Yates made mistake in splitting legal costs with Somerset to fight turbines

Editor:

At the Yates Town Board meeting in May the board voted 3 to 2 to join with the Town of Somerset with a 50/50 split on all attorney fees going forward. They fired Mr. Dan Spitzer as the Town wind attorney and hired Vacco.

At that meeting I stood and said, “This is the biggest mistake this board has ever made.”  On Sept. 28 the two town boards filed an affidavit against Lighthouse Wind to see the turbine location maps before the public would see then at a forum on Oct. 2. Questions? What did this cost and why?

Mr. Spitzer would never advise to do this. Just another money grab by Vacco! Wes Bradley and Jim Whipple voted against this move.

On Oct. 2, Lighthouse Wind held a public forum to unveil the location of the turbines with company experts available to answer questions. Again the only two representatives from the two Town Boards were Wes Bradley and Jim Whipple. As a project this big, I would think town officials should obtain all the information so  they can to make educated votes in the future!

I also agree with Mr. Ralph Smith and Mr. Ed Urbanik that the Town of Yates should withdraw from the 50/50 attorney agreement and at best go with a 20/80 agreement.

Riggi’s letter of Sept. 17 on the Apex Bbrd mailer is full of untruths, and his letter of Oct. 7 about the DSP Comments and Assessments again is flawed statistics as I have been saying since the beginning.  The letter posted on Oct. 16 by Hans Hyde is a realistic assessment of the PSC website.

On Oct. 19 I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the Town of Yates for attorney fees spent to date to learn the Town has spent $8,059.60 so far. With $19,000 in the 2018 town budget  for attorney fees, this is one more reason to get out of the 50/50 Split with Somerset. Our town doesn’t have the money in the budget.

Lastly the state audit of town spending and record keeping is back. It showed that the financial records and reports are not adequate. This is the job and sole responsibility of the Town Supervisor. Mr. Simon, there is more to your job than just fighting the Lighthouse Wind Project.

Howard Pierce

Lyndonville