Town Board Candidate Calls for Investigation of FD Grant Application

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Villanova Wants Invesitgation of PVFD Grant

Thursday, October 22, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

PUTNAM VALLEY, NY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date- October 19, 2009

Contact- Patty Villanova

Telephone- 845-528-9447

E-mail-

VILLANOVA WANTS HOMELAND SECURITY INSPECTOR GENERAL TO INVESTIGATE PUTNAM VALLEY FIRE DEPARTMENT GRANT APPLICATION

Concerns raised over statements in grant application for new Firehouse. Fire Officials claim current firehouse is “unsafe” and “uninhabitable” while town hall/ courthouse alleged to be “in violation of public safety codes.”

On October 16, 2009, taxpayer advocate and town board candidate Patty Villanova sent a formal request to Richard L. Skinner, Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, for an audit and investigation of the Fire Station Construction Grant (FCG) application that was submitted to FEMA by the PV Fire Department on July 10, 2009. (Copy attached). Villanova said that she was concerned about the accuracy of statements and representations that were made in the application in furtherance of the FD’s attempts to gain funding for construction of a new fire station.

During the past year, the Fire Department has presented plans for a new firehouse, estimated to cost over $9 million dollars, that they claim is desperately needed to replace the existing one to help them attract more volunteers. Because of the hard economic times, they applied for a grant from FEMA (which is now a part of DHS) to help defray the costs of the project, and they are attempting to get approximately $5 million dollars for the new station. On several occasions, Villanova asked the town board to allow the citizens of Putnam Valley to vote on this project, but was told that there wasn’t enough information to have a referendum. Since the supervisor and council members were not forthcoming with the information, Villanova began filing FOIL requests with the fire department to obtain copies of the architect’s contract, the grant application and various other records. All of this was done at her own cost and expense, without any assistance from the elected officials who had all of these records available, but who did not see fit to provide them to the public.

There are three areas of concern that are raised in the request to the Inspector General; they are statements that were made in the application and certified to be “true and accurate.”

The claim that the existing firehouse is “unsafe and uninhabitable” and must be replaced.

The statement that there is mandate from the State to correct serious violations in the town hall/courthouse and that the Town has been put on notice that the building is in violation of public safety codes.

The Fire Department’s ability to pay the non-federal share of the project costs.

At the present time, both the existing firehouse and town hall/courthouse on Oscawana Lake Rd. are fully functioning and used on a daily basis by numerous staff and personnel. None of the presentations that were done by the Fire Department at town board meetings indicated that there was a significant structural problem with their building such that it would render the firehouse “unsafe and uninhabitable” as they stated in the grant application. Why did Supervisor Tendy and Councilwoman Whetsel claim that there was not enough information for a vote if they knew or should have known that the existing firehouse was so decrepit as to be a danger to the occupants?

The F.D. certified to FEMA that the town hall/courthouse has serious violations and that our town is under state mandate to correct them. This allegation was given as one of the major reasons for construction of a new multi-million dollar firehouse, yet it was not mentioned or discussed by the town board even as the project is moving forward. Why was it left to a private citizen to perform the due diligence that should have been done by the elected town board?

Perhaps most troubling of all is the Fire Department’s certified claim that they can fund almost $4 million dollars of the non-Federal share of the project. When and how did they receive this assurance from the current town board? Why haven’t the taxpayers been told they could potentially be on the hook for this money? Did the supervisor and board secretly commit to providing this money?

These are questions that need to be answered as soon as possible, especially in light of the upcoming election; there is simply not enough time to wait for a report from the Inspector General. Hopefully, members of the press will be able to succeed in asking the tough questions of Mr. Tendy et al. and provide the public with answers so that voters will be able to make an informed choice on November 3rd.

