Outcry spurs APA shift
Public comment limits for park agency unpopular
RAY BROOK — After receiving hundreds of comments lambasting the Adirondack Park Agency for proposals to limit its public comment opportunities and shorten the review of policies, staff and board members backtracked.
The agency has been in the spotlight over its transparency – making strides in some areas by releasing more information on its website, and falling behind in others, including a recent scolding from a state Supreme Court judge over its “one-sided” presentations.
Its latest round of critiques came after staff proposed removing public comment at the start of its full-day meetings and shortening the deadline of when it could consider written comments, among other changes.
APA Counsel Chris Cooper suggested the board vote on the changes in March when they were originally proposed, but board members were confused and concerned about the public’s reaction. In their monthly meeting Thursday, they instead chose to send the revisions out for a 30-day public comment period.
Some staff and board members bristled at the deluge of criticism. Brad Austin, an APA board member and the state’s Economic Development Department designee, asked Cooper to tell the board how the “agency probably exceeds” requirements of the state’s Open Meetings Law. He praised how much information is now available online.
Minutes before Austin spoke, APA staff struggled to get the webcast of the meeting working and announced that the building’s wifi was down. Later, the agency not only excluded the public from an executive session, but locked out the Adirondack Explorer and others attending the meeting from the APA building. It was the third meeting in a row the agency cast the public out of its Ray Brook headquarters while the board met for a combined lunch and executive session to discuss pending litigation.
Previously, the agency notified a former employee he must stop including information he picked up while employed in his public comments.
“I feel like it would be good context to say we don’t have to do public comments at the start and end of the meeting,” Austin said. “We already go above and beyond what we’re required to do.”
Cooper said no public comment period is required of the agency. According to the Open Meetings Law, “a public body shall provide an opportunity for the public to attend, listen and observe meetings in at least one physical location at which a member participates.”
The public may now continue, as usual, to comment at the start and end of APA meetings. Originally staff had proposed nixing the first public comment section to simplify the process and prevent ex parte issues, Cooper said.
Written public comment submissions were also clarified. The APA will post its agenda two weeks ahead of a meeting rather than one. Written public comments that the board will consider before an upcoming meeting must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. on the Monday before. Cooper said this deadline is “a fallout from the Lake George Association litigation” over the agency’s issuance of an herbicide permit to the Lake George Park Commission.
“We got a lot of public comments at the last minute,” Cooper said. “The court then criticized the board for not reviewing that. … It’s a catch 22, and we’re trying to fix that by making sure that staff and you as board members have the time to truly consider that comment coming in.”
Jerry Delaney, executive director of the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, said the policy proposals and feedback provided APA “a lesson on how important the people of this country take their public comment.” He thought the board could have been more prepared in March when the proposal was first brought (the board had no April meeting).