Sunday, March 04, 2007

THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW...LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION COMPARISONS WANTED

The public has a right to know what is happening with the library construction. I am planning to request that a comparison be made: total construction project costs today vs. anticipated costs of the library pre-referendum. What is missing from the 5 contracts that was originally promised? The public should be able to read an itemized list of changes that have been made so far re: project. In addition, we should compare the architects and engineers fees (pre referendum estimates) to 2007 estimates. TRITON will be earning $20,000 a month for their services after November, 2007. They originally expected the library to be complete by November, 2007. However, there have been significant delays. Can we re-negotiate the $20,000 a month fee? If the town did not cause all the delays why should we be punished? TRITON and the architect are now proposing a cheaper geothermal system. Why didn't they think of this originally?
The Board is meeting at a work session this Tuesday at 3:30 PM.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

IT'S ABOUT TIME. I DO HOPE THE REST OF THE BOARD SEES THAT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. LET'S DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE.SORRY JUETTNER,SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT YOU WERE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE FENCE.LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF THE PEOPLE.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Paul.

Anonymous said...

Hell hath no fury like a supevisor scorned.

Nearly two years after voters approved the library referendum, Feiner is still trying to do everything he can to scuttle the project.

Now he's trying to delay signing the contracts, insisting that they be re-negotiated. Before this, he was refusing to sign contracts that were authorized by the town board and okay'd for signature by the town attorney -- in violation of state law requiring that these contracts be executed.

This latest PR salvo by Feiner is like all his others -- instead of trying to work constructively with the team of professionals who are moving this project along as quickly and as expeditiously as they can, Feiner is trying to undermine their efforts.

Indeed, Feiner has done not one constructive or helpful thing to help the library project along since the public first approved it.

Anonymous said...

Please stop the runaway train, Lets come up with another vote with more people involved. Trust me if we have another vote,it would certainly not pass. The people in this town, were not prepared for this financial fiasco.

Anonymous said...

Mr or Ms 6:33,

You're joking right?

"The team of professionals who are
moving this along as quickly and expeditiously as they can."

This would have to be written by either someone on the Library Board or by a legislative aide.

It is that demented.

Or perhaps, someone actually thought that Heather Murray wrote a balanced piece in last week's Scarsdale Inquirer.

In the spirit of fair reporting, were any of the project's critics asked to comment? All that was reported was that Feiner had some questions; to the Town Council and their minder, questions are oppostion if it is not themselves asking the questions.

Instead, the article was a stream of quotes from those people who have reputations at stake; did you expect them to acknowledge problems.

Just one tiny peek into the house of cards. If the new geothermal plan is so great, why keep it under wraps for over a year? Why announce it now after the geothermal bid package went out last Fall? If they never intended to apply for permits, then why not shut everyone up months ago. I think that this is not the poster issue for "professionals" and "expeditious". And I think we haven't heard the last word on this yet.

Another peek, if work has been and is underway and the construction is only waiting for warmer weather, then why can't Feiner take as much time as the bidders did to sign?

Does anyone ever consider that when Al Regula speaks, he is only parroting what the Architect and the Construction Manager told him -- not his own knowledge. Thus when you hear from Mr. Regula you are not getting a second opinion but the first opinion twice.

If things that the Libary professionals control has resulted in moving ahead quickly or expeditiously, then "satellite" libraries are the footprints of limping along in a parallel universe.

But I'll save the complete explanation until after Tuesday's
Town Board work session.

Anonymous said...

As chief financial officer for the town, Supervisor Feiner has an obligation to review the contracts and to ask questions. He correctly wants to make sure that the taxpayers are getting good value for dollars being spent.
This is about a construction project.

Anonymous said...

One thing is sure - Feiner was 100% wrong to oppose the arrangement between ardsley and elmsford regarding library services. Equally faulty is the refusal of anyone on the current board to demand that Juettner step down. Once again, town residents are being ill-served by these two long term occupants who have only grown in arrogance and not wisdom.

Anonymous said...

Feiner is once again wrong on the law -- and this time he's flouting the law to screw the library.

As chief financial officer of the town, Paul Feiner should know that, by law, once the Town Board and the town attorney have both said it's okay for him to sign the library contracts, which they have, Feiner has squandered any opportunity he may have had to "review the contracts and ask questions."

