Bradshaws appreciate letters, prayers

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: April 16, 2010 | 0 Comments

Maybrook Fire Commissioner Kevin  Bradshaw is still in the hospital after a car accident in which he was seriously injured.

His wife, village trustee Gina Bradshaw, asked that letters be sent to Helen Hayes Hospital via the email address email2hhh@aol.com with Kevin Bradshaw as the subject. The messages will be printed on a card.

She thanked the community for the food, prayers and calls.

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Walden appoints attorney as manager

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: April 15, 2010 | 0 Comments

The board of trustees Wednesday voted 4 to 3 to appoint John Revella as the new manager replacing Jim Politi.

The outcome came as no surprise to most, since rumors have been circulating for weeks that Revella was the favorite candidate. Revella, 33,  is a village resident and has worked as an attorney at Jacobowitz & Gubits for three years.

On Monday, in a special session to interview candidates, trustees Ed Leonard and Dick Hurd walked out in protest saying that the process wasn’t legitimate.

Mayor Brian Maher said that the meeting was not a sham.

“There was no backroom decision that was made,” he said.

Maher said that Revella is the best fit for the job, because of his experience and work with community organizations, including the Walden Community Council.

The board moved up the decision on the manager position, which was slated for next week, because of the stress on village employees trying to fulfill all the duties.  While he voted against Revella, Leonard said he’ll work with the new manager.

Revella was given a $72,000 a year salary. His contract is still under negotiation.

The village is also taking bids to consider a new attorney. Leonard called for keeping Kevin Dowd, who has long served the village, to preserve some continuity in the village government.

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Walden LDC gets grant money

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 30, 2010 | 0 Comments

Aside from hearing from disgruntled residents about the firing of manager Jim Politi, the board also unanimously approved granting $50,000 to the Walden Local Development Corporation.

The group is proposing  to make the Packaged Lighting building desirable for development into a commercial and residential property. The money comes from a Housing Development Action Grant fund, which was created when another developer built low-income housing in the village.

The money can only be used on projects that include a certain percentage of low to moderate income apartments.

Board members agreed that the money – and the Packaged Lighting building for that matter – might continue to go unused if not granted to this project.

Engineer Tom Olley also told board members that if the LDC found insurmountable environmental issues when investigating the site, and couldn’t continue, the money from the grant would still have been appropriately spent.

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Grandma to shave head for fundraiser

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 24, 2010 | 0 Comments

macThe dollars weren’t flowing and the volunteers weren’t coming out as in past years,  so Saturday Grandma Maureen McNamee, 74, will put her hair in the ring.

If McNamee can raise $1,000, she will shave her head in memory of one of her 28 grandkids, Megan Maureen Dunn, who died at age 7 of acute myelogenous leukemia.

“If I can put my toe up somebody’s butt to move, I will,” McNamee said.

For three years McNamee’s grandson, Robbie Brown, has been organizing the St. Baldrick’s Day Fundraiser in Walden.

In the first two years, the event raised about $40,000 for children’s cancer research. This year Grandma Mac said that times are tough, but she hopes each person will pitch in at least one dollar to help the research efforts. McNamee has raised about $400 so far.

“What is it to me to shave my head when that child went around with no hair from chemo?” McNamee said. “She left me with a lot of love to keep going.”

You can donate at the event from 2 to 6 p.m., Saturday, at the Walden Firehouse. Or click here to donate to Grandma Mac online.

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Residents call for trustees to resign

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 24, 2010 | 0 Comments

Walden residents Tuesday cheered a call for three board members – Dick Hurd, Ed Leonard and Midge Norman – to resign for giving the village manager a “golden parachute” and firing him.

The board first held an executive session to receive advice from the attorney and to catch up on the details of the Friday’s executive session, Mayor Brian Maher said.

At the beginning of the regular portion of the meeting, trustee Richard Hurd made a statement for the four members who voted Jim Politi out. Hurd said that Politi called him Thursday afternoon upset over rumors that the new board was going to remove him.

“As trustees we could not allow the disagreement over Mr. Politi continuing as  village manager to divert our attention from the important issues facing our village,” Hurd said.

Resident Jim Hiller was the first to call for the resignation of Leonard, Hurd and Norman. He said the trustees squandered public money and ignored the will of the voters, who voted Roy Wynkoop out of office Tuesday.

“I can think of no public benefit whatsoever that was derived from this group’s Friday afternoon exploit, only harm,” Hiller said.

Eric Metzger applauded the trustees decision, saying Politi had put 10 years in at the village. He also said that the politics and rumors were hurting the village.

