Lay off our two full time officers at the taxpayers peril. I don't call that thinking outside the box.

Thinking outside the box would be to eliminate the Village. The board is at each others throats costing us huge legal fees. The Mayor wants to dictate while the trustees try to have a voice. Let us as taxpayers begin a petition, get the required number of signatures to put this to a referendum. Let the people of the village decide on the dissolution of the village. This will save us the Mayor's salary, the salary of the trustees, and the looming attorney's fees due to the dysfunctional board that exists. Let us become part of the town thereby we would also have the proper policing that we need. The real waste lies at the feet of the Mayor.

I am deeply saddened by this decision. It is not just eliminating two full time ?positions?. It?s laying off two officers who have served the Village well over the past years. It?s their careers and livelihood we are talking about. I don?t think that the elimination of Mr. Pena and Mr. Terwilliger is going to solve the problems of the Village?s finances. I am heart broken that they have to suffer the greatest consequence for the economic woes of the Village. Many of the Village residents are against the consolidation of the Village and Town. If this were a game of chess I would say this is a good move on the part of the members of the Village Board who were in favor of that consolidation. I wonder what will be next???

Why don't the village residents get to decide whether or not we get rid of these positions...don't we pay for them?

Thinking outside the box...must be a really tiny box!

Denise Peters

Here is the video of this section of the meeting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hznj7-1CLXg

It is also at ArgenioAndrew on youtube
I have the legal bills discussion there also

Inform yourselves!
Andrew Argenio

Did you know that according to Article 10 Section 150 of NY State Town Law: once the Village Police Department drops below 4 full time officers the Town that the Jurisdiction falls in can tax for Town Police Services? (I assume the Town was waiting to see if they hired 2 more Officers).
Did you know that the Village Residents will pay more in the long run due to this Bullying maneuver? Were Village residents going to see a reduction in taxes due to these firings? I think not.
I can now guarantee that once the Town files the proper paperwork your Village Taxes will go up!! After all your taxes have to pay for two police departments.
See link below.
http://www.lawserver.com/law/state/new-york/ny-laws/ny_town_law_150
Is the mayor going to run up more legal bills over this?
Good luck Village Residents you are going to need it. However town residents may see a reduction due to all the extra households paying for our Police Department.

Mike interesting post.

Speaking as a C-O-H resident I think it is a reckless move to disband our full time police department. I believe the majority of the villagers feel this way. It's a political move that has been coming since Chief William's was forced out by Mayor Gross. Some will decry that his resignation had nothing to do with Mr Gross. Many others believe otherwise.

I'm sick of the Mayor and his personal grudges against others. I'm sick of the high cost of Lawyers fees because of the dysfunction sitting on the village board. If the Police must go then I say shelve the entire village board. We can do this through a signature petition to put it up as a referendum and have the people of the village decide. Maybe Village Dissolution is what is needed. At least we won't be wasting money placing boulders in Donohue Park.

It's quite obvious that this has been in the works for a long time. All the way back to the hiring freeze imposed under Mayor Gross years ago. The only missing piece to the puzzle was the pending medical retirement of Sgt Park.
I have had it with this incompetent board. Nothing but tax increases with reduced services while they fight with each other over every little item, wasting our tax dollars along the way. Just look at the mounting legal costs. I'm with you Pat. It's time for a petition. Time for the mayor to get a taste of his own medicine. Lets force the incompetents out!

wal-mart-on-the hudson

I would br the first one to sign this petition. We as citizens of this village can recall the Mayor for poor performance and not representing the people of this village.
Brigid Flynn

Here is another question for the board and their cost effective plan. In the event of a national or natural disaster, who is going to protect the village and or run the police department? Not our part time chief who is obligated as a supervisor and full time employee of Newburgh. Not the part time officers, because they may have other full time obligations, nor can they be mandated to come in anyway. So, in reality, how cost effective is this plan?
This village has grown too much to be cutting police services. I don't care how much the mayor tells you that this is not a reduction in service. It most certainly is. Get ready for an increase in nuisance and criminal activity. It is certainly about to increase.
Thanks to Officer Terwilliger and Officer Pena and best of luck in finding full time jobs. You both deserve them.

Didn't Mayor Gross also hide the village's legal bills...totaling $90k. Maybe he has to find a way to save money for messing up. seems sneaky.

No reason for him in office or even a Village of Cornwall, just combine it all. It's a waste to tax payers to have to pay two separate.

I'm very sorry for the loss of your jobs. I do believe the village mayor and board are next. Perhaps it is time to cut taxes for the villagers and stop allowing such abuse of power and resources. I will sign the petition and spread the word.