Under state law, once the town board and the town attorney have signed off on a contract, the supervisor's signature is "ministerial." That means the contract is enforceable against the town, whether the supervisor signs it or not.

Feiner's refusal to sign the contracts puts the town at risk becuase even though the contracts are enforcable against the town, contractors might use Feiner's refusal to sign as a basis for walking themselves.

Feiner's refusal to sign the contracts is thus nothing more than a continuation of his scorched earth efforts to undermine the library project wherever and whenever he can.

If anyone had any doubt about Feiner's intentions here, one need only look at what he's done to raise issues where none exist on the geothermal permits.

What elected official in his right mind surreptiously sends e-mails to state officials in the middle of the night, on this personal e-mail account no less (lest anyone use the state's Freedom of Information Law to see what he's doing) to raise questions he already knows the answers to about whether the town has applied for permitting -- then blogs the answers for all to see the very next morning?

Hell hath no fury indeed. This is a supervisor so desperate he'll do anything to delay the project, drive up its costs, and really stick to those taxpayers in unincorporated Greenburgh who rejected Feiner's advice and voted "yes" on the library referendum.

Anonymous said...

Nearly two years ago a small amount of people approved the library. Im curious to know how many people voted on the referendum comapred to a referendum that is usually put on the ballot in November when everybody comes out to the polls. Theis project was pushed through under the eyes of the general public. If you are a regular joe resident who works daily and cant keep up with the local politics you never would have known about the ballot. The whole project is flawed. And a major waste of money.

Anonymous said...

I am not a fan of Feiner and I didn't vote for him last time. But I now see that he was right on when it comes to the library.

When I read a statement like Anonymous at 10:33 I can only say that the residents deserve the disaster that the library will become. Instead of asking for the truth, and trying to salvage a looming disaster, these people think that trashing Feiner is what it is all about. Poor unincorporated Greenburgh.

Anonymous said...

In writing condescendingly about "poor unincorporated Greenburgh," Anonymous at 12:44 doesn't defend Feiner's sending e-mails to state officials in the middle of the night, on his personal e-mail account, attempting to trash the library project.

Nor could he. In his zeal to publicize one of the responses he got, Feiner inadvertently posted the entire e-mail exchange -- including his private "middle of the night missive" -- on the town's e-mail system.

Nor does anonymous at 12:44 p.m. defend Feiner's violating state law by refusing to sign contracts that were authorized by the town board and approved for signature by the town attorney.

No, anonymous at 12:44 p.m., who apparently lives in one of the town's villages, and does not therefore have to pay for the library (or the consequences of Feiner's refusal to sign), instead puts his blind faith in Feiner, sees nothing wrong with what he's done, pronounces him "right" about the library, and dismisses any comments to the contrary as trash talk.

Greenburgh residents are not stupid. We want political leaders who are willing to work together in a constructive manner to get things done.

Feiner is not one of these leaders. "Anonymous at 12:44 p.m." doesn't speak for us any more than Feiner does.

Anonymous said...

Is there anything wrong with the supervisor being careful? If the Town Council had listened to the supervisor earlier on the construction of the library would have already begun.

Anonymous said...

The supervisor is not being "careful." He's being venal.

He really wants to stick it to those unincorporated area voters who voted in favor of the library project.

Let's review the bidding: he opposed the library renovation, he opposed the referendum, he favored a sale of the old town hall to the client of his biggest fundraiser, he opposed the library's design, he opposed the library's site plan, he fomented an unsuccessful lawsuit by Elmsford to block construction based on a 40 year old dispute over Elmsford's borders, he tried unsuccessfully last week to increase the library's labor costs -- and now he thinks he can delay things further by holding up signing the constructions contracts.

If the town council had listened to Feiner, construction would not have started sooner.

To the contrary, the library project would have been dead because ever since voters said yes, he's been working overtime trying to kill it.

Anonymous said...

You can bet money that I am outraged by the lies and propogandizing that I see recently written by anonymouse.

However I shall have to respond later because I have some work to finish.

But I have to get this off my chest because it was just stupid and venal.

