T IMES
WALLKILL VALLEY
Vol. 35, No 14 3 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2017
While newly-elected Trustees Faith
Moore and Lynn Thompson were set for
induction on April 4, the Walden Village
Board had one final session with its
current crop last Tuesday, and the panel
passed a pair of local laws at that meeting
that changed the guidelines for Walden’s
fire inspection and police discipline
processes.
Local Law No. 6 of 2017 is patterned
after a Town of Wallkill bill that gives
a municipality’s board the power to
investigate and make the final decision on
police disciplinary matters. The legislation
states that Village Manager John Revella
has been designated “to review, examine
and investigate complaints concerning
allegations or violations of the Police
Department Rules and Regulations,
general orders issued by the Chief of Police
or policy directives issued by the Village
Manager. However, no authority to make
a final determination in a disciplinary
proceeding is hereby delegated to the
Village Manager.” Under the procedure,
the manager would provide a written
notice of discipline to the offending police
officer, and if the deal is accepted by the
officer the Village Board would be asked
to approve the agreement.
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Walden amends police discipline process
By TED REMSNYDER
3
An officer will also have the right to
request a public hearing in front of an
independent hearing officer, who would
then submit their recommendation to
the board for final approval. “The basic
issue of the disciplinary action is it puts
it back in the hands of the board, in
our case the Village Manager, to make
the final decision,” Walden Police Chief
Jeff Holmes said. “There’s still a process
they do have to follow, but they were
eligible for certain articles of civil service
law. Now we can divert some of that
for just general disciplinary actions that
don’t necessarily need those things. It’s
Continued on page 4
Head-on collision
Bob McCormick
A Montgomery woman died Monday morning when her car crossed into the opposite lane of traffic on International Boulevard in the Town
of Montgomery and struck another vehicle. Town Police identified the victim as Eileen McAdam, 70, who was heading southbound when the
collision occurred at around 7:30 a.m. The driver of the other car, Brittany Bonesteel, 30, of Walden, was injured. Both women were airlifted
to Westchester Medical Center where McAdam was pronounced dead.
Maybrook
tax hike set
for hearing
By RACHEL COLEMAN
“The village is bleeding. You have
to make cuts somewhere,” said village
resident Thomas Walcott.
Walcott spoke up at a recent Maybrook
Village Board meeting, expressing
concern about the proposed 11 percent
tax hike for village residents.
“At some point in time, you have to
put the tourniquet on,” said Walcott.
Mayor Dennis Leahy said they already
have a “tourniquet” in the form of the
Galaxy project—a major development
being proposed along the rail line in
the village. His latest estimates on the
potential tax revenue from the project
were more than $2 million for the Valley
Central School District and more than
$900,000 for the village of Maybrook.
Village Trustee Robert Pritchard said
the project may grow even larger in the
coming weeks—which would increase
that tax revenue.
The village board believes the Galaxy
project will help further their economic
development efforts and the revitalization
of Main Street—all of which would ease
the tax burden on village residents.
“It’s not a ten year plan—it’s a
tomorrow plan,” said Leahy.
The property owners are currently
going through the process of having a
portion of the property annexed from the
Town of Montgomery into the Village of
Maybrook and other early steps to make
the project a reality.
“It’s a projection,” Walcott said. “Our
whole future is based on this taking off…
and what happens if, God forbid, it doesn’t
materialize?”
Continued on page 5
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL