Town of Monroe Shares New Excuse to Hide Documents From You

Monroe Town Clerk, Valerie Bitzer stated her office was more than capable of handling FOIL requests, then said it'd take 90 days to comply to each one they receive.

Pictured above: Darkei Yosher Transportation bus picking up a student on Hawxhurst road, Monday April 15th at 9:09am. The photo came from a concerned Monroe resident about school buses operating on the narrow road. Later, Cardone’s handpicked residents would claim everything is just fine on Hawxhurts during the Town meeting.

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Listen. I was going to write a post today about how Brian Cunningham, New York State Assemblyman for District 43, received some very interesting financial donations after debuting his Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act in December of 2023.

But.

I need to take a detour and talk about last night’s puppet show Town of Monroe Board meeting.

It appears how these things are going to work, going forward, is that Cardone and Houle will spend nearly three hours bullying Councilwoman Richardson.

Occasionally Councilwoman Bingham will come to help out Richardson, and then the Supervisor and Houle will have their cool friends attack Richardson during public comment.

Sal Scancarello will continue to do nothing but rubber stamp Supervisor Cardone’s WTBQ invoices.

That, unfortunately, is the reality of our future Town Board meetings between now and Election Day 2025, which is 567 days from now.

Like I said yesterday, you all deserve so much better than this.

So. I’ll keep this post as brief as I can, so I can get back to work on those financial contributions Mr. Cunningham received.

Let’s Talk Hawxhurst Road First …

If the speakers during the Town meeting’s Public Comment period were to be believed, everything is just fine and dandy on Hawxhurst Road thanks to Supervisor Cardone and 2024 State Senate Candidate Dorey Houle.

Of course, that’s not quite the picture being painted by other residents who live on that road.

And, as an aside: The fact that I don’t live on Hawxhurst is irrelevant. I’m a reporter. I could be in Chicago covering this stuff and the facts are still the facts.

Man I’d rather be in Chicago right now.

Where was I?

Oh. Right. Public Comments provided by Matthew Ladka:

So, at some point, Supervisor Cardone, 2024 State Senate Candidate Dorey Houle, Matthew Ladka (a resident who initially shared his concerns with the Town about the busing) and other parties met with … Who? When?

What bus companies were present? Was it Darkei Yosher, pictured above clearly not listening to whatever was discussed at this meeting?

Mr. Ladka didn’t say.

So I reached out to him for comment.

He then suggested that people come to Town Board meetings and speak during public comment when they have concerns, which is a sentiment I agree with.

But. The idea that this is the only venue where Town residents should share their concerns is not something I agree with.

For example: Many of you have reached out with concerns about Cardone’s “bullying” and “intimidation.” Those aren’t my words. Those came from a lot of you who don’t want to be anywhere near the guy. Or especially be in a setting where he can just lie to you and limit your time to speak.

Others have shared that calls and emails sent to the Supervisor and other council members, like Mrs. Houle, go ignored.

So, not everyone can make, and then sit through, a near three hour town board meeting where little gets done.

Seriously. Last night’s meeting? 15 minutes of actual Town Business. The remaining 2 hours and 45 minutes? A waste of everyone’s time.

What’s really going on here is the same nonsense we saw in Woodbury with the unelected Councilwoman, Sandra Capriglione, telling people to come to meetings and look the board “in the eyes.”

Sorry. It’s 2024. People have shit to do.

We still live in what’s mostly a commuter town. “Come speak during public comment when you only have three minutes and you have to wait three hours to do so” isn’t going to fly with people who need to be up early to catch the bus.

That brings me to Carol Hawxhurst.

Mrs. Hawxhurst came up and pointed out, inaccurately, that Richardson’s Preserve Monroe was saying there were yeshivas on Hawxhurst road.

First, no. They didn’t.

Second, I didn’t say it either, residents on and around the road did, and then I investigated. That’s how journalism works.

What I found was, while it’s true 44 Greycourt Road is in the Monroe-Woodbury School District, and operating an unregistered yeshiva out of their residence, it’s not quite clear what’s happening at the two homes on Hawxhurst.

