Just to clarify with the facts the complaint about murphy are filed jointly by Argenio and Odell. The board voted to have an investigation into both.Mr Vatter sent in a letter that the board disagreed with his point of what they should or should not be looking into.The law is clear it applies to all village officals or employees with no special treatment of trustees. I find it ironic that this law was drafted and signed into law by MrEdsall.Here is the complaint against Vatter and Edsall

According to the ethics law adopted by the village of Cornwall on Hudson the citizenry are entitled to the expectation of exemplary ethical behavior. It is also my understanding that under the disclosure section 5 that I am expected to disclose my knowledge of what I believe is violations of the ethics law as a village official and citizen

Section 3 Conflict of Interest and standards of Conduct

It is the policy of the board of trustees of the village that all officers ,employees and consultants must avoid conflicts or potential conflicts of interest. A conflict or potential conflict exists whenever an officer,employee or consultant has an interest,direct or indirect which conflicts with his or her duty to the Village or which could adversely affect an individual;s judgment in the discharge of his or her responsibilities.
A Take action or participate in any manner whatsoever in his or her official capacity in the discussion , negotiation or awarding of contract or in any business or professional dealings with the Village or any department thereof in which the officer ,employee or consultant has or will have an interest , direct or indirect,in such contract or professional dealings.

Mr. Edsall is Directly related to the contractor who built the village DPW building; it is his brother in law.
Mr Edsall is the town of Cornwall Engineer and should recuse himself in any matter that may include the town of Cornwall
Mr Edsall is the town of NewWinsor Engineer and should recuse himself in any matter that may include the town of NewWinsor.
Mr Edsall's firm is the Engineer in the town of Blooming Grove and should recuse himself in any matter that may include the town of Blooming Grove
Mr Edsall should recuse himself in any matters dealing with the Fire company
Mr Edsall should recuse himself in all matters regarding the water department his firm was involved in writing the orange county water master plan
Mr Edsall should recuse himself in matters where he works for the Cornwall school district
Mr Vatter is a renter in a building that is owned by the contractor that built the DPW building.
Mr Vatter should recuse himself in any matters dealing with the Fire company

In section3 part F
Appear before any board or department of the Village as a representative or on behalf of an applicant to said board or department for the purpose of of influencing any action or proceeding,except on his or her own behalf or on behalf of the Village.?Appear? as used in this subsection shall mean communicating in any form, including ,without limitation,personally by letter by E-mail or by telephone. This shall not ,however ,be construed to prohibit the making of public comments to any board or department of the Village as a member of the general public.
Mr Edsall in the matter of Mountain valley guides was very outspoken about calling an ice cream window a restaurant not retail. This Included the statement about eating kyacks . As the planning board reviewed the records provided by the owner it was clear to all of the board members present that the prior approved use was retail and the proposed use is retail. Mr Edsall's comments were pressure to influence the outcome of a matter he had clearly not researched and was willing to violate the Ethics law that he voted for.

Section 4 Recusal
An officer ,employee or Village Consultant shall recuse themselves when faced with a conflict of interest. When an officer ,Employee or Village consultant perceives that he or she has a conflict of interest,which would violate the ethics code he or she shall notify the Mayor , chair or presiding officer of the Village agency,department ,council,commission or board on which he or she serves, as the case may be, that he or she needs to recuse from consideration of the matter and immediately step down or remove himself or herself for the duration of the consideration of the issue in question Chairs or presiding officers shall notify the Mayor of the recusal . If required , the mayor shall appoint or retain an alternate. To recuse oneself means to physically leave the presence of and not take part or participate in any discussion,review,deliberation or vote on the matter.
Mr. Edsall is Directly related to the contractor who built the village DPW building; it is his brother in law.
Mr Edsall is the town of Cornwall Engineer and should have recused himself in any matter that may include the town of Cornwall
Mr Edsall should have recused himself in any matters dealing with the Fire company
Mr Edsall should have recused himself in all matters regarding the water department his firm was involved in writing the orange county water master plan
Mr Edsall should have recused himself in matters where he works for the Cornwall school district
Mr Vatter is a renter in a building that is owned by the contractor that built the DPW building.
Mr Vatter should have recused himself in any matters dealing with the Fire company

Section 5 Disclosure of Interest
A. Any officer, employee or consultant who has, will have or intends to aquire a direct or indirect interest in any matter being considered by the Board of Trustees by the Village or by any other official,board,department,officer or employee of the Village and who participates in the discussion before or who gives an opinion or gives advice to any board,department or individual considering the same shall publicly disclose on the official record of the Village the nature and extent of such interest.

B. Any officer , employee or consultant of the Village who has knowledge of any matter being considered by any board ,department ,officer or employee of the Village , in which matter he or she has or will have or intends to aquire any direct or indirect interest , shall be required immediately to disclose in writing, his or her interest to such board , department , officer or employee and the nature and the extent there of to the degree that such disclosure gives substantial notice of any potential conflict of interest.

Mr Edsall has failed to disclose in writing his relationship with the builder
Mr Edsall has failed to disclose in writing that he is the town of Cornwall engineer
Mr Edsall has failed to disclose in writing in all matters regarding the water department his firm was involved in writing the orange county water master plan
Mr Edsall has failed to disclose in writing his relationship with the Fire company
Mr Edsall has failed to disclose in writing in matters where he works for the Cornwall school district
Mr Edsall has failed to disclose in writing what municipality's he works for .
Mr Vatter has failed to disclose in writing his relationship with the fire department.
Mr Vatter has failed to disclose in writing he is a renter in a building that is owned by the contractor that built the DPW building.

In summation Mr Edsall and Mr Vatter have violated the Ethics law of the Village of Cornwall. They have violated the Conflict of Interest and Standards of Conduct. They have violated the Recusal section and the Disclosure of interest section. I feel that the behavior of these two individuals falls far below the expectation of exemplary ethical behavior. I would remind the board that these are very serious matters that such violations are punishable as a class A misdemeanor. There are 3 major parts to the ethics law. Mr Vatter and Mr Edsall have violated all three major parts. Thank you for you're time in this matter.
Andrew Argenio
I would have to ask MaryAnn Odell if i can poast the other complaint

After trying to follow this whole mess in the past, Mr. Argenio spells it out pretty clearly for me. Thanks!

It is heartening that these violations are being brought to light. It demonstrates that there is some hope in the village that violations such as these will not be accepted or tolerated anymore, and that there is a viable avenue for action.

I have attended meetings of the village trustees where board members did not recuse themselves from issues that were directly related to their own interests.

In one instance, a board member was the complaintant, then he participated in the discussion of whether the board could act on the complaint, and participated in discussions about what could be done to address the complaint! It was outrageous, and my objection was ignored and I was derided for making it.

I sincerely hope that the Ethics Board can work through the loss of Ms. Duignan and function for the benefit of the village. It is clear that this is a necessary check on the ignorance and arrogance that can lead to these abuses of position.