Town supervisor Berndt Leifield and West Shokan resident Martha Frankel get into a shouting match at the Olive town board meeting on Tuesday, September 13, 2011. One of 9 video segments from the meeting. For the others, see Cindy Johansen's YouTube channel.
The parking lot was full. All but a few seats were taken, and some attendees were standing along the back wall. All indications were that this board meeting was going to be anything but normal, or short.
Supervisor Berndt Leifeld pushed through the usual items that the Board takes care of at each of the meetings - approval of last month’s minutes, paying the bills, and transfers from contingency and reserve funds to pay bills.
Leifeld then turned the floor over to Amy Freidman, a resident of Haver Road, where major flooding from Tropical Storm Irene on August 28 threatened residents who would be trapped in their homes if help did not arrive. Friedman and other residents of Haver Road were stranded when several culverts overflowed their capacities, washing out the road to the point of being impassible. Help came in the form of Town Highway personnel, who worked to get residents out before getting out became impossible.
One Haver Road resident, George Woolic, whose home is at the bottom of the hill, suffered property damages -- though the waters never entered his home, the flooding took out much of his yard and threatened other buildings. When the Highway Department arrived the next day to replace culverts, Woolic became very concerned when he realized they were installing much larger culverts than had been in the road. His concern was that more water coming through larger culverts would result in more damage to his property.
When he asked the highway men to stop installation until it could be reviewed or discussed, they continued to work, and Woolic quickly delivered a letter that had legal implications. This prompted the Highway Department to leave the area, job unfinished. Woolic indicated he had requested an opportunity to speak with town officials, but had not heard from anyone as of the meeting.
An exchange between neighbors then ensued, each offering their reasons why this work was necessary. A main concern was that coming and going from the mountain was now very difficult because work had stopped. Fear was that winter conditions would make it impossible for anything other than a 4x4 vehicle. When asked if Highway Superintendent Jimmy Fugel had been in touch with him, Woolic admitted that he’d spoken with Fugel “...a very little bit on the first day.”
Fugel berated Woolic for threatening legal action against the town.
“Trying to sue me wasn't the smartest thing to do. You could have come and talked to me -- that would have been what a man would have done," Fugel said. "I have plenty of places to work in town where nobody's trying to sue me.” (See video below for the exchange between Fugel and Woolic.)
One audience bystander, having heard enough back and forth on the subject, interrupted the dialogue and asked why the town and the resident can’t get together and resolve the issues. To this, both sides agreed that was a good idea. Fugel then stated that the highway department would be back on Haver Road on Monday morning to complete the work.
A resolution was unanimously passed to accept Michael Copelton’s connection to the Boiceville Sewer District for the sum of $5,000. The property is off Piney Point Road - and actually lies at the end of Deerfield Road. The normal sum is $10,000, but the Town has set the rate for this connection and stated that they had the right to review each application to connect on a per diem basis at a rate other than the town law actually states.
Fire chief Chris Winnie then addressed the audience announcing that the fire department, in a 48-hour period during the height of Hurricane Irene, answered over 116 calls for help, including cutting trees out of roadways, pumping out cellars, etc. They set up a command center at 3 AM Sunday morning after doing an assessment of the damages received during the night. The call volume started to mount: water in basements, trees on wires, evacuation of homes and water rescues. The command center closed at 1 AM Monday morning, to allow for some much needed rest, and resumed at 6 AM Monday morning to continue efforts where needed.
It was noted that had the town not had a cell tower, communications throughout the town would have been totally out. It was by means of cell calls between fireman that communications were able to continue. Many in the town still do not have a land line.
The meeting then turned to issues within West Shokan. It was suggested that the town invest in a generator to allow the town offices to function in times of adverse conditions so that townspeople can communicate with the people in charge. During the storm, there was no "command center” where Leifeld or anyone from Town Government could be found.
The topic then turned to the Bushkill Stream and all the trees that have been deposited due to the storm. Leifeld commented that DEP owns only a small portion of the stream near the bridges on Route 28-A. He then said that DEC has been the driving force behind the issues of getting into the stream to get things done. While permits to get in the stream with machines have been lifted, it is going to be a monumental task to remove the many trees, so funding is needed. Leifeld then pointed out that FEMA was in the back of the room for anyone who needed to speak with them.
When a resident pointed out that FEMA was not going to help with the stream issues, Leifeld then stated he felt many thought he was in Florida the last three weeks. West Shokan resident Martha Frankel stood, saying, “I think you are talking about me,” and went on to say that Olive could have done more, and still needs to.
“We are under siege here," she said. "It’s time to be the squeaky wheel.” Conversation got heated, and Leifeld indicated that possibly there was a guilty conscience involved -- meaning Frankel's -- but that he had done everything he could to do what was needed.
Councilman Bruce LaMonda then broke through the argument to bring an update from the DEP and DEC. LaMonda said that DEP would work in the stream along their property lines and that DEC was to hire DA Collins to remove the trees above DEP’s property line for as far as necessary. LaMonda said that over 1,000 trees would have to be removed from the Bushkill Stream before they could even look at the gravel bar issues. Immediate Needs Funds (INF) were available, but had to be requested by the State. LaMonda said that contact was made to County Executive Mike Hein with a request to contact the governor to ask for these funds to be released.
LaMonda indicated that private bridges were not funded by FEMA, and residents let him know that they were not looking for funding - but that until the trees were removed from above the bridges, putting in a new bridge was not the answer. No one wants to put in a new bridge to have it wiped out in the next storm.
Further discussion was about procedure to get help here. Pat Conway indicated that the county should be taking the issues of the town to the state level to get whatever it is that Olive needs. LaMonda argued that Hein knew nothing of any of this. Leifeld stated that he has done everything that had been indicated to him by an expert who visited from Washington, DC: Dan Craig, a former FEMA director, who has offered help and information to local residents.
Another resident wanted to know if the town could fix their bridge, to which LaMonda explained that is it against the law for the town to use taxpayer funds to fix a private bridge. He suggested that they go to the Small Business Association (SBA) who is offering low-interest loans for things like bridges, and any other help that is not available through FEMA.
For more information on how to get state and federal disaster assistance for an individual, small business, or farm, see this handbook, published by the New York State Office of Emergency Management.
