Vote for Your Voice. Literally.

I know several people who have been regular attendees at Town Board meetings and TB workshop meetings since August, and there is some buzz about the increasing attendance at these regular sessions. Where only two or three residents were present at any given meeting in the past, now 8-12 are there. Perhaps some people feel that the Board has been operating with too little oversight for too long?

One trigger was the Board resolution at the July 31 workshop meeting - where no agenda is posted and no public comment is allowed - to spend $90,000 to finish demolition of the old town hall and court building on Route 217. This followed last fall's decision, once again made without public notice, to demolish the north bays of the garage at the site.

The material removed from the north bays contained asbestos, according to an environmental site assessment commissioned with town funds by the board. It was removed by unprotected town workers and buried on the site, in violation of state labor and environmental laws.

Further discussion of these decisions was shut down by Supervisor Kippy Weigelt at the August 28 workshop meeting, after several members of the public raised concerns. The transcript of that meeting was printed by Brenda Shufelt on IMBY.

What fun - it turns out that at least one Claverack resident is recording and transcribing both the Board and the Board's workshop meetings! The transcripts are being shared with a number of interested citizens. Here's the September meeting's transcript - 21 pages of discussion of the garage demolition and the upcoming demolition of the rest of the building, which is in progress now.

I don't want to keep hammering on the fact that Supervisor Weigelt and other board members didn't bother to read the report they commissioned, and then moved - without review and comment - to demolish something they were not supposed to mess with.

What I do want to point out is that others, including yours truly and citizens that spoke at the September meeting, did read the report. But, like pretty much everything else that happens with the Claverack Town Board, they were told their voices didn't matter.

Claverack is changing, but if you pay attention to the way the Board operates, you'll wonder if the town board has caught on.

• Claverack has never pursued available grants to better the town, with sad results: bridges gone, trucks roaring through town, no town center, poor broadband, an expensive water system serving few residents, high energy costs, and no plans to make anything better in the future.

• Board members George Dunst and Doug Colwell offer little (Dunst doesn't even attend 1/3 of the meetings) other than their personal interests - community recreation and youth programs.

• A proposal to build a large, outdoor concrete recreation/exercise space at the town park for over $150,000 received lots of positive comments from the board at the October meeting, but no one asked residents if they wanted it. This money goes to an outside developer who has apparently convinced the board that we need this, and Weigelt stated "We're doing this for our older people". But will anyone use it, or is this just a nice bump for a friendly developer?

• The board made a big deal in June about renewing and refreshing the 15-year-old Claverack Comprehensive Plan, which (as covered here) has been ignored ever since. Uncharacteristically, they set up a committee that included residents who have expertise in design, planning, architecture, and grant writing. To date that committee has had one organizing meeting and one working meeting. The commitment to engage a professional planner has not yet been pursued. No upcoming meetings are scheduled.

• The board has been meeting in a tiny temporary facility for two years, and does not provide zoom access to its meetings. No transcripts are provided, and anyone can see from the citizen recordings that much more is discussed beyond the two-page published minutes. Suddenly a new town hall is under discussion, and apparently the preferred location is next to the highway garage south of town on route 9H. Did anyone consult the current Comprehensive Plan which specifically suggests putting the town hall in a location that establishes a town center?

Kippy Weigelt controls the board meetings. With the exception of Katy Cashen, all the other members defer to him. On September 21, he complained that he was "hurt" by posts appearing in IMBY.com. He said people should call him to "sit down with me". He made clear it is useless to send him emails or letters. He said that he does not have a computer at home. He does not receive email at his town email address. Kippy stated that the public board meetings were not an appropriate place to raise concerns about board actions; instead, residents should talk to him directly. He didn't offer his contact information, but I guess if you already know him, you can find him.

We residents of Claverack are being told by our own board that only a personal, one-on-one conversation with our supervisor will have any influence. Kippy says no one ever reaches out, so he governs according to what he sees as best for all of us. He stated, "You elected us to do this job. We work hard and we make decisions that you elected us to make."

Claverack has many residents interested in the future of our town. Many have professional careers and expertise in municipal planning, energy, engineering, chemistry, agriculture, government, consulting, building, design, and dozens of other fields that could be useful.

But if they want to help, they must reach out to Kippy to have coffee. And if they become friends, Kippy may involve them or take their expert opinions into his thinking.

Kippy's email is not the one on the town website, it's kippy333@yahoo.com. His phone number is 518-821-8430; if you leave a message it will get to him.

Remember though, Kippy only wants your input one-on-one. If you try to open up a discussion in a public board meeting, or publicly raise a concern about a unilateral decision he makes, he will be "hurt".

Poor Kippy.

Tonight, Wednesday October 18, is the only public meeting to consider the Claverack Town Budget. The meeting notice and the preliminary budget were posted on the town website yesterday. Apparently the town budget is not important enough to warrant the public being informed. Perhaps the only reason a meeting is being held at all is that it's a state requirement that they do so.

I know this is a long post. I hope it helps clarify the brokenness of Claverack's government. We have a board controlled by one man who does not believe in public engagement: "Claverack is Working" is essentially saying "Hey folks, we've got you covered, nothing to see here."

That attitude works until questions are raised. And when they are, this board and this supervisor will go to any length to shut them down or blatantly ignore them.

There is only one way around this - change the makeup of the board.

Many people seem fired up about voting these days, but often that energy doesn't extend to local elections like town boards and school boards. Yet these elected officials determine your taxes, the structure and feel of Claverack (like a Subway with 24 parking spaces consuming half the town's commercial center), the traffic patterns, the utilities, the developments (glamping, McMansions, solar fields, power lines), and the access to services. Local elections are in off-years, out of sync on the calendar with congressional and presidential elections. So relatively few people show up.

It's time to vote: early voting from October 28 to November 5, by absentee if you ask for a ballot, or at the polls on November 7. Vote for greater transparency, rid Claverack of the old boy network, and for a future in which Claverack's residents get a say in how we live.

[And yes, Patagonia really did put that tag in their jeans.]