April 12 2019 FB post
Brian Lamica: The best place to discuss issues like this is at a Village Board Meeting NOT on social media. Joanne Moore is correct with her statement. **We have made several attempts to honor requests** We are transparent in everything we do. Again attend a board meeting and find out how hard we are working to improve our community.
(Still chasing.....) https://harley508.wixsite.com/forbettergovernment/post/chasing-after-revenues
Posted on FB March 22, 2019:
Brian Lamica “I will chime in on this myself. FOIL is to obtain information by the public as part of open government. However when some use FOIL in an effort to harass local government officials and to over state and misuse the FOIL system it only diminishes the purpose of the reason forhis procedure. When instead of attending an OPEN meeting and obtaining the information by use of a FOIL request only proves the point. When an employee spends hours a week preparing FOIL requests at tax payers expense and sending them out at tax payers expense, is that good use of our tax payers money or the best use of our employees who are then unable to complete other tasks. It’s not just one request we speak of, it’s 5 or 6 requests on one FOIL request form. It’s NOT just one a month, it’s people who send in 5 or 6 of these per week. It only serves to harass local officials and employees and cost our village tax payers. This Village Board as well as those who sat before us support open government and will provide information as required by law we have that responsibility. Those who are chronic in requesting information by use of a FOIL are only doing so for self interest not for the public good. Those people have a responsibility not to abuse this system. Should we hire a clerk to only complete FOIL requests ? Partially because of these FOIL request abuses we have lost 7 Village Clerks in less than 5 years. I expect that I will see you at the next Village Board Meeting on Wednesday night, 6:00 Budget Hearing and 6:30 Meeting. Oh wait instead you will just FOIL the information.
Ilion is a great community. Stop complaining and start looking at the positive.
Stated on Ilion Community of by and for the People’
To date, none of the statements have been proven to truthful or factual. In the Shroud has grown darker.
"Throughout the Journal News’ costly 18-month fight to obtain documents, the coalition argues that the Thruway Authority adopted a “sue us attitude” that is “inconsistent with FOIL’s purpose to promote openness and transparency in state and local government.”
"Delays threaten the ability of the press to report on issues of importance in a timely manner. In the Journal News case, the newspaper still hasn’t gotten access to important documents more than two years after its initial public records request. As the media coalition argues, affirming that the delay is reasonable “ultimately results in a complete denial of prompt and meaningful public access to records.”
§84. Legislative declaration. The legislature hereby finds that a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the understanding and participation of the public in government.
As state and local government services increase and public problems become more sophisticated and complex and therefore harder to solve, and with the resultant increase in revenues and expenditures, it is incumbent upon the state and its localities to extend public accountability wherever and whenever feasible.
The people's right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is basic to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality. The legislature therefore declares that government is the public's business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government in accordance with the provisions of this article.
The Village is in desperate need of strong leadership for the people, not followers, as history shows and as present is.
https://harley508.wixsite.com/forbettergovernment
https://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/villages/2015/ilion.pdf
With all of the illegal executive sessions entered into for water department personnel, lack of reports being detailed in minutes, and Lester's public comments regarding the departments capabilities, we the people have no idea if our health, safety, and privacy are once again being compromised, thus the need to contract with MVWA for services.