Each time the public asked what was being done about the settlement and how much the Town would be forced to pay, Mr Feiner would matter-of-factly dismiss the questioning taxpayer by saying, “I’m not worried, the Town insurance will cover it.” When that statement was challenged, he would start espousing the Town’s AAA Bond Rating or ramble on about the benefits of mulching leaves, until Councilman Sheehan would interrupt and try to get their meeting back on their track. Mr Sheehan is less actively helping Mr Feiner keep his feet out of his mouth since being attacked by Mr Feiner during this past Democratic Primary.
“WHEREAS, the issues of damages and costs having not yet been determined, the parties to the lawsuit have been litigating the issues of damages and costs; and...”
On this Monday’s agenda will be the resolution to address the guilty verdicts by Mr Feiner and another of his previous Town Boards and paying the fines for them. The total is $6,500,000! Yes, $6.5 million. Taking a look online, you’ll find these two agenda items. If you click on the links we’ve provided, they should take you to the two documents listed under each agenda item. Or you can simply read them here.
A few key highlights in italics from the first document are:
“the Defendants had violated Section 2(a)(2) of RLUIPA, the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause of the United States Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, the Free Exercise Clause of the New York Constitution, the Equal Protection Clause of the New York Constitution, and New York CPLR Article 78...”
This is primarily the gist of the lawsuit that found Mr Feiner and a different one of his Town Boards guilty of violating the Constitutional rights of the Church and its members. The Fortress Bible Church is a church based in Mt Vernon, NY. Given this verdict, we can’t help but also think of the statement made by former Town Councilwoman Sonya Brown during her last March Town Board meeting. You may recall she said to Mr Feiner, on the record, that he instructed her and the other candidates running on his ticket not to campaign in the Fairview section of the Town because those voters were unintelligent and they’d be wasting their time campaigning there. It’s also when Mr Feiner decided she would be jettisoned from the Board, hence the term, “Sonya’d”. Then there’s the WestHelp debacle caused by Mr Feiner to remove the affordable housing from the Westchester Community College campus for Valhalla votes. Apparently, Mr Feiner is all for affordable housing as long as he can cluster it in Fairview and not Boulder Ridge, the gated community he lives in. These are compelling reasons to see Mr Feiner as he truly is, a racist!
Each time Mr Feiner and his Board were asked about any discussions regarding the guilty verdict fines, he shrugged them off. He even went so far as to say they haven’t had any discussions. ABG finds it difficult to accept since we have caught Mr Feiner in numerous lies before. When Mr Lewis was asked the same question, his “attorney statement” was usually the same, “I can’t discuss an ongoing case.” While that would sort of make sense, each time it was brought up during a public meeting, the conditioned response from one of the Board members was to make a motion to adjourn to Executive Session to discuss personnel issues. Its amazing how open government works in Greenburgh.
“WHEREAS, after extensive settlement discussions,...”
So, each time the public queried Mr Feiner and his Town Board, and the public was given the “no answer answer”, Mr Feiner and his Board could have simply said we are meeting with the Church, courts, and our attorneys to work out an arrangement. Unfortunately, Mr Feiner was also found to not be a credible witness who could not be believed by the courts. Really? We’ve known this for years and it explains why we study everything he says and continue to endorse the G10.
“...all outstanding issues (damages, costs, and attorney fees) in the case for the payment of $6,500,000 (Six million, five hundred thousand dollars), with payment to be made in the following manner: (1) $1,000,000 to be paid by the Town’s principal insurance company before the end of December, 2013; (2) a payment by the Town of $2,250,000 on or before January 10, 2014; and (3) a payment by the Town of $3,250,000 by August 31, 2014, which will be made upon the receipt of the proceeds from the sale of bonds that the Town will be selling, in calendar year 2014, as part of its regular projected borrowing; and...”
Note that the insurance portion of the coverage Mr Feiner typically said would cover the fines actually will not. Ironically, then Supervisor challenger and Primary Candidate Robert Bernstein said while campaigning that the Town’s insurance would not cover the verdict’s fines. Mr Feiner claimed Mr Bernstein was lying. While Mr Bernstein lost the primary and subsequently could not run against Mr Feiner, it was he who was the candidate telling the truth, not Mr Feiner! So the Town insurance will pay roughly one sixth of the fines against the Town. Taxpayers will be forced to pay the rest for Mr Feiner’s racism. The good news is that the bonds the Town must now issue to cover the payments will be using the lowest interest rates possible because of the Towns AAA Bond Rating. Does everyone else feel that special tingle too?
ABG is sure Mr Feiner’s next Deflection Mode spin will be something akin to, “I’m proud of the Town’s great, triple-A bond rating. Because of it we’re able to issues bonds for these fines. I still believe the judge disliked me, which is why the Town is being forced into this judgement. Again, I’m just glad I didn’t get cau... Wait a minute, I did get caught. Umm, you know, the Town has maintained a triple-A bond rating for many years and was voted the 80th best place to live. Isn’t it great that so many people are mulching their leaves?”
It’s time for the Feiner devotees to seek a new leader, one with integrity, honesty and that believes in term limits and stop their blind endorsement of him and his illegal shenanigans. Then we will start to see A Better Greenburgh.
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