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General News: Mayor, Trustees Face Off Over Legal Issues
March 08, 2011
By Charlie B. Scirbona
An intense argument broke out Monday evening between village of Cornwall-on-Hudson Mayor Joe Gross, his attorney and trustees James Kane, Mark Edsall and Douglas Vatter over hiring an attorney to represent the trustees in an Article 78 case filed against them by the mayor last week.
The argument came during an emergency board meeting when Mayor Gross tried to call for discussion on a resolution authorizing the board to hire an attorney. After the resolution had been moved and seconded, Mayor Gross tried to have his legal counsel, Jonathan Chase, speak for him. However, all three trustees loudly objected because Chase is not a member of the village board and public comment was not allowed at that point in the meeting.
Chase refused to stop speaking, causing trustee Vatter to call in village police chief Paul Weber who directed Chase to stop talking or leave the building. The chaotic scene caused village clerk Jeanne Mahoney to leave the meeting out of frustration.
Amid the arguments, the trustees pushed through a vote on the resolution, passing it three-to-one.
However, Chase called the legality of the resolution into question after the meeting, arguing that the board had passed the resolution before its members had actually been served with the court papers. The process server was at the meeting and only served the papers once the meeting was adjourned. Furthermore, trustee Vatter left before he could be served with the court papers.
When contacted later, trustee Vatter said that he left because what should have been a 10-minute meeting ran almost 45 minutes and he was late for dinner with his family. He added that the process served had yet to catch up with him.
Both parties are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday over the Article 78 Mayor Gross filed Friday. The court case will allow the judge to determine whether the hiring of the village’s attorney is up to the mayor or the board of trustees.
Mayor Gross said later that he wasn’t informed of the meeting until 3 pm and only found out what it was about an hour later. Gross said that he originally thought it was going to be about the legal issues with the recent arrest of a village DPW employee for the theft of election signs. He added that he wasn’t given a copy of the resolution prior to the meeting as well.
“They intentionally blindsided me,” said Gross.
Trustee Kane read from a prepared statement following the meeting, saying the mayor consistently defied majority votes unless it was for something he wanted.
Trustee Edsall also gave a statement where he also criticized the mayor for ignoring the majority.
“One might presume that the mayor applies the criteria that a majority vote is only valid if it is his majority,” said Edsall
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