As I always do, I checked the agenda for the Town Board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21 to make sure no resolutions had been slipped in as so often happens after the initial posting the Friday before the meeting. This time I saw just one regarding Sandy Pond Links.
I decided not to attend the meeting as none of the published resolutions were matters of any burning and controversial concern. No surprise, since we are closing in on the town election and I assumed those running for re-election would want to avoid controversial issues.
Well, these scoundrels pulled a fast one on us and slipped in a very controversial issue while no one was looking. They took a resolution off the floor from Ken Rothwell that was seconded by Bob Kern. The resolution, as I understand it, approved a pre-possession and lease agreement which allows master developer of the town square, Petrocelli, to start demolition of 127 East Main Street — the site where he will be building a boutique hotel — BEFORE closing on the purchase of the land.
One tiny, but glaring omission though: neither the resolution nor the lease agreement the Town Board approved were available to the public at the time of the vote. For all we know the actual resolution had not even been prepared when the board voted on it because when requested the morning after the meeting it was still not available.
Government should not work like this, folks. We, the public, are supposed to have access to the resolutions and the accompanying documents approved in those resolutions prior to their approval at a Town Board meeting. That’s not a matter of opinion. It’s what the State Open Meetings Law requires.
This Town Board, with the acquiescence of its town attorney, thumbs its nose at us, at the law, and the very concept of open government.
John McAuliff, who happened to attend what seemed to be — according to the published agenda —an uneventful board meeting, spoke out against this underhanded action by the board.
Is this how the people of Riverhead want their elected officials to operate? If the answer is no, make that known loud and clear when you vote on Nov. 4. You have the opportunity to tell these folks — Hubbard, Rothwell and Kern —you won’t tolerate governance behind our backs any more.
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