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1967-07-18 SPM62� A Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Wappinger was held on Tuesday, July 18, 1967, at the Town Hall, Mill Street, Wappingers Falls, N.Y.. The Supervisor called the meeting to order at 2:10 P.M.. Present: Joseph H. Fulton, Supervisor William Bulger, Justice of the Peace Vincent Francese, Justice of the Peace Others Present: Joseph Quinn, Attorney to the Town Rudolph Lapar, Engineer to the Town The following letter was readby the Clerk: Town Board Town of Wappinger Town Halt Mill Street Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Gentlemen: Louis Diehl, Councilman Louis Clausen, Councilman Elaine H. Snowden, Town Clerk July 7, 1967 Re: $12,547.00 Bond Anticipation Note, No. 1 1967, to finance the construction of recreation building at Martz Memorial Park Kindly be advised that we have examined into the validity of the $12,547.00 Bond Anticipation Note No. 1 — 1967, made by the Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York, dated July 7, 1967, which note bears interest at the rate of 3.00% per annum, and matures July 7; 1968, and is payable at maturity with interest, with prepayment privilege reserved. In this connection, we have made an examination of the Constitution and the related statutes of the State of New York and all papers and proceedings of your board and other instruments authorizing and relating to the issuance of said note. We ahve also examined the form of the note and the bond anticipation note certif— icate. It is our opinion that the above captioned bond anticipation note has been authorized and issued in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Constitution and the related statutes of the State of New York, and that tl-'e note constitutes a valid and legally binding general obligation of your Town, and that all of the taxable real property within the Town of Wappinger is subject to the levy of ad valorem taxes to pay the principal of and the interest on said note without limitation as to rate or amount. JDQ/el CC: Mr. Edward H. Craft Assistant Vice President Very truly yours, s/ Joseph D. Qyinn, Jr. Mr. Frdracese expressed his personal commendation to Mr. Quinn & Mr. Fulton for achieving this very low interest rate. Mr. Fulton informed the Board that he and Mr. L'Archevesque had an interview with Mr. Moran of the State Highway Department in Albany. Discussion centering around the intersections along Route 9. As to the possibility of an overpass at Myers Corners Road the State is going to make a study and the -Town will present to them more documented information, and any grievances that might be brought to the Town's attention. Mr. Fulton also personally wanted to thank the W. & S. D. News for their � m�mp ��`� efforts toward polling the reaction of the public concerning an overpass, by publishing o "pro -con" form. Mr. Bulger commented nn'the States answer to a letter he and Judge Francese had written them concerning the Myers Corners, Route 9 intersection. He felt it was on inadequate answer to this situation. There was apparently insufficient planning given to opening the new road, especio(|y with regard to the install- ation of the traffic control devices -- these should have instituted simult- aneously with the opening. Mr. Fulton, getting to the business for which this meeting was called, asked Mr. Quinn for a report on the status of the restraining order, and the Board to review the situation (Swenson & Cappy Construction Action.) Mr. Quinn began his resume by stating that the action is still pending, and that the metier is to be argued, subject to any other arrangements that may be made, or any other developments in the litigation, before Mr. Justice Hawkins on August 11, 196/ at, a Special Term of N.Y, Supreme Court. Papers were served July 5th returnab le before Mr. Justice Galloway July /4th, On that return day they were adjourned until the August | |th date. The action poses certain problems for the Town, but he felt the steps already taken, and hope to take will be in the best interests of the Town, and the chance of success in this portion of the proceedings by the Town is good, He chose not to make speci- fic public comments on the product of his research (unless otherwise directed by the Board) but offered to answer any particular questions if the Board wished to go into executive. He commented briefly on news nr1ic|es,.his pos- ition as Attorney to the Town, and in conclusion mentioned articles in the Poughkeepsie Journal and Beacon News which had made reference to the case bringing on an interpretation of specific provisions of the Zoning Ordinance although agreeing that ordinances always need updating, pointed out municip- alities are statutory bodies, and have to be governed by these, and others, and their interpetotions. The following letter had been received by all Board members (prior to the meet- ing from Louis Diehl dated July 13, 1957): July 18, 1967 Elaine H. Snowden Town Clerk Mill Street Wappingers Falls, N.Y. I would like to present to the taxpayers of the Town Of Waopinger a recap of current actions in regard to the permit issued to Car! Swenson to mine gravel. 