Other than, as you can see in today’s photo, the bus companies are not operating in a way that’s safe for both children and residents who live on the road.

I also said that the Building Inspector should probably take a look given the concerns shared by residents on the road. That’s also exactly what I said to Monroe-Woodbury Superintendent Rodriguez.

If you’re going to make statements about the reporting here, get your facts right.

Referencing something on your phone, that you may be seeing for the first time, just because the Supervisor told you about it is not a good look.

Now Let’s Talk About The New FOIL Policy

I’ve reached out to Town Clerk, Valerie Bitzer. As of press time I have not heard back from her, but I will update you if I do.

Also: I know, I covered the Town’s attempts to squash FOILs already.

But, it was a big topic at last night’s meeting. You can see for yourself at 28:43 in the video below:

According to our duly elected Town Clerk, her office is “inundated with FOIL requests.”

And by inundated, she means there’s about 32 of them.

Mrs. Bitzer then stated that some of those 32 or so foils were repetitive. I thought that was kind of odd.

Because if someone asks for something, and you go and collect that information, wouldn’t you then already have that information at your disposal to send to the next person requesting it?

One would think.

But then things got weird.

Because if you watch the video above, you’ll see there’s a lengthy aside about the location of the Clerk’s office and how the Clerk’s staff have to play “greeter” to everyone who comes into the building.

This was cited as a reason the Clerk’s office was too busy to take on the FOIL requests they received.

Seems to me like there is a simple solution here: Move the Clerk’s office.

Problem solved. (No word on whether or not the Clerk’s office has requested relocation concerning this very time consuming task of working as Town Greeter.)

Mrs. Bitzer then said the 32 (or so) FOIL requests are very hard on her deputy, Barbara Singer. So Councilwoman Richardson asked if the Clerk had the ability to deputize someone to help with these requests.

It’s not unusual for people in Town and Village government to be deputized to assist on small, part time projects or even full time projects when there’s a need.

That did not go over well with Mrs. Bitzer.

First, she explained that the recent Town Tax season, and being down a staff member in her office, had not slowed down the work they were doing in any form.

Then, Mrs. Bitzer told the Councilwoman, ““It’s my office and Barbara is who helps me with this.”

That’s not quite an answer to the question.

Probably realizing this, Mrs. Bitzer added, “I don’t need to subject the tax payers to having to pay for another person. My office can handle it. I am asking with the abundance of of FOIL requests to extend the time to get answers so we can tend to the rest of the needs of the public.”

This was interesting. Because Monroe Tax payers are soon to be on the hook for $20,000, or so, for a new law firm to investigate the many HR complaints filed against Supervisor Cardone and Houle by Councilwoman Richardson.

Monroe Tax payers are also on the hook for a multimillion dollar lawsuit the Town just lost. One that was caused by the Supervisor’s actions concerning Pine Crest.

Monroe Tax payers are also funding Supervisor Cardone’s radio show on WTBQ, even though he receives a travel stipend.

It seems like the Town of Monroe is doing a great job of wasting tax payer money on its own.

So then, we should ask:

How much could deputizing someone to help with 32 (or so) FOILS really cost here?

Supervisor Cardone took pains to highlight that the decision to add a 90 day waiting period was that of the Clerk, and not his or Attorney Brian Nugent.

Which, is interesting. Because the Clerk’s office had no problem with FOIL requests until documents were requested concerning the Supervisor’s residence at Lake Sapphire

Then all of a sudden, the Clerk’s office is very busy (?) and, despite being very busy (?) refuses to deputize someone to respond to these FOIL requests in a timely manner.

Huh.

That’s odd.

Lastly, the Clerk told people watching at home to “do some homework first” before filing a FOIL. She pointed to the Town Website and Board Doc’s Document Center. Both are helpful resources.

But …

There are many, many things not available on either location. Such as the 1099 filed by Supervisor Cardone that would reveal whether or not he disclosed ownership of this home.

Or the sexual harassment complaint filed against Highway Superintendent Patterson with the Human Resources officer.

People, Madam Clerk, are doing their home work.

You’re just suddenly too busy to do yours.