The blogger is complaining about Feiner posting an email "in the middle of the night" from his personal account.

What we have is the worst kind of garbage from one who wants to be taken seriously. Feiner's late night communication is not a crime, not something that he should be ashamed of. Quite the opposite. Residents had made allegations that the Town had not even applied for permits. Feiner was checking it out. The information that was elicited by him confirmed what the residents had said and denied what the Library team (the professionals and Al Regula) had been cultivating.

Why he used his personal account may be for a variety of reasons. None of them suspicious or illegal.
He didn't want to alert the Town staff that he wasn't buying their stories. He sent the email from a blackberry device and was not at the office. He said to himself that it is nobody's business but his. Late at night he didn't think about which screen name he was using. There are any number of possibilities but none of them, even if intentional, has the markings of anything covert or fishy. Meanwhile, his accuser who could easily be a member of the Town Council or just a resident sends his nastiness out under the guise of anonymous.

In any case, since Feiner's email and the reply were available to all, how furtive a gesture was it?

More coming.

Anonymous said...

Samis doth protests way too much.

When government officials like Feiner choose to use their own personal e-mail accounts when communicating on government-related matters, they are evading the reach of the state's Freedom of Information Law.

The fact that Feiner admits sending his missive to a state official in the middle of night -- actually around midnight on Friday, February 23 -- is disturbing enough, but Samis' defense is comical.

He tries to defend Feiner on the ground that "residents had made allegations that the town had not even applied for permits" and "Feiner was checking it out."

Feiner, of course, knew full well that the town had not applied for permits. Indeed, the very next morning on this blog, Saturday, February 24, he announced that no permits had been applied for.

Furthermore, he knew this because one of the contracts he hadn't signed including work for filing the permits.

One can't help but wonder why, when the sheets and blanket are pulled away from the bed like this to reveal what Feiner was up to, we have Samis telling us that what Feiner did here was not a "crime."

One wonders whether, in the interests of FOIL and "open government," Feiner would reveal all of his government-related late night missives sent from his personal e-mail account.

Would they perhaps include some virulent anti-library pillow talk between Feiner and Samis that they'd like to share?

Anonymous said...

IT'S ABOUT TIME THAT WE COULD FIND OUT WHATS GOING ON WITH THE BIG FARCE OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.The library does not meet the time frame for completion,which means we should not proceed.Sheehan if you think Paul was wrong in doing what he did,call in the FBI. Paul is looking out for ALL the people in Greenburgh.Smarten up council members,if you don't want to do the right job for us please,please step down..The council keeps blaming Samis for all the trouble,how dare you.He's been showing you your mistakes right along.You just cannot hear the truth.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Samis:

Im glad that you are writing because otherwise we wouldn't know what is going on.

Don't worry about those robots (probably named Bernstein)who don't see or hear anything and find the most amazing things to criticize Feiner for, like using his personal email address instead of his Greenburgh email address. or the fact that he writes an email late at night instead of during office hours.

The library project is a disaster. That is why these people are flailing about. As long as they can carry on about the timing of Feiner's email messages, they can avoid dealing with the screw-ups of the library team especially the four blind mice on the town board, and most especially Diane Juettner. They will continue these diversionary tactics because they have to. They have no other way out. Hopefully this November we can get rid of two of them.

It is more than comical, it is ridiculously sad, that the robot talks about "pillow talk." Feiner is doing what needs to be done. I wish he had done it sooner.

I think that in spite of the robot the truth is beginning to come out, and we have you to thank for it. There may yet be a solution to the disaster of the library, but it won't come cheap.

Anonymous said...

The only people who are buying into Feiner's malicious attacks on the library project are (1) Feiner supporters like Samis who worked unsuccessfully to defeat the library referendum and (2) the ex-acting traffic court judge from Dobbs Ferry who, having gotten caught getting the town's privileged and confidential e-mails about the library from Feiner and then publicly lying about it, is waging his own one-man campaign against the town council.

It must be tough to have to deal with these miscreants every day. Hang in their council members!

Anonymous said...

Hey 707 you're blaming the wrong people.It is I, a tax payer in Greenburgh.You have been trying to say that we are friends of Paul,Samis,by no means,I happen to be your next door neighbor.,