Circus comes to town of Ulster

Dear Editor: The Ulster Town Board has been out of control for quite some time, but last week its actions turned to absurdity.

How can the Personnel Committee claim that it did the proper research into the hiring of the police chief if it did not even talk to the other member of the force who was qualified for the position before it planned on making a recommendation to the full Town Board?

I think we have an excellent and professional police department; the Town Board and supervisor, on the other hand, I’m not so sure.

One of my main concerns is the way the board is doing business.

The Personnel Committee consists of three of the four Town Board members. During the committee’s meetings, the fourth member of the Town Board was also present and gave input into the process, but did not vote. The committee chose to make a recommendation to the full board at the next public meeting that Lt. Anthony Cruise should be the next chief. This does not seem like the transparency and change that was promised after the 2009 elections that brought in board members Morrow and Hendrick.

I would have thought that after their last mishap selecting a chief, the board would have done the due diligence necessary to at least have the appearance of a proper process. Remember, one of the reasons Chief Taggard was made chief in 2010 was to improve the morale that was causing members of the force to call out sick for what Morrow and Supervisor Quigley called the “blue flu.” It couldn’t have been the fact that the police department has since been moved to mobile trailers because of flooding and mold that has actually made the officers ill. The morale couldn’t also be low because it has been three years since the department has had a contract.

Quigley and the Town Board have turned the simple process of following proper civil service law into a political circus, by either going to the newspaper, in the case of Quigley, or using this decision as a political power play, in the case of John Morrow. I would have preferred a cleaner process that included a citizens commission, however at this point I believe it would be best for the board to interview the two candidates in house and hire the best candidate. MARC RIDER

Kingston marcrider@yahoo.com The writer is chairman, Town of Ulster Democratic Committee.