Hugh Reynolds: Senator Sinkhole

The columnist Reynolds.

At this point, district taxpayers must be scratching their heads, if not their wallets. Is this any way to run a school construction project?

Padalino, in an unfortunate choice of words, termed the district’s misjudgments, assumptions and ill-advised conclusions “potholes” or “bumps in the road.”

Absent a revote, which everyone knows would be crushed at the polls, the superintendent and the school board will soldier on. Is it any wonder that residents are restless and worried?

The controversy over the high school bond issue has exposed a fissure between administration and school board. Some board members have complained that they weren’t properly informed by the administration prior to the bond vote. From the executive suite have come concerns about micromanagement by the school board, which by state education law has precious little to say once policy decisions are made.

These people need to talk.

Maroons in the red

As we sift through the complications of the renovations to Kingston High (and campus), the hard-working KHS centennial committee is beginning a year-long celebration of the building’s original construction. I’m told that Maroons, as they used to be called, will be coming in from all over the country.

An 18-month calendar the committee is issuing for alumni disclosed that the original Kingston High School cost about $180,000 to build in 1915. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $4.1 million in today’s dollars. They might be able to replace the roof for that amount these days.

One of the sidebars in this KHS controversy is union lobbying for a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for what could be the largest construction project in county history.  Unionists and their political allies say union labor is more efficient and of higher quality, and therefore worth the additional expense in the long run. It should be noted that labor unions routinely contribute to the campaigns of politicians who make these decisions (not to the unpaid school board members.)

What would a PLA cost? Figures of 10 to 20 percent more are commonly cited. The county jail project used a PLA and wound up some $20 million over bid. Union supporters blamed lousy management, some of the people they supported in the previous election. Kingston’s city hall on Broadway was rebuilt under a PLA. Construction costs ballooned by some 40 percent; it’s only fair to point out that historic renovation is far different from new construction.

The school board seems conflicted. After first voting against a PLA, the board reversed itself but ordered a $25,000 study to attempt to determine whether PLAs actually saved money. That should make for interesting reading.

Don is gone

I can’t say I was shocked by legislature majority leader Don Gregorius’ announcement that he will not seek re-election to a sixth term in November. A majority leader in name only, he was not a happy man.

Gregorius, a former Woodstock councilman, served through the historic transition period when the county moved from a government run by a part-time legislature to one dominated by an elected executive. Under the county charter adopted in 2006, the legislature was downsized from 33 to 23 and single-member districts were established.

Gregorius says he was OK with all that. “I believe this is a better form of government at less cost, doing more,” he said in his retirement announcement.

What Gregorius couldn’t stomach was an elected 13-10 Democratic majority being usurped by a handful of Democratic insurgents aided and abetted by the minority party. Some call it “the Parete majority.” The cabal’s composed of Chairman John Parete of Olive, his son Richard of Stone Ridge (which makes a majority with united Republicans) and one or two fellow Democrats. Gregorius delivered a stinging rebuke to this “Democratic” majority in his state-of-the-county speech last month. I doubt anyone expected him to walk out in protest, though.

In any event, Chairman Parete can take the heat. In cahoots (as they say in Boiceville) with Republicans, the Paretes run the legislature, for what that’s worth.

Similar political gamesmanship was at work when the Democrats in Albany elected a majority of state senators in 2010 but could not agree on a majority leader. A group of five senators from New York joined with Republicans to create a rump majority.

The departure of Gregorius will, I think, be the legislature’s loss. He worked diligently at the job. He stood by his generally liberal principles, but was always willing to listen to another point of view. He challenged authority. I hope we’ve not heard the last of Don Gregorius.

The timing of the majority leader’s announcement gives party leaders in Democrat- dominated Woodstock and Hurley sufficient time to round up a nominee for the June conventions.

He said what?

When state police believe an alleged physical threat by one public official to another is worth kicking up to the district attorney, I guess there may be something to it. To the casual observer 20 miles away, the obscenity-laced tirade from New Paltz town board member Jeff Logan directed at fellow council member Dan Torres (he said he was threatened and has it on tape) sounds like something that could have been settled over coffee after a meeting. Only a few weeks ago, both were grinning out one of those kumbaya photos with other town and village officials in New Paltz Times.

Down in Orange County, where the closing of an elementary school has caused some hurt feelings, a school board member called the portly mayor of Middletown a “fat ass.” In the immortal words of Rodney King, why can’t we all get along?

For sure, the Torres-Logan faceoff didn’t rise (or sink) to the level of one alderman throwing another across a conference room in Kingston, an incident that a decade ago went unreported as just one hothead dealing with another.

Given the district attorney’s propensity for ignoring he-said, she-saids by public officials, this one will probably die aborning “in the interest of justice.”