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December 2008
Veuve Clicquot, anyone?
The observations of one outraged Milan resident on the planning of the Town’s 2009 budget...READ MORE

REARRANGING DECK CHAIRS ON THE TITANIC
A Commentary on the Latest Attempts of Our Republican Management
to Deflect Our Attention from Imminent Financial Death
No. 8 in the Series, from an Outraged Milan Resident

By Evelyn Bartin, July, 2009

I wonder if it’s only me who has begun to hear the metaphorical strains of “Amazing Grace” floating over the hills and fields of Milan.

I also wonder if it was only me who noticed at the July 13th town board meeting that, as our ship continued to sink deeper and deeper toward the bottom of the cold, cold ocean, our captain, Supervisor Richard Barrett, tried to focus a sizeable portion of Monday’s meeting decidedly away from Milan’s financial drowning. In fact, he even walked out at one point to avoid the discussion! I repeat, he just got up and walked out! Just sashayed out of the room without so much as a by-your-leave . . followed in like form and only moments later by Councilperson David Byrne!

This month, only two of the three Republican majority board members were in attendance—the afore-mentioned Supervisor Barrett and his cohort, Councilperson Byrne; Barrett’s other cohort, Councilperson Roberta (“Bobbi”) Egan, was M.I.A. But that didn’t stop our Republican representatives from their attempted show of sleight of hand. Though I missed the meeting myself, I did watch the entire four-and-a-half hours on videotape. And after sitting for that painful ordeal (made no less so by the comfort of my own sofa), I came away feeling only despair: not only were there repeated deflections from what should have been the real issue, there actually seemed to be an unsettling lack of a grasp of reality.

In short, the meeting revealed clearly that Milan’s financial situation had become even more disastrous than was the case last month; however, our supervisor was evidently looking for kudos somewhere . . . anywhere! So in his desperation for a “win,” it seems our lead guy—instead of using his time this past month to productively work toward disentangling the town’s financial mess (i.e. with an accountant)—chose to throw himself into the ministrations of the Town Hall Maintenance Committee . . . spending, I image, great swaths of time getting estimates for power washing, painting and glazing the windows of town hall. As he revealed the bids (and one also has to wonder why this committee went ahead prematurely obtaining bids before first bringing its recommendations to the board for consideration), Barrett even volunteered to power wash the building himself to save money. Are you kidding me?! Power wash town hall!

Decidedly un-deflected by such manipulations, Democratic board members Diane May and Ross Williams tried, over and over again, to focus the meeting appropriately and make some sense of the financial reporting. However, our supervisor—as he has done more times than anyone can count anymore—repeatedly replied to their questions and recommendations by saying that he would “look into it.” I guess that means he’ll try to find some time when he isn’t preoccupied with power washing.

How many times does Barrett need to be told that it isn’t the software, it’s the user?! And how many times does Barrett need to be told that a bookkeeper isn’t a CFO or an accountant?! And how many times does Barrett need to be told that, absent his financial skills, the town needs a CPA firm to get this chaos straightened out?! Mercifully, Councilperson May was able to secure a free meeting with Pattison, Koskey, Howe & Bucci, CPAs, P.C., a well-reputed accounting firm in the area with municipal fund accounting expertise. It will remain to be seen, however, whether our Republican board members will “find the time” to have this meeting . . . what with their being so busy power washing, and all.

And then there was Councilperson Byrne’s moment in the spotlight, using his position on Milan’s Committee for Affordable Housing to attempt yet one more diversion cum inappropriate exercise of authority. This very important committee has been charged with tackling a critical issue for the town. And though it has met for the past year and a half, it has managed to not yet proffer one conclusion or recommendation to the board. (To quote Byrne: “You know, this is very complex stuff.”) Instead, at last Monday’s meeting, Byrne—under the heading of “affordable housing”—presented to the board, as proudly as the proverbial new papa, a proposed new “stable law” that would change zoning for horses! As if this were not non-sequitur enough, it seems, by all accounts, that this proposed change in the town’s zoning law was drafted to benefit only one person at one location!

So, let me see if I got this straight: under the heading of the Committee for Affordable Housing . . . Mr. Byrne took it upon himself to draft a town law . . . thereby exceeding his and his committee’s authority . . . and in so doing, necessitated working with the town’s attorney . . . and subsequently used our tax dollars . . . to attempt to provide affordable housing for horses. Yeah, I think I got that right. Since Ms. Egan was not in attendance, the vote failed and Milan, at least for the moment, gets no headlines in the local newspapers for being on the cutting edge of animal husbandry. And Mr. Byrne, alas, not only gets no applause for his handiwork, but instead is held publicly accountable for this ridiculous waste of time and money.

And while all this power washing and horse hugging were chewing up the hours—with Barrett and Byrne desperately seeking adulation for their appearance of neighborly, folksy, even heroic efforts—the town’s financial mess remained unresolved.