Lenore Cernitz
Town Perverts State Law!!
(This statement was read at the Town of Smithtown board meeting of 5/22/08)
This April I put in a FOIL request for the Financial
Disclosure forms for all the members of the Town Board Council.
After several weeks a letter arrived, stating that I
may see the requested information for a half hour on one day with a member of
the Board of Ethics.
Although I thought this unusual I thought I would
comply with the conditions and hope that everything would still result in a
request I expected under the Law.
As it turned out that was not the case and I have
written all of you a letter reporting my experience. Since sending you the
letter; however, I have spoken to the
New York State Committee on Open Government where they interpret and write
opinions on the Freedom of Information Law.
This law has been in effect for about twenty five years, yet this Town and the Town Attorney, who
should know better, and should know the Law as well as any first year law
student, acts in a manner contrary to the Law.
As for the two attorneys and the broker who sit on the Ethics Board, one
would expect they should know and comply with the Law.
Let me relay what I heard from the office of Robert
Freeman, the executive director who has come to Smithtown to be interviewed by
Local Views and can be seen speaking on the Law on www.localviewsonline.com - a program I produce.
First:
This is 2008. I received the
2006 Financial Disclosure Forms, not the 2007 forms, although the 2007 Forms
were in the hands of the Ethics Board. The Law states that if they have the
records they Must Provide it. They did have the forms and it does not matter if
they have or have not finished what they intended to do with the forms. This
information is public information and the Law states they must provide it.
Second:
I was told I could only take notes on the info, but that is not true.
Copies must be provided. You can charge
25 cents, but you must provide it.
If the Town Attorney does not know this after 25 years, what should we
assume?
Third:
The Town Code on Disclosure of Information is not worth the paper it is
written on. The State Law or Freedom of Information Law supersedes any Town
Law. You cannot make up your own rules in Smithtown. There is a Law in place in
New York State.
Fourth:
Saying my husband could not come into the closed room I had to stay in
with a stranger is also not permitted.
As long as it has been determined that the information was permitted,
anyone can see it. Anyone that could
fit in the room, or had a seat in the room could have seen the information and
could have had a copy. And certainly,
under those circumstances, I did not need a babysitter.
Fifth:
It was a false assumption on the Town’s part to think that I could only
see the forms between the hours of 4:30-5pm.
I could see them as long and during any hours that the Town is open for
business. And I really only needed to
take the time to get copies.
I have put in another FOIL and hope there shall not be
any more side stepping with me in order to obtain them.
Lastly and very Significant is that this Community
should have great reservations when it comes to the Ethics Board. My experience and the conversation I had
with the one Board Member gave me insight into the fact that they do not truly
know whether the information provided to them is true, nor if it is
complete. Nor do they act in any
capacity to see if it is true or complete.
If they did, I would have heard & seen differently.
There is much work to be done in this Town to give the
taxpaying public confidence in the work and decisions of their public servants.