Hope For Fabbro While Freiband Shows His Hand at Woodbury Village Meeting
The Village of Kiryas Joel makes an odd request, and an issue over land donated to Woodbury may have revealed Trustee Freiband's true intentions.
There might be hope for Village Trustee Matthew Fabbro. Of course, like any politician, actions — and how they vote — speak louder than words, but he did say the following at the end of this week’s Woodbury Village Board meeting:
”Regarding Woodbury’s water supply, I would like to reiterate that I support the continuation of the moratorium, and based off of Superintendent Phillips comments from the last board meeting, until our well experienced staff and contractors say we have enough water, and our well is online, I will defer to their advice.”
Fabbro also began his remarks by saying he supported the Village of Woodbury’s effort to send a letter to New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation. This letter would share the Village’s concerns about the Clovewood fiasco in neighboring South Blooming Grove. The Board voted unanimously to send this letter.
If YOU have not yet sent a letter to the DEC sharing your opposition to Keen Equities LLC to continue building their development at the expense of all residents, Haredi and non-Haredi alike, I have a letter here you can copy, paste, and send. It’ll take you less than two minutes.
Mr. Fabbro’s comments were great to hear. Especially given former Deputy Mayor Tara Burek’s comments concerning the Clovewood situation and its impact on Woodbury’s water supply. She stated that the Village Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to the residents to make sure that “if one of our water sources were to be taken offline — which is not that far off base given the shortages we’ve had the last several years — to understand fully what you’re asking for and why it [The moratorium] was implemented to begin with.”
Mrs. Burek went on to discuss potential worse case scenarios for Woodbury’s water supply, if the moratorium was lifted, and stated “the ramifications are tremendous. Once you lift the flood gates, there is no going back.”
This point can’t be stressed enough, and it’s important for people living in Woodbury to understand:
Opposition to lifting the moratorium is not about Haredi vs. Non-Haredi. It’s not about high density housing vs. not building anything at all. Opposition to lifting Woodbury’s building moratorium is about making sure everyone has affordable, safe, easy, and equitable access to clean water and sanitation.
That’s a human right as declared by the United Nations.
So the people of Woodbury are going to be counting on Trustee Fabbro to keep to his word, and the people of Woodbury are going to need to examine carefully the candidates that appear on the ballot in upcoming village elections.
Here’s a hot take concerning future Village of Woodbury elections: If the person running has a sketchy track record involving real estate transactions — Like, I don’t know. I’m just picking an example here, Ace Farms — You probably shouldn’t vote for them.
It doesn’t matter what political party they represent. What matters is who’s interests they represent: A small, wealthy group of real estate developers, or the people.
And one guy I hear may be running definitely doesn’t represent the people.
Speaking of sketchy politicians, it’s time for my new favorite game show …
What Stupidity Did Trustee Freiband Bring With Him This Week?
Something fun, that isn’t captured in the YouTube videos for the Village of Woodbury meetings, is the audible groan from the audience that precedes Trustee Freiband whenever he has something to say.
There were many instances of this during this week’s Village Board meeting. I’m going to share only two in the interest of time.
First: The Village received a request for two small parcels to be donated for preservation purposes. Everyone except Trustee Freiband voted to accept these parcels.
You can see that discussion and vote below. Please note, despite the audience and the rest of the Village Board’s insistence that Trustee Freiband speak into the microphone, he doesn’t. So, it’s hard to hear what he’s saying. I can’t tell if this is intentional or not, but it seems to be a reoccurring problem. One the Village needs to address.
Either the Village needs to give him a new microphone, or Mr. Freiband needs to explain why he can’t seem to use the one he has.
This sounds like a minor point, but if you’re hearing impaired, or if you’re watching Village Board meetings on YouTube, this is a disservice to members of the community who want to know what their elected officials are saying.
As someone with hearing difficulty in my left ear, I can tell you that I had a hard time hearing what Trustee Freiband had to say, and I was in attendance and not far from where he was sitting.
Second: Every so often, an odd request from the Village of Kiryas Joel comes in requesting tax exemptions on land that they own — that’s located in the Village of Woodbury — that helps operate the Village of Kiryas Joel’s water supply. You can see a copy of the most recent request here.
I reached out to Mr. Daniel T. Hubbell, of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna LLP concerning this request, because I felt there were some oddities in it. Mr. Hubbell is representing Kiryas Joel in this matter.
For starters, no members of the Village of Kiryas Joel Board are identified in the letter. Nor is any contact information provided. So, if residents of Woodbury have questions about this tax exemption request — If granted, the exemption would mean the Village has less money coming in during a time when it’s badly needed — There’s no one for them to reach out to. Just the attorney.
To that point, I also asked Mr. Hubbell if he could identify when and where the Village of Kiryas Joel Board meets, so that if Woodbury residents have questions on this matter, that they can appear before the board and ask.
Under New York State’s Open Meetings Law, members of the public have a right to attend “meetings of public bodies, listen to debate and watch the decision-making process.”
Way back in my United Monroe days, we went on a quest to attend these meetings and found it next to impossible, as the Times Herald Record documented at the time.
My last question for Mr. Hubbell, was this, “Are there any other municipalities in NYS, that you're aware of, that grant similar exemptions to the one KJ is requesting? You mentioned that these exist in your letter but I don't see any specific ones identified.”
As former Woodbury Village Trustee Christopher Graziano said during public comment at this week’s Woodbury Village meeting, “I deal in two states, five counties, and sixty-five municipalities in the State of New York. […] You are not tax exempt once you leave your municipality with water and sewer infrastructure. You’re just not. And nobody gives you that break in any other municipality anywhere else in the state.”
Every member of the Woodbury Village Board, except for Trustee Freiband, voted to reject Kiryas Joel’s request for a tax exemption.
So, briefly, I’d like to revisit the Code of Ethics that the Village of Trustees in Woodbury are supposed to adhere to.
Section D, under “Prohibited Activities” states the following:
Misuse of privilege. No board member, Village employee or Village consultant shall by his conduct give reasonable basis for the impression that another can improperly influence him or unduly enjoy his favor in the performance of his official duties or that he is affected by kinship, rank, position or influence of any party or person. [Emphasis added.]
I’m giving Mr. Fabbro a pass because of his statements at this week’s meeting. Although like I said at the start of this post, actions — and votes — will speak louder than words.
But in the case of Trustee James Freiband, I believe his votes during this week’s Village Board meeting, where he objected to the land being donated to the village until the land can be inspected, and his lone vote against the Board rejecting KJ’s request give a reasonable basis for the impression that he can be improperly influenced.
This is something Woodbury residents should ask their Village Board members to investigate.
-B.J.