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Monday, August 30, 2010

Resident: Town Took What They Wanted and Walked Away reprinted from Troy Record

This is an article printed in The Troy Record.  It was copied and pasted here.  This story speaks for itself; see what you think.

Resident: Town took what they wanted and walked away
Published: Monday, August 30, 2010

By Dave Canfield
The Record

EAST GREENBUSH — Resident Sue Colatosti is still waiting for the town of East Greenbush to honor its end of a contract that was signed almost two years ago.
Colatosti’s half of the agreement that was signed on Sept. 24, 2008 was effective immediately: she voluntarily gave .69 acres of land she owned to the town to make a water retention basin to control water running to nearby creek. That basin was created, and it appears to be doing its job preventing flooding downhill in the city of Rensselaer, which at the time had experienced heavy flooding.
But in previous efforts to manage rainwater drainage, underground pipes were run, blocking access to sewer and water for a pair of empty lots Colatosti owns at the end of Vermont and New Hampshire avenues, she said. So Colatosti paid a lawyer thousands of dollars to draw up a contract. Under its terms, she would give the town an easement to run piping through her lots and give them the parcel for the basin. In exchange, the town would run water and sewer lines to her vacant land, which she hopes to sell to a builder once it has the added value of those connections.
The contract, signed on behalf of the town by Supervisor Rick McCabe, allows the town 12 months to complete that task. That’s a completion date of Sept. 24, 2009.
With the one-year anniversary of that deadline approaching, none of the work has been completed, Colatosti said recently as she walked at the site.
“It’s like they just took everything they wanted from me and then walked away,” she said.
In addition to running the water and sewer lines, the contract calls for the town to build a chain-link fence around the basin and a line of trees to block the unsightly view from Colatosti’s land and home, which is nearby on Vermont Avenue. That was supposed to be done no more than 60 days after the basin was completed, according to the contract she provided.
“Do you see any trees or fence? I don’t,” Colatosti said as she gestured towards the basin.
Before executing the deal, she had the land where it sits appraised. It was valued at $59,000.
“Do you know anyone else who donates $60,000 of land to the town? They didn’t even say thank you,” Colatosti said. “You know that old saying: ‘No good deed goes unpunished.’”
McCabe said the town worked hard to finish everything it can do on its end and has contracted remaining work to Poestenkill-based Chip Kronau Construction. He said the town has done nothing wrong.
The world’s not going to stop because something’s not done that she thought could be done right away,” McCabe said. “We’re doing the best we can. I think we’ve lived up to our end of the bargain, and we’re just waiting for the contractor to come in and do the work.”
Kronau, however, was not brought into the picture until after the September 2009 deadline. Colatosti said she saw the proposal go out for bidding in December in the legal notices in the newspaper.
McCabe’s response: “She didn’t seem all upset about that last year.”
For specifics on the project, he deferred to public works supervisor Chris Defruscio, who could not be reached Thursday or Friday.
Kronau, who Colatosti has been in contact with, was out of his office for several days and could not be reached about his timeline for the project.
The paved portion of Vermont Avenue ends at Colatosti’s land and continues as gravel to the basin. The contract says it was supposed to be paved.
Splotches of gravel, which she said were created by work done by the town at the site, dot the empty lots Colatosti hopes to eventually sell.
She has kept a record of every e-mail and phone call she’s made to the town. She could sue, she supposes, but then she’d wonder when the work would ever get done.
“I try to be reasonable, but I’ve got to look at it. Every day I see it,” she said. “That grates on you.”
Dave Canfield can be reached at 270-1290 or by e-mail at dcanfield@troyrecord.com.

Comments????????

18 comments:

  1. I think I'll just "ramble" on in and comment. Looks to me like the Supervisor's former DPW Commissioner - the much "stipended" Mr. Partak - neglected the required completion date on the contract. Perhaps the open project list was kept with pencil and paper, or perhaps it was in a file on an erased DPW hard drive.

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  2. Earlier I made a brief comment on this on the other blog. As an individual who's had trouble with contractors previously, let me just say that it does not matter to the person why the project is incomplete, just that it is incomplete. The person does not care that the contractor has had trouble with a subcontractor (though here it is reported that the subcontractor only came about after the project end date had passed).

    Why the Supervisor can not just simply say "sorry" and "we'll get it done soon" is beyond me. His comment "The world’s not going to stop because something’s not done that she thought could be done right away,” is simply unbelieveable to me. He's correct the world will not stop, but her contract says this project should have been completed. Why not be nice about it? I suppose she could sue and it will end up costing all of us some extra $ we cannot afford.

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  3. I can tell you go back to the articles in the times union a few years back. McCabe does not know how to deal with people.
    He has no business sense at all.

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  4. I agree Moe a simple sorry, and we are working on it probably would have been better then what he said.

