I am passionate about Monticello and ally myself with all those who are interested in improving the quality of life in our Village while respecting the civil rights of all of our residents, property owners, businesses, workers, and youth. If our community as a whole does not work as a team, we will never progress and will continue a long downward slide. However, I will continue first and foremost to be committed to principles of openness, economy, and equal justice for everyone. I join with those of my fellow Board members who show by their behavior that they embrace these values too.

The chief function of local government is to serve the best interests of all people.

A core duty to my constituents and the public at large to open up the processes of government so everyone can see what's going on and participate. In furtherance of this policy, in addition to posting Minutes, recordings of recent meetings of the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees will now be made freely available on this website. Audio files may either be downloaded for later listening or streamed online. I am providing this service at no cost to the taxpayers.

Agendas and Minutes are PUBLIC RECORDS, available to anyone. Digital files of the same content are separate and distinct records from paper files, but they are still PUBLIC RECORDS. Digital files of Minutes of Board of Trustees meetings are still Minutes; and digital Agendas are still Agendas. Such digital files are as available under the law as paper minutes.See legal brief by the Committee on Open Government entitled THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW, which cites, among other authorities, Samuel v. Mace, Supreme Court, Monroe County, December 11, 1992, where the court ruled, "[a]n agency which maintains in a computer
format information sought by a F.O.I.L. request may be compelled to comply with the request to transfer information to computer disks or tape."

This archive has been on the web for several years. In March 2008, I was elected as a Village Trustee, in part due to my commitment to remain true to the principles of open and transparent government. In June 2008, the Village Clerk informed me she had been instructed by another member of the Board of Trustees (i.e. the Mayor) and a Village employee (i.e. the Village Manager) to stop providing digital copies of the Minutes to me because they did not approve of their presence on the web. The Village Clerk told me that they had said they would still "allow" me to receive Minutes on paper, but that was all. If I wanted, she noted, I could pick up paper Minutes from Village Hall to take them home and scan them myself.

I immediately objected, reminding the Village Clerk that she is the Clerk for the Board of Trustees, not merely the Mayor or the Manager. Beyond this, to deny me as a Trustee information to which I am lawfully entitled, which I had requested in my official capacity to aid in the performance of my duties and to lawfully provide to constituents, in addition to insubordination, could constitute the misdemeanor crime of Obstructing Governmental Administration. I had previously explained that it is useful to me in performing my duties as a Trustee to be able to search and review an extensive body of past minutes. I can do this most easily and efficiently on my computer. Keeping these files from me denied me this ability, making it more difficult for me to do my job as a Trustee.

Under the council-manager form of governmentThe organizational chart in the right column is from from the first "Annual Report of the Manager" of the Village of Monticello, dated December 1955. The following introductory paragraph appeared at the outset: "Since this is the first annual report of the Village Manager, it is perhaps fitting that a brief explanation of the mechanics of the Council-Manager form of government, as well as some of the thinking behind it, be included as an introduction. The term 'Council' means Board of Trustees as it exists in Monticello." A few of the positions (such as Village Assessor) in the above chart have since been abolished. However, the general principles underlying the original legislative intent of our present form of government is well explained in the text and diagram. DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT (51MB Acrobat file), Monticello has five co-equal members of the Board of Trustees or council. This board hires, supervises, and has the authority to fire the Village Manager whose job it is to carry out policies established by the Trustees. The Village Code allows the Mayor discretion to make a few specific appointments, most of which are subject to Board approval, but the the position of Mayor is largely ceremonial. The Mayor's chief job is to keep board meetings running smoothly and encourage teamwork among the Trustees.

The Village Manager is appointed and supervised by the entire Board; not any one member. If the public is dissatisfied with the Village Manager, they may cast their votes to place in office elected officials who will carry out their wishes.

Under Village Law, the Mayor does not speak for the Board of Trustees unless the Board has voted on the particular question at issue. The Open Meetings Law requires that deliberations by the Board be in public, not among three or four members in private.

Only when the Village Board operates as a team can it govern effectively. When the Mayor attempts to govern by himself, he exceeds the lawful scope of his office and places any unauthorized actions at risk of being overturned.

Assuming powers that he does not have under the law can place a Mayor in awkward legal positions, placing both himself personally and the Village in legal jeopardy. For example:

1. Personnel policies or decisions ordered by the Mayor, without the authorization of the Board of Trustees, could become the subject of a labor-management grievance filed by union employees, and be thrown out in arbitration or in court;
2. A grant application signed by the Mayor on behalf of the Village without a Board vote could be challenged by unsuccessful grant applicants; or
3. Purchases ordered by the Mayor which the Board has not approved may not be paid, or vendors may be referred to the Mayor personally for collection.

According to Village Law, the Mayor casts one equal vote out of five. All the legislative powers of the Village government are vested in the Board of Trustees.

Could the statute be any clearer?

Village Law, Sec. 369. Legislative powers vested in board of trustees.
All the legislative powers of the village conferred upon or possessed by it are hereby vested in the board of trustees. L.1927, c. 650, Sec. 47; amended L. 1963, c. 56, eff. Feb. 25, 1963.