Sorry to hear these two gentlemen will be losing that source of income in the current economic climate. I went to school with Officer Terwilliger and my thoughts go out to him and his family.

I'm curious, however, as to why no one is questioning the hiring on of two full-time officers in the first place. All the comments seem to imply that these were two long-time, full-time employees, but the article clearly states that at least one of them was hired on full-time as recently as 2006.

Isn't it possible that the decision to make both of them full-time was, at the time and in retrospect, potentially a mistake and and an unsustainable hiring move?

Given the nose dive that the economy has taken and the reduction in tax revenues for just about every single municipality, it certainly makes sense that it might be unsustainable at the moment.

Some people stated that the laying off of these officers probably won't solve the Village's budget woes, and it's entirely possible it won't. Will combining the two municipalities save money or cost money in the end? Stomping one's feet and saying there should be no Village government certainly won't solve anything.

I don't think most people understand the hole this country is in and how it is going to affect us for years to come.

The U.S. has been running on fumes for the past 20 years. Credit and debt. We are now in the same exact place that Japan was in the early 1990's. Get ready for a lot more belt tightening, people, and all the complaining in the world isn't going to make any difference. Our chickens have come home to roost.

Blaming the Mayor or the Trustees or taxes or anything else that people seem to be pointing their fingers at is missing the point entirely.

>>>Stomping one's feet and saying there should be no Village government certainly won't solve anything.<<<

Ted,

Really! Disolving the Village is a viable option and many think sensible alternative. You're entitled to your opinion but so is every village resident. Bringing this to a referendum would provide that.

>>>Blaming the Mayor or the Trustees or taxes or anything else that people seem to be pointing their fingers at is missing the point entirely.<<<

I don't get you're point Ted. Isn't it the dysfunction of the village board costing the taxpayers what may end up to be $200,000 this year.

After reading Mike Farbents post I'm sure we'll have the lawyers looking into that too and at what cost.

Please read Frank Vido's post's also. What happens if something tragic happens where will the village Police protection be. It we dissolve the Village at least we can have professional full time police. Let them hire Officers Pena and Terwilliger as they will need additional officers. You never sacrifice safety. NEVER.

Maybe the time has come for the taxpayers to have a voice. Let's get the ball rolling with a signature petition and get this on the ballot as a referendum. No stomping of feet Ted. Just many taxpayers feeling that the time has come.

Nobody is happy to see an employee laid off but we should all recognize that, if there weren't a village PD in place, there wouldn't be any reason to form one now.

Since the Master Plan discussions a couple years ago, I have been saying that, if all we seek to be is another "bedroom neighborhood" in the Town, we ought to face up to that and get rid of the vestigial services which date back to when the Village was a place with a separate commercial identity. On the other hand, if we plan to promote meaningful commerce, bearing the added expenses of separate services is easier to justify.

I happen to support the second course but, in the meantime, times are tough and all levels of gov't have to make tough decisions and painful cuts. The Village is no exception.

Otherwise, we can all just hop on the runaway tax train.

One more note: strategically, let's not forget that dissolving the Village now would leave us immediately vulnerable to possible mischief coming from the possible new owners of the possibly defunct NYMA.

Dissolving the Village now would afford us immediate full time professional full time police protection. Safety trumps "possibles" involving NYMA.

>>>if all we seek to be is another "bedroom neighborhood" in the Town<<<

Just what has the village become since Mayor Gross has been elected. All I see is a dysfunctional village and a Mad Hatter as Mayor. We would be better off in many peoples opinions becoming part of the Town then to allow the inaneness to continue.

Let the people decide and get this on a referendum.

Pat, I've got no problem with referendums, in fact, Village Law requires one before the Board usurps the Mayor's powers by hiring village counsel without his consent. Too bad the Board didn't see fit to do that.

I'm just pointing out that killing the village because you don't agree with the Mayor, or because I don't agree with some Trustees, could prove extremely shortsighted when "new owners" of NYMA start forming a Village centered over there.

One problem is why we have elections every March. The other involves the real risk of permanent damage.

Correction: it's the Home Rule Law which requires the referendum before the Board directly hires village counsel.

Pat,

I probably didn't express myself clearly enough. I think that a discussion about merging the town and the Village is a perfectly legitimate topic and probably has it's share of benefits and drawbacks that would take a lot of time and money to iron out, but that, in the end, may prove to be a logical future path.

What I don't think is very constructive is the suggestion of just getting rid of the mayor and the trustees. I can understand a person being somewhat exasperated by the issue of mounting legal bills, but the solution of simply disbanding the Village government is nonsensical and nonconstructive.