Amid heated debates on a proposal to build a new indoor recreation in Niskayuna, there has been one Town Board member noticeably absent from meetings.
Councilwoman Liz Orzel Kasper was present for the first meeting of the year on Jan. 12, but was absent from the following five meetings until returning on the Thursday, April 19, meeting. All other board members were present for the seven meetings held so far this year. After therecent meeting, Kasper said she was in Florida at a home she purchased last year.
“We bought a house in Florida, I’m not moving there,” Kasper said after the meeting. “We were doing a lot of remodeling this year and I was going to get back in March and then my granddaughter got married down there.”
Kasper said the property is going to be a “vacation home.” She said since Town Board meeting are typically two weeks apart there is ample time to go to Florida for 10 days.
The Spotlight reviewed Town Board meeting minutes from 1990 to the present and found in 15 of the 19 years Kasper served as a board member during that time period, she was either the most absent board member or was tied for the most absences.
Upon Kasper’s return, some residents on April 19 voiced concern about her extended absence.
“Liz, I voted for you and I will not do so again unless you attend meetings and that goes for everybody on this board,” Whitmyer Drive resident Amy Howansky said. “Your job is to be here, your job is to discuss things in a public open forum to hear our views and to vote according to the views of the people in the town.”
Earlier in the meeting, Kasper said she watched meeting videos “several times” while she was away, allowing her to see presentations given and hear residents’ concerns. She said she read three local newspapers, too.
“I am fully informed,” said Kasper. “I read your emails and I read everything that I got.”
Kasper said she didn’t reply to emails because she wanted to “listen to the whole thing” on the proposed indoor recreation center before making any statements on the project.
Former Town Board candidate Linda Rizzo, who left the town GOP and filed a change of enrollment to join the Democratic Party while Kasper (also a Democrat) was out of state, also voiced her discontent at the recent meeting.
“When you are elected by the public, you are elected to come to board meetings and cast your vote,” Rizzo said. “Sitting in Florida … is not being responsible to the taxpayers.”
Rizzo said it is “not legitimate” for Kasper to say she kept up with meetings and town issues while she is out of state, because she is elected for “the power of the vote.”
“Once you leave this table Liz, you are no different than I am,” Rizzo said. “You are doing nothing more than what I am doing and I am not an elected official.”
Kasper said even if she was present at meeting she probably wouldn’t be responding to residents’ comments during the meeting because it has been the policy of the current administration to not respond at meetings.
“That part I don’t see as a lack, because we sit here many meetings … and you don’t see the board members respond,” Kasper said. “Even if I was here I probably wouldn’t have been responding.”
Kasper said her extended absence is not something that will continue in future years.
“I didn’t ever leave, I was here for everything,” Kasper said. “If I am gone for any length of time I will certainly make sure I am back.”
Kasper said she picked the timeframe this year to leave because it was February vacation and spring break, so she wasn’t missing “as much.”
Kasper noted there have been previous board members that have had jobs out of state and who were absent from several meetings.
“I certainly don’t recommend it and I don’t plan to continue for that length of time,” she said. “If I were going to be down there next winter, I will make sure that it doesn’t conflict with meeting times.”
She said if there were not controversial issues being debated, she’s not sure anyone would have noticed her absence.
“If this controversy wasn’t happening … people wouldn’t have noticed that I wasn’t here,” she said. “They made a point of it because of this ‘whose side,’ people were scared of whose side I was on.”
As the recreation center project would require bonding, a supermajority vote of 4-1 would be required to pass it.
A look back at attendance
Kasper was first elected to office in 1986, and since that time has served on the board except during a time period of 1996 through 1999.
The Spotlight reviewed meeting records from 1990 to present day. Excluding the years Kasper was not on the board, there have been 478 Town Board meetings during her tenure since that time. Kasper attended 391 of them, or about 82 percent.
The meeting numbers include regular meetings, special meetings, budget hearings and any other official gathering of the board to vote on resolutions.
“I do the other things, and I have always done the other things and I am there,” Kasper said when asked about her record.
She said throughout the years she has been very active in the community outside of attending board meetings.
“I am certainly, if you ask anybody, I am very visible and very approachable,” she said. “I am not going to say that I haven’t been a diligent member of the board.”
Kasper said she did hesitate to run again because of her plans to purchase a home in Florida with her husband.
“When I ran in the fall I wasn’t going to run … but I was asked to run and I explained that we had some obligations this winter and that I would be (in Florida),” Kasper said.
Kasper said she has received many phone calls and emails of encouragement and support from residents since the April 19 meeting, with residents confirming they know she does a good job.
Since 1990, out of Kasper’s years on the board she held the most absences of all board members for all of the years except 2007, 2001, 1993 and 1991. Two of those years, 2008 and 1994, she was tied with a fellow board member for most absences.
Kasper said in 2001, when she had six absences, her mother was dying. In previous years, she said she has had to have surgeries that led to her missing meetings.
She also noted attendance at agenda meetings traditionally wasn’t recorded, so she said there were several times she was at a meeting that was not officially recorded.
“The agenda meetings have always not been recorded … but the agenda meetings are now being recorded,” she said.
Kasper in 2011 attended 75 percent of the Town Board’s meetings and 83 percent in 2010. During these three years, Supervisor Joe Landry is the only board member attending every meeting. All board members besides Kasper have attended every meeting in 2012
In 2011, Councilwoman Julie McDonnell attended 91.7 percent of meetings (two missed), Councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw attended 87.5 percent (three missed) and Councilman Jonathan McKinney attended 79.2 percent (five missed).
In 2010, McDonnell attended 91.7 percent (two missed), McGraw also attended 91.7 percent and McKinney attended 95.8 percent (one missed).
The Town Supervisor receives a salary of $53,800 and the four board members receive a salary of $10,450, with all five receiving health, dental and vision insurance. The board members also receive a pension. Town Comptroller Paul Sebesta said these salaries have remained unchanged for the last five years.