The Prattsburgh Town Board met at 7:30 PM this past Tuesday with the avowed intention of considering whether it should enact an up to six (6) month moratorium on wind turbines. Supervisor Harold McConnell defined a moratorium as a period in which no wind turbine physical activity, i.e. – construction of any sort, would take place. Harold advised those attending that no comments would be accepted other than from the Board members and the town attorney.
Beyond a particularly acrimonious and contentious flavor where those for and against a moratorium did everything but wear opposing jerseys, this particular meeting had three (3) decidedly unusual aspects.
The first was the presence of a representative from the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department who ‘wanded’ everyone who came in the door for weapons. (While I’m sure his intentions were good, he wasn’t; he missed the folder I’ve carried since I was a boy.) In response to my question as to what prompted searching all attendees, or at least those in the ‘audience’, a second officer said that it was his understanding “threats had been made” against Tom Hagner who was there with an Ecogen attorney.
The second unusual aspect was the presence of a woman with a state-of-the-art legal courtroom stenography outfit seated next to the Town attorney. While those of us who are not members of the Board and/or ‘seated at the table’ have often asked why a full, formal transcript is not made of every session, the interesting part was that no one I asked, including 2 Board members, knew for whom the transcript was being taken.
The third fascinating aspect was that the newly hired, outside, wind-knowledgeable attorney, Mr. Abraham was asked a series of extremely detailed and specific questions by Staci Bottoni but prevented by Harold from saying a word. Staci, who was the prime mover at the March 3rd Board meeting in her adamant insistence that an attorney with specific experience representing NYS communities on both sides of the issue should be hired, then attacked the poor fellow such that he undoubtedly wondered why he had not spent the evening home with his family.
Following Harold’s announcement that two (2) Board members – Staci Bottoni and Sharon Quigley - had met directly with Ecogen, Staci was asked to report on that meeting - a meeting which was not attended by the remainder of the Board.
Staci, with input and clear support from Sharon, then read a several page ‘statement’ which centered on six (6) issues:
1. That “all this” had been going on now for eight (8) years and that she, for one, simply wanted to get on with the process of putting up wind turbines.
2. She suggested a period of effort of working toward a “settlement” rather than taking steps which would “undoubtedly” lead to litigation, i.e. – a moratorium.
3. The Town should move forward in recognition of the fact that people in Cohocton were unhappy with the noise being generated but not to delay the project just because “some people” were unhappy with the noise level. Staci also reiterated that she and Sharon had been assured by Ecogen that the noise in Cohocton was the result of a design flaw in the ‘Clipper’ turbine which the manufacturer had committed to address and would not be an issue with the Siemens 2.3 MGW turbines Ecogen plans to use, the fact that particular turbine had been designed for off-shore rather than populated area deployments notwithstanding. Staci wants to accept Ecogen’s invitation to visit a wind farm outside Detroit to see firsthand what noise levels were being generated by the Siemens 2.3 MGW turbine. Chuck Shick pointed out that, now that winter had, for all intents and purposes, passed, a Detroit visit would not merit much return because the spring/summer wind level was less but Staci wasn’t buying. (It would be interesting to see a map of the turbine locations in Ecogen project with the homes of the Board members called out.)
4. Ecogen should offer a response to how the Town would be protected from potential liability issues connected with tower collapses such as the recent event in N. NY.
5. Ecogen must guarantee local jobs.
6. The Board why understand why Italy is getting a better deal.
Much of Staci’s statement was framed in the form of specific questions to Mr. Abraham who, while present - for whatever reasons - was not allowed to respond. Staci spoke glowingly of the Town’s “long term” attorney whose advice she said she was far more inclined to follow than Abraham’s which – at least as this meeting – was not presented.
After Staci finished her statement, Steve Kula and Chuck Shick attempted to ask questions and clarify aspects of the issues Staci raised but were prevented from doing so by Harold.
Harold asked then for and got a motion for a vote on a period to work toward a settlement rather than to consider a moratorium. Only Steve and Chuck voted Nay. The meeting lasted about 20 minutes.
The meeting was definitely short but not sweet.
PS: While the Prattsburgh legislative process is one-man-one-vote with non-resident taxpayers entirely exempted, it would be interesting to understand the ratio of taxes paid by each of the ‘audience’ as compared that paid by each of the Board members as a barometer of whether the fiscal interests of the Town’s residents at large are being adequately represented.
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