Somers Officials Doing Everything to Force Sewer District on Residents
Shame on Tricky Ricky and the Somers Town Board. It was abundantly clear that they have spent the last five months plotting and planning to push through the sewer district in Shenorock and Lake Lincolndale. On Aug. 20, they held a public hearing but put many restrictions in place to render it a completely different beast.
- Lack of proper notification. All public hearings require publication in a paper at least 72 hours prior to the hearing. They did not do this.
- Limiting the number of those who could attend in person. They hid behind the governor’s mandate limiting public gatherings to a maximum of 50 people. People were turned away when the 50-person limit was reached. They had to stand in the parking lot. The board knew this would happen. Why hold the meeting? To start the clock ticking and get a vote in place before the end of the year.
- Limiting public comment and questions to three minutes per person. There has never been a time limit at public hearings.
- A public hearing does not equal an informational meeting. Some questions were answered by the engineer at the end of the public comment without an opportunity to have a dialogue.
- When Tricky Ricky was pushed about the public hearing restrictions, he said it was really not a public hearing, “this is a special meeting” and “this is a continuation of the March meeting.” Well what was it?
The lack of collaboration and transparency by the board is disheartening. They said several times that as community members they want what is best for Shenorock and Lake Lincolndale. None of the board members live in these neighborhoods or support them in a meaningful way beyond this issue.
Please know that I don’t necessarily oppose sewers; I oppose this plan. I encourage everyone to follow the money. The bigger the price tag, the bigger the benefits will be for certain parties, and it won’t be the residents.
Lisa Healy
Lake Lincolndale