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  5. Two interesting comments from the troy record's website .....


    burghboy wrote on Aug 30, 2010 8:44 AM:

    " since the town reneged on the contract they signed,you have no contract.What I would do is fill the water retention area with dirt,and take back my land,I bet you would get a response from those lazy politicians then. "


    Report Abuse

    brunzwikrez wrote on Aug 30, 2010 8:50 AM:

    " These are sexist comments from the Town Supervisor. If the property owner were a man, the work would have been done by now. "

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  6. She should be able to take back the property.

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  7. I would definitely take back the property, this Town thinks it can do whatever, you should show them NOT.

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  8. I would like to make a different point. We are at a time when we can choose a different path. With the primary in Sept. and the election in Nov. we can change everything about our town. If we elect candidates who support the Supervisor nothing will change. On the other hand if we elect a reform slate of candidates we can change everything about our town. We can choose between same old, same old in terms of practices, policies and most importantly attitudes or we can choose responsibility, openness and real reform. Mike and Ann represent that reform opportunity. I deeply hope everyone will vote and will vote wisely.

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  9. This act is just another "gate" for East Greenbush...Drainage Gate. The Supe once again shows his class.
    We desperately need people to listen to the taxpayers and then follow up with solutions to the many,many issues that made this town what it isn't ( A good place to live and raise a family )

    Maybe we should just change the towns name to East Gatebush.What a legacy to leave behind...Thanks for all your disservice Mr Supe.
    Your days are numbered. Sorry, no tenure for you to hide behind with this job.Your party likes you but,we can't wait for you to be HISTORY.
    No, you won't be able to repeat this grade,no make up test, no tutoring,no summer school.
    Maybe you could find a blue collar job and see what it would be like to actually work for a living.You wouldn't last very long if you could even get your foot in the door.If you actually made it through the door ,the first time you had to meet a customer and talked down to them like you do with the taxpayers here,you would be out the door...FAST. GOOD LUCK

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  10. “She didn’t seem all upset about that last year.” Really? why would she need to be upset? She had a legal agreement with the person responsible for the task and the Town, (Thanks McCabe!), reneged. She has the opportunity to sue the Town and hopefully McCabe as he signed the document. It would be much more preferable if McCabe simply said sorry and make it a priority to make it right. So remember this and all the other issues in November and vote all those aligned with the worse than do nothing McCabe and get them out of their jobs. We have the opportunity to great changes in the way our Town works, don't let us all down. Get out and Vote and get out and talk to your neighbors! This is what to expect if McCabe-lite, Malone gets elected!

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  11. There needs to be a "Like" or "I Couldn't agree more" button on here for comments!

    This is another example of why things need to change in the Town of East Greenbush. This is yet another example of the Supervisor passing off a simple task to someone else so he doesn't have to take responsibility for it. Can you tell he's not up for re-election this year? It should be pretty simple, you signed a contract, now make it right. Otherwise the rest of the Town will end up suffering in one way or another with the after effects of a law suit!

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  12. The second McCabe is done milking this Town for every penny it's worth he will try to leave for greener pastures. I expect that date to be on or about January 1, 2012 (after he is defeated in a landslide).

    So when he is trying to sell his home - maybe the Town can do something to hinder his sale? After all it's only fair seeing as the Town is currently hindering this woman's plans for her property.

    Trust me, the world will not stop if McCabe's plans are hindered.

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  13. ISSUES, ISSUES, ISSUES, WITH BACKUP. GET THOSE VOTERS OUT TO VOTE OR IT WILL BE MORE OF THE SAME. BUSINESS AS USUAL. PEOPLE ARE LIVID OVER ALL THEY ARE HEARING AND RIGHTFULLY SO.

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  14. Are enough people hearing and seeing the issues? Any other way we can get the info out? Remember, numbers, numbers, numbers. STIPENDS EQUALS $50,000 A YEAR IN TOWN GIVE AWAYS in every story. SCRAPGATE EQUALS $30,000 A YEAR IN TOWN LOSSES in every story. Those numbers can't be out there enough. My numbers may not be exact, but you get the gist.

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  15. This article also made it to the Greenbush Life paper, with pictures of what has not been done. I think any property owner would be completely enraged if this happended to them. Then to have our Supervisor make such condescending (sp?) remarks about it only serves to fan the flames.

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  16. the town can't take care of this. but can pay 2 public works employees 8 hrs. holiday pay each to close a town street for a block party labor day weekend? whats up with that?

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  17. #16; explain further please. Which street was closed down? Any clue as to why the town would do this? Who benefitted?

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  18. do not know what street it was but I know for a fact it happened. There was some kind of party, I believe a "block" party, the home owner(s) contacted the police dept. who in turn turned it over to the DPW. DPW Sup. must of ok'd it because it happened. Somebody should ask him.

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