Article regarding allegations in Putnam County News and Recorder

Patty Villanova, a Town Board candidate in Putnam Valley has alleged that the Putnam Valley Fire Department lied about its condition when it applied for federal stimulus money to build a $9 million firehouse. Having pored over the grant request, Villanova also insists that the Town may have secretly promised $4 million in funds to be added once the stimulus funds are granted. Villanova has sent her charges, and a request for a formal investigation into the stimulus application to the Inspector General of FEMA, Robert Skinner.

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Villanova continues her fight against the FD and their proposed new firehouse. This was posted on a local blog after a planning board meeting on the subject.

The Firehouse, January 25, 2010

Last night the Planning Board held an informational meeting about the proposed firehouse. I was unable to attend, but apparently, instead of being able to ask questions or make public comments, the members of the planning board only allowed certain comments, and voted to strike some comments. I will be interested to see if the public meeting was videotaped or if that was also edited. I also heard that the backroom was too crowded for the public to attend. Illegal meetings, censorship, bullying. The police state starts at home.

Patty Villanova’s comments on the meeting:

Dear Friends: I attended the PB meeting last night along with Kate, Jan, Vic and others from the Canopus Country Club. After everything that went down, and after a brief discussion with Vic, I realized I was WRONG to tell people not to come. The battle has begun and the fire department thugs who were out in force last night, are going to take no hostages when it comes to ramming this project metaphorically down our collective throats. The bullying that is the hallmark of that bald headed freak Tendy, has spread to the other town officials as well, notably planning board chair Mike Raimondi who believes no doubt that he is “King of the World” as per his surname. Just before public comment, he announced his very strict parameters for our speech and he attempted to shout me down when I started to read my concerns about the economic impact of the new firehouse. I refused to stop reading, despite his demands that I basically shut up and sit down. It was thuggery and intimidation of the highest order and there is NO place for this kind of stormtrooper behavior at any level of town government, let alone a board that’s appointed by elected officials to do the will of the People. After King Mike couldn’t shut me up, he started loudly talking with his flunky Tom Patterson who also tried to get me to stop speaking. I refused and kept on reading. At that point, Mike turned to Maryann the camera woman and yelled to her “shut off that camera! stop the camera!”. I don’t know if she obeyed him. I hope not but expect that she did. When I finished and sat down (I handed a copy of my remarks to the clerk for inclusion in the record of the proceedings), King Mike made a motion to strike my remarks from the record. He called for a vote of the members and in an act of the most vile cowardice, they all voted Aye to strike the public comments of a taxpaying citizen from the record. The behavior of Tom Carano in this regard is especially despicable as I once considered him if not a friend at least an ally. I looked him straight in the eye and mouthed the word “coward” after he voted to deprive me of my Constitutional right to free speech. As far as I’m concerned, this firehouse issue has morphed into something much bigger and scarier- the sacred right of the people of our town to be heard on matters that gravely affect us is being disregarded and trampled by these craven thugs who nothing more than classic schoolyard bullies.

Last night proved that there is no limit to what the fire department will do to get their new country club, even if it includes violating the civil and human rights of the citizens of our town. They cannot be allowed to get away with it. All that it takes for evil to prevail is for good men and women to stand by and do nothing. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone in town.

Patty Villanova

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http://www.putnamvalley.com/planningzoningprograms.htm

This planning board meeting can be viewed here so you can see and hear the comments first hand. It is the 1/25/10 meeting.

[NWFDMedic 58]

I don't know the first thing about the PV fire station as I haven't been inside it in nearly 10 years but what has the world come to when politicians (or potential politicians) have to resort to personal attacks on blogs instead of discussing facts.

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I don't know the first thing about the PV fire station as I haven't been inside it in nearly 10 years but what has the world come to when politicians (or potential politicians) have to resort to personal attacks on blogs instead of discussing facts.

Just to clarify, when this thread was started Mrs. Villanova was a candidate for Town Board in Putnam Valley. She was not successful in her bid for a seat on the Town Board but continues her "activism" against the fire department.