A Voice from the Village

As Mayor, I don't normally respond to webposts but I am compelled to share my comments and correct inaccurate statements and misleading information that were included in .

What she neglects to mention anywhere in her letter is that she is the sister of Village Justice Christopher P. McGuire, who along with his wife Elisabeth, are conducting a campaign against me using personal attacks and unsubstantiated accusations of wrong doing.

In her letter, she refers to what I believe to be is the Newsday article “Patchogue’s Carnegie Library to Move” (October 30, 2011). She falsely accuses me, Deputy Mayor Krieger and Mr. Loscalzo of "taking credit for saving the Carnegie Library" when no such a thing was said. In fact, the Deputy Mayor gave credit to his fellow board members and was quoted as such by Newsday saying, “Everyone is on board with saving the library.”

Never once did the Deputy Mayor or Mr. Loscalzo "take credit" for saving it. The truth is that Tritec has been committed, by contract, to move and repair the library.

Ms. Salvatore's statement that "Tritec and the Mayor applied for and received a $1 million taxpayer grant to move the Carnegie Library," is not the truth. The New York State Downtown Revitalization Grant is for creating a “Transit Oriented Development in the heart of Patchogue” that includes moving of the library. And, her use of the word "received" is misleading.

Tritec (not the Mayor or the Village) will be reimbursed only after the money is spent. This is how all grants of this type are done and the recipient of the grant must satisfy all the requirements of the grant before the state will dispense any money.

She also claims that "the Mayor and Tritec recently tried to back out of moving the library, claiming that it was structurally unsound to move." That is not true.

Neither Tritec, nor I, have ever made that claim. Truth is the structural integrity of the building is a question that needs to be answered. That is why the Village Board, on the recommendation of Trustee Gerry Crean, agreed to hire an independent engineering firm, for $23,000, to provide a full assessment of the building, including an estimate on the cost of renovation once it is moved.

The question isn't whether we save the library or not. The question is, where do we move it to and what do we do with it and finally how do we financially support it, once it is moved?

Another questionable statement that she makes is; "When that sales pitch failed to garner support with the Village Board and residents, they declared that Tritec was willing to move the library, but that they were concerned that taxpayers couldn't afford to maintain the building after it was moved."

The first part of this statement is a fabrication because it never happened and the second part is misleadingly inaccurate. No one declared anything and Tritec "will" move the library as per their binding agreement with the Village. The last part of her statement is fairly accurate. The entire Village Board and I are concerned about the burden that the cost of renovating and maintaining the building will have on the taxpayer. That is why I have been working to develop a public/private solution which will have little or no impact on the taxpayer.

Ms. Salvatore’s claim that “a press conference was called to announce that Tritec and the Mayor are promising (for a second time) to move a library they already promised (once before) and were obligated (according to the terms of the grant) to move” is another fabrication. There was no press conference called to announce anything. Newsday contacted me because they wanted a photo to go with their story and we had just completed a tour of the building with a potential tenant.

For good measure, Ms. Salvatore tosses in that “This is the same Mayor who hired his relative at a long term cost which will exceed $1 million to the taxpayer, and who gave away a $150,000 dollars of taxpayer money in the form of an interest free loan to Artspace.” Let me clarify this. The Village Board, by a vote of 4 to 2 (I abstained) approved a resolution to hire the young man as a custodian. The position was created based on need. The candidate was qualified for the job and he is an excellent employee who is well liked by his supervisor and colleagues. I am not sure how she arrives at the $1 million cost to the Village, it must be noted that all other village employees earn more than him and will cost significantly more over the long term…what do we do about them?

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about the $150,000 deferred payment for Artspace. This payment is against $348,000 of sewer and building fees. When Art space made their application to the County and State they underestimated the amount of these fees. They asked us to defer all payments; we considered it and did not. This $150,000 deferred payment represents .0075 percent of this $20 million economic redevelopment project.

This agreement was reviewed by the Village Attorney, the attorneys from Suffolk County who gave them $1.5 million the attorneys from NY State who gave them $16 million and from the federal government which oversees the affordable component and in each case it was deemed legal and proper. In each of those, it was a “gift” to Artspace that did not have to be repaid. Ours is the only amount that must be repaid…not a bad deal for a $20 million investment in our Village!