Fact check vs. slander
To the Editor,
After reading Mr. Edsall and Mr. Kane’ s letter last printed in The Sentinel, I felt I should correct some misdirection by these “public servants.” They seem to be upset with the content of the New York State Comptrollers Office but they blame me. They seem to be upset that the New York State Comptrollers office states that the board, of which Mr. Edsall was a part, “circumvented applicable state laws,” this from an engineer. The legal counsel, in the form of a memorandum, that Mr. Edsall and Mr. Kane refer to is on the Village of Cornwall on Hudson web site, and I gleaned some interesting information from it. It stated on page 3 in bold “Municipalities may not give or loan money or other resources to LDCs.” This is precisely what Mr. Edsall did while he was on the board at the time. In addition to this, Mr. Edsall seems to forget that the contract for this building that was not bid and went to a family member of his. That’s right, over $700,000 with no bid to a family member of Mark Edsall, Engineer. While Blaming former administrations, Mr. Edsall seems to forget that he was in control of the voting majority during that time, and voted for every bit of debt that the Village of Cornwall on Hudson enjoys today. I requested that our current mayor provide bank statements verifying the information provided to the public and have not received a reply. Mr. Edsall and Kane speak of adopted policies to correct the problems the New York State Comptrollers report point out; this is a falsehood, in that no new policies have been voted into practice. They state that there was no unusual activity … 5.8 million in transfers without board approval, only unusual because, as the report states parenthetically, the transfers stayed between Village owned accounts. They neglect to go further to the “however” statement immediately following, which says without policy or written agreement, there is an increased risk that inappropriate transfers could occur and go undetected. Trustees Kane and Edsall seem comfortable with misinforming the public by taking quotes out of context. Like omitting the fact that all of the transfers during the audit year of 3/10-4/11, when Mr. Edsall and Mr. Kane were in the voting majority, were performed by the Deputy Treasurer. I urge the public to read the report themselves to get the facts right. It is posted at cornwall-on-hudson.org. No spin on anyone’s part can fog the facts. An open government policy, in which information is readily available to the public hardly seems disrespectful or contemptuous of the residents. Trustee Kane is running for office again; what is he running for? One thing he is running for is a retirement. Trustee Kane has filled out form RS2417-A in which he states that he conducts work as a trustee 7 hours a day, 20 days a month; this claim is twice the hours that the mayor filed. This makes him eligible for the Village of Cornwall retirement system, and he is the only trustee that has done this. It’s sad to see these wolves in sheep’s clothing try and take advantage of the public again.
Andrew Argenio, Trustee for the Village of Cornwall