He said, “The town cannot afford to become a partisan in an issue over which it is going to be the judge. That’s just bad government. We have to know who we are, and as a town we should not jump in before anything is established, before any applications are formally in, and say that we are on one side or the other.”

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