4/24 petition hearing video, and a recap of the Town's parting shots on the petition process.

Monday night, the Town continued the petition hearing adjourned on April 5th. While this time Town supervisor Paul Feiner allowed petition supporters to speak, he also allowed the objectors from April 5th to speak again—in violation of the very rules he set for this meeting! So, he amended the rules on the spot, continuing a long-established pattern of behavior.

We discovered more due process violations last night. Mr. Feiner allowed the reading of new affidavits from Town-hired consultants, specifically a title lawyer, and a survey engineer (click on each for their affidavits). Key takeaways:

• The information the consultants introduced is irrelevant to the validity of the petition, and we accordingly have filed responses.
• Regardless, the Town isn’t supposed to hear objections from individuals residing outside of Greenburgh.
• There is no Town resolution authorizing the consulting engagements.
• The Supervisor is prohibited, by law, from using taxpayer funds to influence the outcome of the hearing.
• The Town failed to respond to multiple requests by the EIC for all affidavits under freedom of information laws (FOIL) because they claim the materials were unavailable at the time of our last request (4 pm yesterday afternoon). We've been making daily requests. 
• Edgemont resident Marty Payson, who is anti-incorporation, submitted his objection affidavit yesterday before our last unfulfilled FOIL request.
• In it, Mr. Payson cites much of the research from both of the consultants, and he directed the Town consultants to submit affidavits as well.
• Mr. Payson's affidavit was dated 4/20, 4 days before the hearing. 

That’s right—the Town provided the opposition with access and authority to their improperly hired resources as late as a week ago (if not much earlier), while specifically withholding such information from our requests for that access. This is yet another violation of our rights and example of how the Town consistently interprets the law to serve its interests.

Nonetheless, we've provided more responses (see here and here) in the few hours we had to the newest batch of objections we finally gained access to yesterday morning. And Mr. Feiner was kind enough to accept them even though they were 10 minutes past his deadline. 

We've condensed down the 2-hour long video of the meeting where you can see your community come together and respond to the Mr. Feiner, complete with a brief synopsis of each speaker. Click here for the video or watch here: 

The entire 2-hour long video is available here as well. We'll keep you updated throughout the process.

-The EIC. 

P.S. Reminder: ECC annual meeting is this evening at 8 pm at Greenville APR. The Mayor of Rye Brook, the most recent village to incorporate in Westchester will be speaking.