The REAL Hurley Record

The following are Vote for Hurley responses to each of the claimed ‘accomplishments’ promoted by the opposing One Hurley slate of candidates (lead by current Supervisor Melinda McKnight):

CLAIM:

McKnight, Humphries, Simpson and Reed are the Hurley Democratic Committee endorsed candidates!

RESPONSE:

8 members of the Hurley Democratic Committee voted to endorse these candidates out of 16 members. Considering there are 2200 Democrats in Hurley, 8 Dems is less than .004%. Not a resounding endorsement, also given that of those 8 members they included Melinda McKnight, Bill McKnight, Peter McKnight, Peter Humphries, Annie Reed, Bruce Ginsberg and 2 other supporters. Some of these members reregistered from the Green Party.

CLAIM:  

KEEPING TAXES LOW – By improving efficiencies and investing in expertise to avoid the costly litigation that resulted under previous administrations.

RESPONSE:

McKnight/Humphries are overstating incoming revenues, and the budget is artificially helped by the federal government’s COVID-related funding (a one-time windfall for Hurley). McKnight’s total General Fund Budget for 2023 is the largest in Hurley History. It includes the addition of numerous new government jobs (adding to town expenses), an expanding list of legal and other consulting services that are unsustainable, growing costs associated with numerous lawsuits the town has misguidedly pursued, and initiates a new property reassessment that will lead to much higher property taxes.  

CLAIM:  

TRANSPARENCY - Updated the town’s website and improved social media presence and filled the new position of Public Information Officer to ensure communications are provided to the public and news media consistently.

RESPONSE:

The new town website was a disaster for the first year, by McKnight’s own admission.  All the town’s minutes from the previous website went missing, and the new site for the longest time did not have minutes of even recent meetings. Resolutions and Agendas were either not posted, or posted at the very last minute just prior to meetings. The administration had so many bad articles written about it in the Daily Freeman that it hired a former Freeman editor to be the town’s new ‘Information Officer’ (a highly unusual position that no surrounding town or City of Kingston has)  to “feed" the Freeman ‘good stories’ to write about the administration (courtesy of your tax dollars).  The Information Officer also posts partisan messages and information on the town’s official social media, and pushes the administration’s agenda in a new newsletter.  This is not transparency - its propaganda. Finally, the Supervisor will not share the monthly town financials. These are public documents that many towns will post to their websites for true transparency. 

CLAIM:  

PRESERVING OUR TOWN – By creating a Zoning Task Force to address issues with the code and starting the process of updating the Town Comprehensive Plan including collecting surveys and holding community meetings. Approved and put in place a short-term rental application process; hired a consultant to identify rental sites throughout the town and assist with concerns about them.

RESPONSE:

The created Zoning Task Force is chaired by political insider George Rodenhausen, who is Chair of the Hurley Democratic Committee (the committee that endorsed the McKnight ticket), and also founding legal partner of the town’s newly selected municipal attorneys (who are land-use and conservation law specialists), and paid by the hour (vs. retainer as had been done).   The Comprehensive Plan was created with just a tiny fraction of Hurley residents input - less than 134 people responses to the Survey and only a small number participated in town workshops. The Comprehensive Plan is a radical - it outlines creating NEW TAXES whenever a property is sold (transaction tax), funds new land purchases by the town to put into conservation (land that would be taken off tax rolls and adding more overhead to the town in maintain costs), limits property-owner rights (forbidding various activities including moving dirt and rocks and cutting trees, and limiting subdivisions of land). And there is almost NO mention of Hurley business or commercial activity except outlining ways to ‘squeeze’ out what commercial there is along Route 28 and 375.  There is no mention of new multi family housing or affordable housing. 

CLAIM:  

OLD LANDFILL/LEACHATE SYSTEM - Continued corrective action with engineers and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; complied with state testing and reporting requirements.

RESPONSE:

Deputy Supervisor Humphries claims to ‘save tax payer money’ by doing freelance ‘handyman’ work on town machinery, equipment and monitoring devices, activities Supervisor McKnight supports. Regarding the leachate system, Humphries ‘handyman activities’ likely cost the town hundred of thousands of dollars (over $250,000 so far and counting) in corrective actions due to his stopping the leachate pumping for 15 months.  Not only should Deputy Supervisor Humphries not be tinkering with town equipment because he is not licensed to do so, he may very well be creating new problems, putting himself in danger and the town at grave liability risk should something unfortunate happen. 

CLAIM:  

EMPLOYEE SAFETY - Moved Highway Department employees to a temporary facility with a healthy, safe work environment until a new garage is established.

RESPONSE:

After a town committee worked on the search and selection of a site for the new Town Highway Garage, the newly-elected McKnight administration tossed the recommendations out, wasted a year arguing with the Highway Superintendent on the needs of his department, and then took it upon themselves to lease a temporary location (outside of the Town of Hurley) for the Highway Garage. This ’temporary’ move dramatically increased costs to the town, ignored cheaper temporary location solutions, led to a chaotic move of the department, interrupted the daily routines of the department, and leaves the town still without a permanent solution for where to build the new garage.   The process completely sidelined the independently-elected Highway Superintendent and cost taxpayers a great deal of money that need not have been spent.

CLAIM:

LIABILITY PROTECTION - Ensured all town-owned properties and structures are covered by insurance.

Addressed concerns raised by the town’s insurance carriers about various issues that expose the town to potential liability (i.e. added cybersecurity insurance, and added Transfer Station structures and trailer to the insurance policy). Ensured all boards are provided with proper legal counsel to mitigate potential for litigation whenever possible and to avoid procedural pitfalls. 

RESPONSE:

The McKnight administration has sought to ensure all actions taken by them are covered by insurance, for whatever reason including potential malfeasance, negligence or outright illegal behavior. This board has insulated itself from accountability. In addition, the McKnight board has hired the law firm of the Hurley Democratic Committee Chairman, and changed payments to the law firm from a retainer system to paying at an ‘hourly rate’, thus guaranteeing dramatically higher legal fees that taxpayers must pay. This ‘cushy’ arrangement is unethical and must be called out.