The Town of Woodstock’s bills got paid after all, but one member of the town board called the crisis a charade.
The board approved $434,786 in vouchers at its August 9 meeting — a second attempt after council members Bennet Ratcliff and Maria-Elena Conte abstained from a similar vote at the July 18 meeting. Since Laura Ricci was absent from last month’s meeting, the measure didn’t have the required three votes to pass, putting the town in a potentially precarious fiscal situation and damaging its relationships with its vendors.
It turns out that supervisor Bill McKenna had approved payment of the bills within days of the July 18 meeting after a verbal okay from council members Ricci and Reggie Earls.
A variety of vendors and individuals are paid through the voucher system, where the bills are reviewed each month, and then approved in bulk at the town board’s monthly business meeting. In July, those bills ranged from large companies to small stores in town to reimbursements for individual expenses. Those included Verizon for phone services, $183,594 to Callanan Industries for paving, more than $9,368 to Central Hudson for electric service, to H. Houst & Son and Woodstock Hardware for supplies and to Catskill Mountain Pizza for food for the youth center. Also paid through voucher submission were instructors for classes held by the senior recreation program.
“It’s just shameful political theater,” McKenna said of the refusal to sign vouchers. “God bless Reggie and Laura for stepping up.” He noted that Earls will sometimes come in on the Monday before the meeting to review vouchers if he doesn’t have time on Tuesday. Ricci has come in on a Sunday, including this past week.
Typically, vouchers are reviewed the day of the business meeting, which is the second meeting of the month. They are as current as possible to minimize delay.
McKenna said Ratcliff and Conte had signed vouchers for the last 15 months without issue. The supervisor said he checked with other area supervisors and with the state Association of Towns and was assured the bills could be paid based on verbal commitment.
Ratcliff, who is challenging McKenna for supervisor in November, said the payment of vouchers was against the law. “The vouchers that were presented at the July 18 meeting should never have been presented. They were not properly reviewed,” he said.
McKenna told Ratcliff he should have come in and reviewed them.
“I would ask you next time, supervisor McKenna, to get the proper approval before putting something on the agenda that should not have been there,” Ratcliff responded.
“I talked with Reggie and Laura, and they were comfortable with me paying them. The bills needed to be paid,” McKenna argued. “You’ve been on the board for over a year and a half. You know the process. You know about coming in to review the vouchers. You’ve failed for the last four months to do so.”
Ratcliff called accusations he had missed four months “absolutely incorrect.”
Ricci said Ratcliff actually missed three of the last four months, April, June and July.
That’s when the meeting went off the rails.
“We’re done with this,” McKenna said. He called for a vote to approve the vouchers.
Ratcliff called a point of order. McKenna responded there was no point of order.
“The bills have already been paid,” Ratcliff interrupted. “They have already been paid. They were paid on July 19.”
McKenna attempted to resume the meeting.
Ratcliff kept interrupting. “Bill, it is a charade, what you’re doing. The bills have already been paid. You’re misleading the people about what you’re doing,” Ratcliff said.
“Bennet, you did not do your job,” Ricci yelled and McKenna repeated.
“You didn’t do your job, Laura,” Ratcliff yelled back.
McKenna defended Ricci by explaining she was on vacation.
“You didn’t do your job,” Ricci shouted back repeatedly.
“Laura, let it go,” McKenna said in another attempt to resume the meeting.
“You were in town and you failed to do your job,” Ricci said to Ratcliff.
After the meeting, Ratcliff said he and Conte had personal issues and were not able to come in to review vouchers for the July 18 meeting.
Ratcliff said McKenna should never have had an unauthorized voucher approval on the agenda. He said it wasn’t authorized because not enough board members had reviewed them. “Laura failed to review them,” he said.
“I was out of town, Bennet,” Ricci, overhearing the conversation, said.
“I was out of town at a family wedding. You were in town. You did not bother to review…,” Bennet shouted back. “I had a medical emergency. So there you go. Give me a break.
“Bennet, you didn’t do April, you didn’t do June, you didn’t do July,” Ricci said.
“You failed to show up and then you phoned it in,” Ratcliff responded.
Ricci acknowledged she had spoken on the phone with the supervisor.
“What she’s now admitting is not allowed,” Ratcliff replied. “What you have to see is that he’s just doing what he wants to do, and she is just rubber stamping it. That is what is going on.”
Ricci said she told McKenna that since she had been on the board for more than seven years she felt comfortable with the vouchers being paid. She asked Ratcliff where he was in April, June and July and why he couldn’t sign vouchers.
Ratcliff said they already had enough signatures.
“It’s your job to be here in July, and you weren’t,” she said.
“You’re the one who didn’t show up and you’re the one who phoned it in,” Ratcliff replied.
Ratcliff’s claim of a medical emergency was news to McKenna, who said that was never communicated to him.
“A lot of vendors called and were concerned after the last meeting,” McKenna said. “I hope this nonsense stops.”
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