Ethics issue raised in town

Report sparks ire as Glenville rivals near election

A candidate running for Glenville’s top job arranged for items to be purchased at his familyowned hardware store and sought to be reimbursed by the town.

Yet as an elected official, reimbursement would be a violation of both town and state ethics laws, advised the town’s top money-watcher.

Glenville Comptroller Jason Cuthbert flagged a series of purchases made by the town highway department from Marty’s True Value in 2019 that he viewed as problematic. The hardware store then billed the town back.

The town reimbursed Councilman Michael Aragosa for a $45.47 purchase made in January 2019, according to records obtained by the Times Union, approving the payment after deeming it an “honest oversight.”

But Cuthbert later denied an invoice for six subsequent purchases totaling $500.17 for what he described as everyday items, including mailboxes, shovels, snow brushes, rods, pins and wire rope.

Those purchases, Cuthbert wrote to Aragosa in an email on Oct. 18, 2019, were “readily available at businesses located within the town of Glenville and which are not owned and operated by an elected town official.”

Cuthbert told Aragosa he’d already been briefed on state and town ethics law when he signed his employment paperwork in 2017, and therefore should be familiar with the guidelines. Prior to 2019, the last time the town made any purchase from Marty’s True Value was in 2011, Cuthbert wrote.

Aragosa, a Democrat, is locked in a two-way contest with GOP town Supervisor Chris Koetzle, who lashed his opponent for attempting to skirt ethics laws.

“This is obviously a clear violation of state ethics law and a violation of the town’s ethics law that he read, signed and understood — and then violated it,” Koetzle said. “I think it shows poor judgment. I don’t believe he did it intentionally: I think he’s a man of good moral character, but it’s bad judgment.”

Aragosa denied wrongdoing and called the allegations “pure political bull—-t.”

The councilman said he was simply trying to save taxpayer money when he was approached by the town highway superintendent for a bulk order of mailboxes, an arrangement he said was similar to one that his business previously negotiated with Schenectady County.

“The town would have been saving money,” Aragosa said. “I never got paid, so really in the end, I donated those mailboxes to the town.”

Another purchase was a device used by commercial businesses for overnight heat monitoring, an item that isn’t typically carried by most area retailers, Aragosa said.

“I had it, they needed it, and they came and bought it,” said Aragosa, noting that his former hardware store on Van Vranken Avenue in Schenectady, which he and his brother sold last year to make way for a Stewart’s expansion, served multiple commercial entities and school districts across the Capital Region.

“Everybody who was a commercial entity within 25 miles of my store was a customer,” Aragosa said.

Koetzle has his own ethical conflicts to grapple with, Aragosa said, pointing out that the supervisor’s son works at Mohawk Honda. The Town Board, he claimed, previously acted upon a project that benefited the dealership, including the relocation of a sewer line that allowed the franchise to build a new building on Freemans Bridge Road.

Koetzle said it wasn’t a vote, but rather a mechanism called a “field change,” and challenged Aragosa to produce documentation to support his claims.

“My son wasn’t working there at the time,” Koetzle said. “It was an economic development project — and they paid for it.”

Koetzle later provided a copy of the resolution, and noted that even if a family member had worked at Mohawk Honda at the time, there’s nothing in town policy that would identify that as anything untowards or improper.

Early voting begins Saturday and continues until Sunday, Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 2.