Within an hour of being sworn in as a new Town Board member for the Town of Milton, Barbara Kerr read a statement at the year’s organizational meeting explaining how she was disappointed with the negative publicity the town had received over the past year concerning public officials.
“I find the recent arrest of our highway superintendent very disturbing,” she read to a packed room at Town Hall. “I personally have zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”
Kerr was sworn into office on Sunday, Jan. 1, along with new town Supervisor Dan Lewza.
Highway Superintendent David Forbes, 43, was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 15, along with 12 other people following a five-month investigation by the Saratoga Springs Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force in Albany. All were arrested on drug related charges, while Forbes was charged with fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony.
In late 2011, the wife of former supervisor Frank Thompson pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $35,000 from an elderly woman she was appointed financial guardian of at Maplewood Manor. Thompson himself was under investigation last year involving a town ethics disclosure.
“While the town board is addressing [Forbes’] issue, we must keep in mind that the allegations and charges have yet to be proven and resolved in our legal process,” Kerr said. “Unfortunately, even the suspicion of wrongdoing has a very negative effect on our town and is extremely damaging to an elected official.”
Highway department employees and some members of the public at the ceremony were clearly not happy that Kerr brought up the incident, but she said she felt the issue should have been addressed by the town much earlier.
“I’m not for or against anyone, I just think public officials should be held to a higher standard,” she said.
Lewza said he too was disappointed with the situation, calling it “tough.”
Since Forbes is an elected official, the town cannot force him to resign. His arrest came about a month after the 2011 local elections.
Kerr said she would like to see a resolution brought to the table at the agenda meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 4, to ask Forbes to resign. Lewza said he thinks Forbes will refuse.
“I think our best option is to ask Mr. Forbes to take a leave of absence until the matter is cleared up,” he said. “The court needs to do what it needs to do to resolve the issue and then we will go forward from there.”
On his first day on the job, Lewza said he was reinstating the board’s monthly agenda meetings so members have more time to review items than in the past.
“I want correct decisions, I don’t want fast decisions,” he said.
Lewza also said his budget committee would start preparing the 2013 spending plan this month to be better prepared when the time comes to put forth a proposal. He also created a new economic development committee consisting of local public officials and members of the business community to find ways to attract news businesses to the town and village.
The town nearly doubled its 2012 property tax rates to avoid having to use nearly its entire surplus to balance a $6 million budget.
Milton residents will pay about $98 and Ballston Spa residents will pay approximately $69 in town taxes on a $200,000 home. The increases to taxes, along with cuts to the Highway Department and employee health care, will leave the town’s surplus at about $890,000 in 2013, said the supervisor.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I think we’ll eventually get there,” Lewza said. “I look forward to the new year and working together as a team with the rest of the board members, I think we will be able to move the town in the right direction.”
