By Jacquie Rath
However, Trustees Jeanne Farnan Mulry and Andrew Karamouzis contested the closing of the public meeting. According to Mulry, she had requested that certain items be placed on the evening's agenda that were not. Speaking above the opposition of other board members, the village attorney and Mayor Eugene Murray, Mulry took the floor and addressed the members of the public as well as the other members of the board.
Mulry said she wanted an open discussion of a meeting that allegedly took place between members of the village Planning Board and representatives of Chase Partners, the development group responsible for the Signature Place project proposed for the former Darby Drug Company site.
The Planning Board had rejected an initial proposal for the Signature Place development, which included 349 units, and determined that 230 units would be more appropriate for the village, but a new proposal was never submitted. Instead, the developer chose to fight the modification in court.
Following Mulry's accusations that a meeting between some Planning Board members and Chase Partners was a violation of the state's Open Meetings Law, Village Attorney Martha Krisel sought advice from Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government. In a letter to Krisel dated Oct. 24, Freeman stated, "The two of the five members [of the Planning Board] who met with the developer would have had no authority to act on behalf of the board." He continued, "If the planning board consists of five members, a gathering attended by two of the five would not constitute a 'meeting,' and the Open Meetings Law would not be applicable."
In response to the obvious dissension among the board members at the Oct. 24 meeting, Murray issued a formal statement, disclosing a letter he received on Aug. 12 from John Cameron, a representative of Chase Partners [See page 14, this issue].
Mayor's statement, released Oct. 28
"I am today releasing documents sent to me in my capacity as mayor regarding the proposed Signature Place development. These are documents that may or may not have become public on their own. They have been thrust into the public eye by the irresponsible actions of two inexperienced village board members who have yet to learn their role as trustees.
"Part of the art of governing is civil, respectful negotiation and compromise. This process of mutual accommodation can have many phases. Though the final phase is always in public at public hearings, preliminary steps are often taken informally. Responsible public officials often act to advance a compromise, to promote agreement, especially when the issues are as complex and the positions as hardened as they have become over Signature Place.
"These documents - a letter dated Aug. 12, and a table comparing the Aug. 12 terms and the Planning Board decision which was received on Aug. 25 - are an overture from John Cameron, a prominent Rockville Centre resident, who is the head of the engineering firm engaged by the developer of Signature Place. This overture proposes to incorporate into an amended site plan application many of the terms stipulated by the Rockville Centre Planning Board when it approved the Signature Place development for 230 units.
"According to these documents, the Signature Place developers would accept a 230-unit limit imposed by the Planning Board, one of the main items of contention in the developer's current lawsuit against the village. Encouraged by this offer of compromise, I facilitated a meeting between Mr. Cameron and two members of the Planning Board so that the developer could move further toward an amended site plan application to the Planning Board that more closely resembled the decisions made by the Planning Board last year, which were praised by the public, including Mr. Karamouzis and Ms. Mulry.
"Such meetings are neither illegal nor unethical nor undesirable; they are one means of moving from impasse to public action. And the legality of such meetings is not just my opinion. The same opinion is shared by the counsels to both boards and by the executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government, Robert Freeman.
"At no time was any 'deal' struck, nor could there be. Neither I nor the members of the Planning Board have any power to offer or to impose any 'deal.' Any approval of any Signature Place site plan application can only come from the full Planning Board after a full and complete public hearing process that would fully detail all aspects of any proposed new site plan.
"The Cameron documents were disclosed and distributed to the members of the village Planning Board and to the village Board of Trustees within weeks of their receipt, and those boards were also advised that a meeting had taken place. During recent executive sessions, both boards were briefed on the progress of discussions and on the necessity of public hearings before anything was agreed to by anyone. Some of the terms in the Cameron letter, such as the park fee, must come before the Board of Trustees if an amended site plan is approved by the Planning Board.
"Yet some members of those boards have chosen to act as if something underhanded, secret and corrupt were occurring instead of the normal resolution of a difficult issue. They have disclosed details of sensitive discussions against the advice of their respective legal counsels, including the existence of the documents I am releasing today.
"Those board members are, in my opinion, guilty of a breech of their responsibilities as government officials. They are acting as if they were still disgruntled gadflies hurling accusations from the audience when they are instead fully briefed trustees sitting on the dais.
"I have served on the village board for more than 20 years. During that time, village government has always been conducted civilly and respectfully, even when members disagreed with each other. Never before in my experience have trustees stooped to the level of making the false, unsubstantiated accusations of wrongdoing that these two trustees have made. What is unprecedented on this board is the hostility, disrespect and self-righteous insistence on their own way from our newest members.
"As mayor, I apologize for their bad behavior and hope that they will one day learn civility, self-control and their role as trustees."
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