6 40 The interpretation of this permit b y all persons concerned including Town Board members and other Town officials, elected or appointed, seems to depend on interpretation of the Zoning laws. This suggests to me that our current zoning laws are so poorly written that even experts in this field cannot find a positive definite declaration in our zoning laws stating that black is black or white is white. Therefore, I shall bring a motion to direct the zoning board, the planning board and zoning administrator under the Jurisdiction of the Town Board, to take immediate steps to re—write, redefine and correct all double talk or questionable rulings to a sensible concise reading of plain facts in regard to the regulations and laws of zoning in the Town of Wappinger. In regard to Mr. Quinn, attorney to the Town of Wappinger; in his actions or inaction in handling of this case (The Swenson Gravel Mining Permit) and his action or inaction in the handling of the Court's Directive which has prevented the Town of Wappinger from acting in this case, the situation is as follows: On Friday, July 7th, Supervisor Fulton gave his opinion to Board Members that Mr. Quinn should be released from this special case because he (Quinn) was busy with Court business (defending Mr. Schoentag, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors) and his own (Quinn's) personal law business. It was my opinion at the time that Mr. Quinn was attorney to the Town of Wapp— inger and with such important matters before us phould be first representing the Town of Wappinger and second his other business affairs which have no bearing or interest to the Town of Wappinger. I believe the interest of.the citizens of Wappinger take priority over the .factional disputes in the Republican party and Mr. Quinn's contract with and ob— .l.igetion to the town predates this case. Supervisor. Fulton also stated at.thi.s time he disagreed with attorney Quinn's findings and advice. Now I wonder what does Supervisor Fulton mean. He (Mr. Fulton) did state "I disagree with Quinn". (Let's get another attorney ---") Again on Tues— day July Ilth, Mr. Fulton stated in the presence of a group of taxpayers when questioned by them that he would be in favor of getting rid of Quinn. (he, Fulton so stated, "I have already told the board, Yes, I would.) Again I wonder what personal gain Mr. Fulton foresees in unloading his own appointed attorney to our town. But what— ever, Supervisor Fulton's reasons may be, I agree that Attorney Quinn must be called to eccoun1. I have in the past, many times questioned Mr. Quinn's opinions and decisions -- including the extension of the runway at the County Airport and his opinions and delays in taking action when so directed by the Town Board. I, have publicly stated et a Town Board meeting after an opinion given by Mr. Quinn that (quoting myself) -- "Mr. Quinn you speak beautifully but I don't know what you say when.you're finished or what course you are recommending as legally proper". I like a man to .take a firm clear position with no fancy trimmings or confusing tank that Just delays corrective action. Mr. Ful -ton: Your apparent positive position that Mr. Quinn be reheased could be correct. I shall await (at our next official meeting) your action in this regard. 1. In conclusion, I must impress upon you that we cannot tolerate an appointed official who according to you is ",too busy with other affairs to represent "the Town of Wappinger". We must be first and all important. If Attorney Quinn cannot orwill not represent and protest the interests of- the Town, I call upon you to do the following: 2. Immediately notify Mr. Quinn in writina with copies to other members of the Town Board that he: must immediately proceed to represent the town and h,ave the restraining order vacated es instructed in our previous meeting. 3. Your letter should direct Mr. Quinn to proved for all Town Board members a written summation of the facts and the Town's position with a clear specif— ication of all immediate legal remedies es the Town may pursue. Such spec— ifications and summation should provide all the relevant facts required for legal action by Mr. Quinn or another attorney if we must retain one. 4. If Mr. Quinn again fails to act, then as Town Supervisor and the one who rec—' omnended Mr. ,Quinn — you have a clear obligation to demand his resignation and terminate his contract -- en action I will fully support. Louis D. Diehl bvb Town of Wappinger — Councilman 63 . Mr. Diehl quoted the 3rd thru 7th paragraphs from the letter. Mr. Fulton's response (to the reference made about his wanting to "get rid" of Mr. Quinn) was that portions of things he had said had been taken out of context, it was never his intent to remove Quinn & Reilly from the services of the Town, only the possibility of retaining special counsel for this case had been considered by him and discussed with the Board. He further commented that he felt the Board was indeed fortunate in having this firm represent the.Town. Mr. Francese & Mr. Bulger -substantiated Mr. Fulton's statement regarding dis— cussion of retaining Special Counsel, agreeing that this is what they understood him to mean. Mr. Clausen asked for a clarification as to why Mr. Fulton asked for Special•Coun— sel for this case. Mr. Fulton's answer was that he felt that the Town Board, in its own work, had loaded Mr. Quinn down with various suits and there was a limit to how much can be done, but he added that if Mr. Quinn has this case the Town will get nothing but the utmost in legal service. Mr. Clausen and Mr. Fulton indulged in a short colloquy on Mr.-Fulton's reasons for considering special counsel and Mr. Clausen reminded Mr. Fulton that the 4 other Board members didn't want to get Special Counsel unless Mr. Quinn himself said he was too busy to handle the case, they felt that Mr. Fulton's disagree— ment with Mr. Quinn's interpretation of the Zoning Ordinance was not Justific— ation for removal of Counsel. Mr. Clausen went on further to say he was in support of Mr. Quinn — that he had done well for the Town. Mr. Clausen recapitulated on sequence of events and remarked that it was his int— erpretation Mr. Quinn was going to argue the case on the 14th. Mr. Quinn commented that he had phone converstations with all Board members citing that he didn't see how he could be prepared in such a short period. Mr. Francese interposed into the discussion that in executive session, to the best of his recollection, the Board asked Mr. Quinn if there were any way humanly possible to actually bring the argument forth that day would be and Mr. Quinn answered, yes, he would if it were at all humanly possible. Mr. Clausen then asked — on the 14th — "was it your recommendation that this be adjourned"? Mr. Quinn: No, it was by mutual consent of counsel Mr. Clausen: I"m aware that the Town Board had passed a resolution asking you to adjourn the stay order — in all this period of time whatever happened to the res— olution that authorizedyou to get the restraining order lifted. Where does tiis id c !/c 4 -66(Y /d [/d k'io' 4.4414 /sq( �A/ 6tzWaiaW /FWD/aft 4/ Town Board stand with again still authorizing you to get this restraining order lifted? Are you trying to get it lifted, are you doing anything on that? Mr. Quinn: There has been so much discussion in the streets, so to speak, about this case - about pay-offs, about rewards at the county level, about my getting a Judgeship, about a lot of things like this. I came out between the first call and the second call last Friday morning and in the presence of probably 70 people perhaps, Mr: Eck, who is sitting in back of me right now, called out to me so that it was clearly audible in front of everyone "you got paid off again, you took a dive against.or'something like that, against the Town of Wappinger". Those remarks are untrue, they are slanderous - however, I really don't mind them as such - but gentlemen - in this case, as in at least one other, which is commented on - the Q A case which is commented on in Mr. Diehl's letter, - we try to do what we think is appropriate - we take a position and it's almost a foregone conclusion that there will be conflicting opinions from the sea lawyers in the area and that we must be called upon by some of these self styled champions of the people's rights at the "curbstone" to defend our opinions. (While I respect their rights to voice their opinions). Mr. Clausen: Where do we stand on the lifting of the restraining order? W. Quinn: On the 14th it was my intention to have this matter heard during the ,last week in.July at a special term. However, counsel for the petitioners has an engagement