Recent judges’ decisions against the town of Busti and the town of Carroll have one common thread running through them — town officials weren’t nearly careful enough in their handling of sensitive matters.
In the case of Busti, a judge ruled the town hadn’t followed a fairly clear section of law in the State Environmental Quality Review Act that required the town to issue notifications to both a solar developer and the state DEC that a higher level of environmental review was needed for a proposed project on South Main Street Extension. The court further ruled the town’s own laws didn’t allow the town to simply declare a project abandoned so that the developer had to start from scratch. Judge Grace Hanlon in state Supreme Court wrote nearly a page of areas where Busti fell short of the law while agreeing with Busti on absolutely no issues of fact in the case.
In Carroll, a Public Employee Relations Board administrative law judge ruled the town had “flagrantly disregarded” Taylor Law rights and obligations when dealing with a town highway department employee and the union he chose to represent him. The town finds itself on the hook for back wages and benefits and was forced to rehire the employee after the arbitrator ruled the employee had been improperly fired.
It was fairly obvious in both cases to see that the law and, appearances in the case of Carroll, weren’t on the towns’ side. While many town and village officials aren’t professional politicians or lawyers, some things that come up in the course of town and village affairs are simply common sense that can be solved with a phone call or an email to the right person. Busti’s issue could have been solved with a call to the state DEC, which would have told town officials the SEQR notices were required. Any employment attorney would have told the town of Carroll the path they were proceeding down with the IBEW was going to be overturned in court.
We can’t expect people who aren’t full-time public servants to know the ins and outs of every section of law. We can’t expect people who don’t come into office with a background in accounting to be able to audit government records. That’s unrealistic. But the seemingly willful disregard for common sense is a problem.
These issues will mere speed bumps toward re-election for Busti and Carroll officials since they’re running unopposed for election in November. And that’s unfortunate, because there is a streak of vindictiveness running through both situations that aren’t likely to change in the next four years. Employees shouldn’t be treated as Carroll treated its highway department union member. And a developer of any sort shouldn’t find the rules have been made up on the fly because the town hadn’t included necessary provisions in its own laws.
Tigers usually don’t change their stripes. Busti and Carroll residents don’t have any choice — because the tigers are unopposed for re-election this year.
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August 14, 2023 at 01:22PM
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Judges' Decisions Show Local Governments Can't Make Up The Rules As They Go Along - Jamestown Post Journal
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