Thursday, October 11, 2007

KOLESAR APPROVED...ETHICS LAW FIRM ON HOLD

I was authorized by the Town Board to hire Mike Kolesar to help me prepare the budget. His rate: $75 an hour. Maximum: $5,000. Mr. Kolesar has been a critic of previous budgets. I'm looking for an additional set of eyes to help me keep taxes as low as possible.

The Town Board did not vote on the proposal to hire a $325 an hour lawyer (with criminal defense background, not ethics law background) to represent the Ethics Board. A number of people objected to the hiring. It's my hope that the Ethics Board will withdraw this proposal. If an Ethics lawyer is needed then the Ethics Board should retain the services of a lawyer who specializes in the field.

Tonights meeting ended around midnight. We also honored employees who have worked for the town for 25,30+ years.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great News Paul.

A HUGE victory over Sheehan.

Since Meyer Sigal is in fact Mike Sigal of Edgemont, his donations to Town Board members past and present should expidite his removal from the Ethics Board. Sigal should be brought up on ethics charges in front of the Westchester County Board of Ethics. Sheehan has no control there and a fair decision can be rendered.

With a new Town Board in January and a new ethics chair, Greenburgh might finally have the opportunity to enact proper ethics legislation.

Anonymous said...

if office holders would simply act ethically and among other things not take money from those with applications pending before the town or its boards, the ethics board caseload would be much lighter.

Anonymous said...

Mike Kolesar is honest and fair -
give him a chance to do the very professional job he's capable of doing.
If Mike resigns in frustration or is fired by the Supervisor, call the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY because the Town has serious problems.

Anonymous said...

I'm very happy to see that the town board had a change of heart in the hiring of Mike Kolesar.
You can depend on him to do a thorough job with the budget in savings the residents some money.
Now about the ethics chairman.
He should resign since he went against the new set of laws that were put into legislation,by making a donation to Barnes.
He was 100% wrong ad so was Barnes.
If it was done because he needs a favor done because he is having problems with one of his neighbors,means that he has an idea that money talks and BS walks.
What ever board he has this complaint in front of please take notice,and deny him of any request that he presented to you.
This ethics board should be abolished ,it has no right in passing any kind of judgement since they do not uphold the law.
Comes January we would like to see new faces who can implement new ethics laws for every one to be proud of.
Sheehan will have very little input this time arround,and the laws will not be there to satisfy his hatred of the supervisor.

Anonymous said...

Boy I guess these comments on the blog have given the message to Sheehan and company concerning the concerns of the residents of this entire town.
The approval of Kolesar and the law firm put on hold is a good sign that our messages are getting heard.

Anonymous said...

Dear 12:45,
Let's see if I have this correct.

The Town Supervisor, knowing that three Comptrollers have "resigned" hires Mike (who is both hardworking and honest) over the initial objections of the Town Council while knowing that Mike has been a frequent critic of the Town's bookkeeping, is going to make it "difficult" for Mike to do his job properly and effectively.
This in turn will cause Mike to "resign in frustration" or be fired from fulfilling the remainder of the initially approved 67 hours on the Town clock.

And Feiner will do this during the crucial budget approval period -- meaning a good part of Mike's work is expected to be be completed before the November election (although the budget is voted on toward the end of December, the Supervisor's budget is sent to the Town Council for their review in late October and from there it wends its way to Public Hearings) and the "assignment" was created, in the first place, to supplmement the void left by Heslop's early departure at a critical time.

And all of this follows an overwhelming show of populist support for the Supervisor in the recent Primary which leads to your notion that there will be forthcoming issues and readers should keep the US Attorney for the Southern District "on hold" because we're gonna have trouble in Dogpatch.

If you're able to see the future so clearly, please tell us what the intraday high for Google shares will be on November 12 and I'll keep my broker on hold awaiting your reply.

Or shut up and let everyone do their jobs.

Anonymous said...

What needs to be addressed by Mike Sigal is: Why would the ethics board and or Sheeehan, want to hire an attorney at $325 per hour who is not an ezpert at government ethics? This seems to be a HUGE waste of taxpayer money.

What also needs to be explained is why THIS PARTICULAR attorney. A man who has defended a terrorist who is committed to the destruction of Israel. Sheehan ORDERED a meeting to be held on Rosh Hashanah, then he excused Steve Bass from attending, now he is in the process of hiring an attorney who defended a client who wants Israel destroyed. This behavior HAS to make you wonder about Sheehan.

Anonymous said...

Dear 4:37

I think that Sheehan realizes how bad he looks and that is why he backed down on everything last night. Sheehan backed down on Kolesar, the $325 an hour attorney and the $405,000 attorney for the Comprehensive Committee.

It must be painful for Francis to appear so weak in public. He needs to get used to it. Remember the saying "What goes around comes around."

Anonymous said...

Let's not get too excited. Feiner wanted Kolesar to bring a fresh pair of eyes to see whether anything new eyes can see something fresh. That was a good idea. Thanks to Sheehan and his carrying on we have come to expect super results from Kolesar, and that may be very unrealistic. Kolesar is good, but it is possible that there isn't much that can be done, especially with only days to go before the budget has to be presented.

Cross your fingers.

Anonymous said...

6:02

You are right but this is still a major defeat for Sheehan. Prior to the Primary would Sheehan have backed down like this?????

Anonymous said...

Dear Samis -
Let's see if we've got this right -
any critical comment with which you disagree, or which you read with your badly jaundiced eye to imply a criticism of or which offends your increasingly warm relationship with the Town's senior elected official - is to be ridiculed?
The posting did not call for putting the US Attorney "on hold".
Perhaps if you'd taken a moment to actually read it you'd recognize the construction that IF something happens THEN one ought to consider responding in a certain way. Sorry, that's not unfair, wrong or overly critical - your response was over the top.

Anonymous said...

If nothing happens we don't have to do anything...

Got it!

Just in case Feiner shuts the blog down, posters will know in advance who to call if something goes wrong.

Is your troop still selling cookies?