Letters To The Editor 07.01.21

On being a “developer friendly” town

And staying with the “developer friendly” practices of the various planning boards in Rensselaer County, especially Sand Lake and Poestenkill, both of which figure prominently in an FBI Hobbs Act investigation of public corruption in Rensselaer County, which is an indication of the long legacy in Sand Lake leading up to this Barnes Road situation, according to the March 15, 1989 Axelrod Report of Investigation of Misfeasance and Malfeasance in the Rensselaer County Department of Health under the direction of the Sand Lake Planning Board Chairman, which report was very effectively buried to protect the guilty, at p.5, item 4, it states thusly:

“In some cases plans were improperly approved/signed by the Public Health Director (Sand Lake Planning Board Chairman) without input from a Professional Engineer.

“Time extensions for approval of plans were also approved by the Public Health Director without input from a Professional Engineer.”

And that takes us to Subarticle 4, Unauthorized Acts, of Article 130 of the NY Education Law, to wit:

§6512 Unauthorized practice a crime.

Anyone not authorized to practice under this title who practices . . . in any profession in which a license is a prerequisite to the practice of the acts . . . shall be guilty of a class E felony.

So talk about tradition in Sand Lake, there we have a bunch more felonies stacked up against the former Sand Lake Planning Board Chairman, whose legacy lives on in Sand Lake if the Barnes Road matter is any indication.

And it should be mentioned that before the former Sand Lake Planning Board Chairman became Rensselaer County Public Health Director, the state health department conferred on him the title of medical doctor so that he could be the Deputy Health Commissioner in Rensselaer County, which experience as a medical doctor then qualified him in the eyes of the state to serve as the public health director in Rensselaer County.

Paul Plante, Poestenkill