By DENNIS PALMER
This is an update as to what is going on in Silver Creek that won't be disclosed by Mayor Kurt Lindstrom. Sometime after Feb. 10, Lindstrom, Ralph Crawford and Janet St. George had a telephone conference with officials of the state Emergency Management Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The purpose of this conference was to reinstate the original DPW project which we know locally as the Bentges building. Contingent to accepting this project FEMA insisted, among other things, that the village supply written evidence that environmental concerns regarding the Bentges site were surveyed and corrected. This would encompass the proper removal and disposal of the then existing fuel storage tanks. The property surrounding this site is "wetlands" which further complicates any potential environmental remediation. This could take years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Get your checkbooks out folks. Here we go again.
The 24-cent per $1,000 assessed valuation tax rate increase we face this year is due to Lindstrom's ineptitude in handling the FEMA situation from the get-go. We are now 32 months into this project with no end in sight.
Lindstrom called the board meeting for May 7 to order well before the published time. This is not legal.
Lindstrom was said to have been employed by Bentges. I cannot find any details regarding this employment. However, Lindstrom should have removed himself from any negotiations with Bentges (the Rocque family).
This is the most recent in a series of letters to the editor, editorials, newspaper articles, etc. regarding the performance or malperformance, if you will, of Lindstrom. The time has come to do something other than write and gripe about this situation.
There are only two methods available to remove a sitting mayor from office:
The governor of New York state has the statutory authority to remove an officer (mayor) after giving such officer the charges against him and an opportunity to be heard in his defense.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York may also remove local officials as provided in Section 36 of the PBO - public officers law. Said officials may be removed for any misconduct, maladministration, malfeasance or malversation in office. "An application for removal may be made by any citizen resident of such town, village - and shall be made to the appellate division of the supreme court ..."
Should Lindstrom not resign within two weeks after publication of this letter, I will personally apply to the Supreme Court of the State Of New York for his removal.
Please post your comments to this letter on the OBSERVER web site.
Dennis Palmer is a resident of Silver Creek.
