Town board under fire

Prattsburgh, N.Y.

While most residents at the Tuesday public hearing on wind developer Ecogen’s lawsuit confined themselves to comments on the project, others were critical of wind-related actions of the past and current town board members.

During the hearing, a number of residents claimed action on the Ecogen project by the previous board was based on tainted information, with those board members opting to ignore expert advice on the negative effect of wind turbines.

Two pro-wind farm board members were ousted in the November election, giving those seats to wind critics Town Supervisor Al Wordingham and Councilwoman Anneke Radin-Snaith with substantial margins of victory.

But Prattsburgh resident Mara Parker charged the current board also has been underhanded, already running up legal fees of more than $15,000 with Bond Schoeneck and King. Nearly half of those legal fees were charged to the town before the law firm was formally selected Jan. 7 to be Prattsburgh’s legal counsel, according to town records.

Ed Hourihan, of Bond Schoeneck and King, said legal response by the board was required at the very start of the year since Ecogen immediately launched a series of actions designed to prevent the new board from acting on the lawsuit.

Board members were sworn in Jan. 2, with their reorganizational meeting five days later.

Four of five board members gave Hourihan their consent to move ahead, he said. The firm logged in a total of 19.5 hours from Jan. 4-Jan. 6, dealing with Ecogen’s new claims.

“It is perfectly appropriate for a board to ratify (previous) expenses in a case like this,” Hourihan said.

In fact, the law firm was taking a slight risk that the board might select another law firm Jan. 7, he said.

“They could have just told us to eat it,” he said. “It’s happened before.”