A Report on Barrett-Egan-Byrne’s Broken Promise to the Town –
Fighting the Expansion of Gravel Mining
No. 5 in the Series, from an Outraged Milan Resident
March 2009

For those of you who missed the last two town board meetings (on February 23rd and March 9th), please let me share my most recent outrage. Actually, if you were at these meetings you know that no words – “outraged” or otherwise – can capture the level of betrayal we were left feeling at the hands of Supervisor Dick Barrett and Town Board members Bobbi Egan and David Byrne. But I’ll try.

Before reporting on the meetings, though, I’d ask you to first go back a bit in your memories, please. Specifically, I’d like you to remember Barrett-Egan-Byrne’s pre-election position on expanding gravel mining in Milan. To help you, here are a few jogs…

On 10/27/07, the Register Herald published a Q & A inquiry of the (then) candidate for town supervisor, Dick Barrett. Barrett was asked: “What are the most important issues facing your constituents?” His answer: “1. Preventing the expansion of mining . . . .” Barrett was then asked: “What specifically is your plan to address [these issues]?” His response: “1. Continue the legal effort to implement ‘Home Rule’ in local government . . . .”

Then there was David Byrne, whom I personally heard one pre-election Saturday at the transfer station (otherwise known as the dump) as he was speaking to several Milan residents. In a most convincing display, Byrne was professing how he and his team were “strongly opposed” to increasing Red Wing’s presence in our town.

And then there was Bobbi Egan’s pre-election position on gravel mining. In written comments volunteered at a town meeting held in May 2007, she said, “The gravel mine remains an issue. Everyone needs gravel. I maintain that we shouldn’t dismiss the value and contribution of a natural resource that a local gravel mine would provide.” Beyond this one direct quote (and relying on my own memory of further related events), it seemed eminently clear that Ms. Egan believed “some people” in town thought additional mining was a good idea. Indeed (and again, if memory serves), I believe she even mused at one of the public hearings about the prospect of being reimbursed by the town for the untapped gravel resources on her property if Red Wing was not to be allowed to expand its mining efforts.

Whatever their innermost feelings, when election time rolled around Barrett-Egan-Byrne claimed they would put any personal bias aside and do all in their power to heed the will of Milan’s residents. Their campaign literature and their electioneering were filled with promises of fighting the mine. Their door-to-door visits and their networking with Milan’s residents promised the same. They claimed to have heard – loud and clear – how the overwhelming majority of the town’s residents of every political persuasion were horrified at the prospect of yet more industrial mining activity assaulting our residential landscape and our eardrums; yet more dust choking our air and lungs; yet more traffic threatening our school kids while waiting for their buses; yet more dump trucks rumbling regularly past our homes, reducing our property values and driving up our taxes by destroying our roads.

That’s what they claimed. That’s what they promised. Now here’s what they’ve done . . .

Back in July of 2008, Barrett-Egan-Byrne virtually held the town hostage over an outstanding $3000 bill for legal fees for Milan’s continued anti-mining effort, saying the “legal” budget line was depleted and the town therefore couldn’t afford to pay it. In fact, at this same time this trio came to the conclusion that the town simply couldn’t afford to fight Red Wing anymore, at all, period, end of story. So a small group of private residents, under the aegis of Milan Concerns, came to the town’s rescue and paid the $3000 from their own pockets. Milan Concerns also agreed to “back the town” if it ever fell short again.

However, these kind and generous Milan Concerns folks, who had extended themselves so wholeheartedly and with the best intentions, only came to find out later that there had been more than enough surplus in the town’s 2008 coffers to have footed the $3000 July bill. While it may have been true that the legal budget line was exhausted, the general fund – the source from which many of the town’s dollars are transferred to accommodate various expenses and/or over-runs not originally anticipated during budget planning – was lush with cash and could easily have been tapped. Indeed, it was probably money from this same 2008 general fund that paid for thousands of dollars worth of unexpected legal services to extricate the town from Supervisor Barrett’s illegally signing, then subsequently reneging on, a contract with a software supplier. But, of course, we have no sure way of knowing yet where that particular money came from because the final 2008 books are still not ready.

In fact, it is likely this same general fund in 2009 that will pay for the sheaf of recently announced Barrett-Egan-Byrne pet projects. For instance: our new webmaster, who’s costing us a non-budgeted $2500; our new bookkeeper, whose extra days will have cost us only-the-lord-knows-how-much by the time she and the supervisor get the books in order . . . that is, if that day ever arrives; the out-sourced payroll service, that continues to run up a double bill since one of the bookkeeper’s extra days was supposed to have been for processing the payroll in-house; and now the latest, the establishment of a new law amending the highway superintendent’s term from two years to four years, that will cost us substantial and non-budgeted legal fees for a seemingly unnecessary effort, as no one has run in opposition for this post for years and years or seems poised to do so.

So then, we’re left to understand that Barrett-Egan-Byrne will OK money transfers from the general fund for the kinds of non-budgeted expenses only they want, but will not OK fund transfers to pay for the Red Wing defense that just about everyone in town wants. And now witness most recently . . .

Knowing that the New York State Attorney General’s Office is defending Milan against Red Wing and is likely picking up the entire tab for that defense, Barrett-Egan-Byrne nevertheless continue to hold the town hostage for this effort. Specifically: in the event the AG’s office needs to consult about the Red Wing matter with the town’s attorneys, Van DeWater & Van DeWater, this so-called “anti-mining” trio passed a resolution at the March 9th meeting making sure that none of Van DeWater’s legal fees would be paid by the town. (This actually took two times at bat. Egan-Byrne tried to pass this resolution during the earlier February 23rd meeting, but since Supervisor Barrett was away on vacation – again – the vote failed for lack of majority.) In fact, Barrett-Egan-Byrne were downright adamant in proclaiming that if there were any legal fees, the private citizens who had donated in the past through Milan Concerns would just have to do it again. (Paraphrasing Egan: I think lawyers should get paid for their work. And I just want Van DeWater & Van DeWater to know, if they consult on Red Wing, we’re not paying them. If there’s a bill, Milan Concerns will just have to pick it up.)

In other words, Barrett-Egan-Byrne have seemingly found a loophole that lets them look as if they’re anti-mining by acting as if they’re being fiscally responsible. And all this with Paul Doherty, head of Red Wing, and Jim Jeffreys, Doherty’s alleged good buddy – and Barrett-Egan-Byrne’s newly installed player on Milan’s planning board! – in the audience to watch and, presumably, applaud the trio’s actions.

C’mon! How stupid do you think Milan’s residents are?! And do you actually think we’re about to stand by quietly for this kind of betrayal, this broken promise? Do you imagine we’ll tolerate this breach of trust for one of the most profoundly important issues this town faces?!

If you’re feeling as outraged as I am, email or write the town board. And I’d suggest you “cc” the town clerk, Catherine Gill, so your correspondence is recorded “officially.”

Click address to email: Dick Barrett: supervisor@milan-ny.gov
Bobbi Egan: beganmilan@gmail.com
David Byrne: byrne.milan@gmail.com
Diane May: dianemaytown@gmail.com
Ross Williams: rwilliamstown@gmail.com
Catherine Gill: townclerk@milan-ny.gov

To write: Wilcox Memorial Town Hall
20 Wilcox Circle
Milan, NY 12571

Or, better yet, come to the meetings and express your opinions . . . about this or any other matter.

The next town board meeting is Monday, April 13th at 7:30 pm.

Evelyn Bartin