to go to England for his brother's wedding the last week in July, to be back about the 4th of August. But also there have been developments in this case, for one thing, this Town Board around the 6th of July adopted a resolution which would have terminated the action, removed stay -order, put petitioners at jeopardy as to what would result from Administrative Hearing - unfortunately, they came back with additional demands which were to me actuelly not (I told each of you) too much different. Greater detail and depth about original proposed arrangement for termination. Difficult to settle on one hand - go to bat on the other. This is a story about adjourning until August lith. We are taking certain steps in a guarded manner to secure modification of the temporary stay -order. Mr. Clausen interjected that he wanted an answer as to why Mr. Quinn did not have the restraining order lifted. Mr. Quinn replied that he questioned his relevant success in doing this. Mr. Clausen indicated that he was satisfied with Mr. Quinn's answer. Mr. Francese spoke, he felt, of the feelings of the Board as a whole, that they were disturbed they could not proceed with their normal duties in an administrative capacity and would like an answer as to "why" they couldn't. However, he also felt that Mr. Quinn could not, at this time go into his reasons publicly, it could be detrimental to the town. Mr. Quinn: This is true - I know you are all disturbed that N.Y. Supreme Court has the inherent power to maintain its protectors jurisdiction, maintain status quo in the situation but that's been so since the days of the Magna Carta. Local Govern- ment may be restrained by the Courts in the proper exercise of discretion. There are certain reasons I will discuss with you in executive session that I do not feel to be appropriate here. One other thing - I thought we had the_seme amount, of discret- ion you usually give us in defense of causes or prosecution of them. The ,lag be- tween July 14th and August Ilth is rough but normally there isn't too much lit- igation carried on in summer and these equity manners are the only ones,. Trial Courts are recessed - will not be in session until September 6th - Special Sess- ions are only 2 in number, one on July 14th, other on August Ilth. Mr. Clausen stated that this was an important enough matter, asking Mr. Quinn to lift order, and he suggested to go into executive session to hear Mr. Quinn and if we don't get an answer as to why he shouldn't come back out and direct him to have it lifted, on the other hand if we feel he has sufficient reason, we will_ agree with him. Executive Session at 3:06P.M.. Executive Session ended at 4:07 P.M.. Mr. Clausen: Put in minutes that the Attorney as a result of original motion was not as was interpreted to direct him to proceed with lifting restraining order but actually lift the restraining order and/or proceed with the case at his discretion, and therefore our interpretation is that the motion did not direct him to lift restraining order. I would like to have the original motion read in. The Clerk read the original motion from July 6th meeting. Mr. Bulger: Since we have been advised that we are under a restraining order in regard to proceedings concerning a suspension of a permit to operate a natural resou'rcetmining enterprise for the removal of gravel on the lands of Carl Swen- son, since this restraining order declines this Board of the power to act on manners which it certainly, in my opinion should act, I would therefore move that the Counsel be directed to take immediately, all necessary action to have this order vacated or to litigate the matter to a successful conclusion. Seconded by Mr. Francese. Four unanimous votes. Mr. Francese: Continue along with end result of actions required by this motion. Mr. 'Clausen stated there was a resolution in effect at this point because it does not give any direct movement to lift the stay order. Mr. Fulton stated that he would like the Attorney to act in such a manner possible and practical to do everything he could to provide for Administrative Hearing by the Town Board. Mr. Clausen added "provided it was beneficial to the case". 35 Mr. Fulton felt strongly that any intermediate steps should be taken to provide for Administrative Hearing with stipulations of restraint possibly under possible cond- itions. As it stands now, he went on, we are being restrained for something that we hav- en't exactly determined. Mr. Francese moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Clausen. Meeting adjourned at 4:13 P.M.. --aGL:),„,_ z,„,,.,cks,,... Elaine H. Snowden Town Clerk