Village Law, Sec. 370. Powers and duties of mayor.
The mayor shall preside at all meetings of the board of trustees; he shall be the official head of the village for services of civil process;The phrase "for service of civil process" as used here simply means that whenever the Village is sued, the mayor has the honor of being named as a defendant; and of being served with the summons and complaints commencing such suits. he shall have no power of veto, but shall have the same power as a trustee to vote upon all matters coming before the board. Added L.1927, c. 650 Sec. 47, eff. July 1, 1927.

It is unwise for any Mayor to accept uninformed or self-serving advice from any quarter that he has more authority than the Board of Trustees, or that it is the role of the Mayor to run the Board of Trustees or control its agenda. It is not. Nor is it the role of any Village employee, including the Manager, to do so.

It is not within the authority of any Village employee, or any other Village official, to prevent me from discharging my duties as a Trustee in the manner that works best to me. It is also beyond their authority to stop me from sharing PUBLIC INFORMATION with constituents. I put up a web page here demanding that the unlawful policy, set by the Manager and Mayor without presenting the matter to the Board, of refusing to provide me digital copies of Minutes and Agendas be reconsidered immediately. If it was not, I promised to ask State authorities to intervene in protection of my right as a Village legislator to obtain and to freely provide such information to my constituents. Before long, the Clerk reconsidered her refusal to e-mail them minutes.

Once the Village Clerk resumed the procedure of e-mailing Minutes and Agendas to me; and began doing so regularly, on a consistent and timely basis as directed, and in a non-discriminatory manner, I pledged to announce the change here. On June 26, 2008, the Clerk e-mailed me three sets of Minutes; sending copies to the duo who had unlawfully directed her to stop providing them to me, as well as other Village officials. Accordingly, I have updated the this page to reflect these facts.

Meanwhile, to maintain my commitment to policies of open government, I announced that Internet users would now be able to download full audio recordings of PUBLIC SESSIONS of Board of Trustees meetings. My considered position is that unless there is an over-riding reason not to release records, all government proceedings should be freely available on the Internet.In New York State, all government records are available to the public, except those that: (a) are specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal statute; (b) would if disclosed result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; (c) would if disclosed impair present or imminent contract awards or collective bargaining negotiations; (d) are trade secrets or are submitted to an agency by a commercial enterprise or derived from information obtained from a commercial enterprise and which if disclosed would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of the subject enterprise; (e) are compiled for law enforcement purposes and which if disclosed would impair the investigation or deny due process to the accused; (h) are examination questions or answers that are requested prior to the final administration of such questions; (i) would jeopardize an agency’s capacity to guarantee the security of its information technology assets; or [such as computer passwords]; or (j) surveillance photos by traffic cameras.

Each agency must maintain the following records (Public Officers Law section 87[3]) and make them available to the public: (a) a record of the final vote of each member in every agency proceeding in which the member votes; (b) a record setting forth the name, public office address, title and salary of every officer or employee of the agency; and (c) reasonably detailed current list by subject matter of all records in possession of an agency, whether or not the records are accessible. It is within the scope of my discretion as a legislator to help do my part to accomplish this public purpose.

Official copies of Minutes, or cassette audio tapes of meetings, are available to any member of the public from the Village Clerk, upon receipt of a Freedom of Information request. There is no charge for this service, as long as (in the case of an audio request) the requester provides a blank audio cassette of sufficient length. Case law cited below also establishes the authority of any person to record PUBLIC MEETINGS.

I oppose violations of the Open Meetings Law and other unlawful or ill-advised obstacles to open government. Similarly, I support the right of the public to petition government for redress of grievances without being gaveled down or threatened with arrest for excess talking. We all know of politicians who gave lip service to these ideas before they were elected, but once they took office they attempted to clamp down on the flow of information to the public. In my mind, this is cowardly and shameful behavior for people who profess to be PUBLIC SERVANTS.

This is my official website, maintained at my direction in my capacity as a Village Trustee. The mission of this site is to provide an online space where I can tell you about things that matter, and you can contact me with your concerns. This site serves the best interests of the Village and people of Monticello by making public information and proceedings, as well as my thoughts on certain matters, more accessible. I welcome your ideas on any topic, whether submitted online or at Board meetings.

It would be remiss of me not to make special make mention on this page to honor our respected friend and area historian, the late Bert Feldman, for establishing the authority of the public in New York State to tape-record PUBLIC MEETINGS of legislative bodies.This page is dedicated to Bert S. Feldman.
BERT FELDMAN, RESPONDENT, v. TOWN OF BETHEL ET AL. APPELLANTS.
106 A.D.2d 695; 484 N.Y.S.2d 147; 1984 N.Y. App. Div.
87 N.Y.2d 124, 661 N.E.2d 691, 637 N.Y.S.2d 961
Decided December 6, 1984

Bert's 1984 case is still cited in law-books as establishing the right of New Yorkers to tape-record PUBLIC MEETINGS with or without the approval of government officials.

Open Meeting Webcasts, mandated under Executive Order 3 of 1997 requiring State agencies and Public Authorities to broadcast meetings subject to the Open Meetings Law via the Internet.
New York State Committee on Open Government, Robert Freeman, Executive Director
Sullivan County ready to webcast meetings by Dan Hust, Sullivan County Democrat, June 6, 2008.
Village of Ellenville streaming video of Village Board of Trustees meetings
Town of Wallkill streaming video of Town Board of Trustees meetings
Council managers are running more and more American cities From citymayors.com
Council-manager government From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia