Above: Karen Butler, Ingrid Husam, Richard Friedberg and Wenda Habenicht protest the New York Safety Track at a town meeting on Tuesday, June 11. Photo courtesy of the Friends of Rural Life, a local group that wants the track shut down.
In Harpersfield, neighbors who are angry about the noise from a new high-performance motorcycle track are having a hard time getting their concerns heard by the town board, after town officials decided not to allow any discussion of the issue at their regular meetings.
Last month, a group of irate Harpersfield residents calling themselves "Friends of Rural Life" filed a lawsuit against the New York Safety Track as well as the Harpersfield town board and planning board, claiming that town officials violated open meeting law when they approved plans for the track.
This week, track opponents found themselves unable to raise their grievances with the town, as officials announced that with the lawsuit unresolved, they would not allow any comment on the issue. The Daily Star reports:
“Because of pending litigation, we have been advised by our attorney that there will be no open discussion or debate or comments at our town board meeting,” Harpersfield Town Clerk Linda E. Goss said in a letter to the track opponents.
About a dozen protesters attended the town board meeting on Tuesday anyway, some with tape over their mouths and carrying signs, according to a statement issued by the Friends of Rural Life. Among them was plaintiff Kitty Ballard, a local beef farmer, who writes:
The Harpersfield Town Board and the Planning Board should be able to hear the noise now that they have stopped listening to the citizens.
Spokesperson Rose Mackiewicz said the group also attempted to get a copy of the gag order on discussion of the track with a Freedom of Information request, and was told by Goss that there were no records concerning a resolution on the matter. The decision was made by supervisor (and Delaware County board chair) Jim Eisel in consultation with town lawyer Kevin Young, the Daily Star reported:
Contacted by The Daily Star Monday, Goss said the decision to shut down any comments or debate was not pursuant to a board meeting but was related to her by Harpersfield Town Board Chairman James Eisel Sr.
On Friday, Eisel was out of town on a trip, according to staff at the Delaware County offices in Delhi, and could not be reached for comment.
Shutting down all discussion of legally volatile topics might make for quieter board meetings, but it can backfire on town officials. In the fall of 2012, the small upstate town of Sanford banned discussion of hydrofracking at town board meetings. In April, after heavy media attention and facing a First Amendment lawsuit over the gag order from local citizens, the town voluntarily dropped the gag order.