Mayor Brian Maher said that the village needed to focus on moving forward. The board will discuss whether to appoint an acting village manager and the manager search at the reorganization meeting April 5.

For more, see Thursday’s edition of the Times Herald-Record.

On Friday, March 19th, with little more than 4 hours notice, Walden Village trustees Richard Hurd, Ed Leonard, Roy Wynkoop and Midge Norman attended a so-called “special meeting” of the Village Board. With the Mayor on a scheduled vacation in Boston and the Deputy Mayor ill in bed, these 4 individuals unanimously executed an eleventh-hour scheme that significantly advanced the financial and personal interests of our Village Manager to the overwhelming detriment of our Village and its resident taxpayers.

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VC extends survey, reschedules meeting

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 23, 2010 | 0 Comments

The Valley Central School District will keep its online school survey open an extra day to gather more feedback from all district residents.

The 11-question form asks questions about tax increases, district reconfiguration options and program preferences. The survey will close Thursday at 4 p.m.

The special board work session, at which the survey will be discussed, is now scheduled for 7 p.m., Monday, April 5, at the middle school.

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Walden board members terminate manager

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 19, 2010 | 0 Comments

In a surprise move, four Walden board members voted to terminate village manager Jim Politi’s contract Friday.

Trustees Ed Leonard and Roy Wynkoop called a special meeting of the board. Only Midge Norman, Dick Hurd, Wynkoop and Leonard attended.

All four have expressed support for Politi in the past. Politi also attended the meeting.

Since the termination is without cause, Politi will receive a severance package.

Leonard felt Politi’s job was threatened by the new slate of officials elected Tuesday.

Mayor Brian Maher said he was disheartened the meeting was called when the trustees knew he would be on vacation. The board will discuss the options at the next meeting, he said.

For more, see the print edition of the Times Herald-Record.

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Walden: balance of power shift, special meeting

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 19, 2010 | 0 Comments

With the New Voice ticket soon to take office and the mayor in Boston, trustees Ed Leonard and Roy Wynkoop, who lost his seat in the election, have called a special meeting Friday afternoon to discuss personnel.

The topic for consideration: village manager Jim Politi.

Leonard, Wynkoop, and trustees Dick Hurd and Midge Norman have been longtime supporters of Politi as well as the village-manager form of government.

After the swearing-in, the foursome loses a majority vote on the board.

Leonard wouldn’t comment on what motion could be made after the meeting and executive session, which begins at 1 p.m.

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VC schools survey live

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 18, 2010 | 0 Comments

The survey of residents on the Valley Central schools proposed restructing and budget is live on the district website.

Superintendent Richard Hooley said at the last budget meeting Monday that the survey will be considered by the school board as an additional piece of public comment. Anyone in the school district is invited to take the survey.

The survey contains questions about acceptable tax increases, preferences for preserving programs and satisfaction with the district’s budget process.

To take the survey, click here.

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Superintendent explains budget FAQs

By Meghan E. Murphy | Published: March 16, 2010 | 0 Comments

Superintendent Richard Hooley addressed some frequently asked questions at Monday’s community budget meeting. Here’s his take on the popular topics of fund balance and administrative costs.

Fund balance

As shown in documents from the second budget meeting, the district has almost $8 million in total unreserved fund balance. This is a combination of a about $4.7 million in appropriated funds and about $3.3 million in unappropriated funds.

The district also has about $6.9 million set aside for projected expenses, such as tax challenges, retirement fund payments and insurance.

In the budget scenarios discussed Monday, the district proposed appropriating anywhere from $1.3 to $1.5 million more than in 2009-10. This would mean taking $6 to $6.2 million from the rainy day fund. Hooley said that this scenario makes him nervous, because it significantly drains the emergency funds. But, he noted that it is a rainy day, and ultimately the decision on how much savings to use is up to the school board.

As the budget examples handed out Monday depicted, the board will need to decide what balance to strike between increasing taxes, drawing down rainy day funds, and cutting expenses and staff.

Administrative Costs

During the budget process, residents have asked questions about administrative overhead in the district, including requesting information about Hooley’s salary.

Hooley said Monday that the district actually received a state aid bonus for administrative efficiency. Indeed, in the state’s complex explanation of aid formulas, there’s a note that districts with 2007 school board and central administration costs equaling less than 2 percent of the total expenditures will receive Administrative Efficiency Aid. Hooley said that Valley Central received about $269,000 for that category.

A state education department study published in 2004 says that administrative spending in the state varied little in the 1990s as a percentage of total spending, hovering around 2.5 percent.

Hooley also said the district is getting a good deal on his salary, considering his experience and the size of the district.

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