by John Mason
Register-Star
May 14, 2009
COLUMBIA COUNTY — Although the Board of Supervisors went about its usual tasks at Wednesday’s full board meeting, creating and filling positions, distributing mortgage taxes, awarding contracts and making proclamations, their bubble was pierced by the buzz on the sidewalk outside, in the seats on the periphery of the chamber, in end-of-the-meeting remarks by discontented supervisors and in the hallway after the meeting.
The buzz was about Ockawamick, as it has been for 14 months, and Pine Haven, as it has been for four months. The supervisors’ plan is to move the Department of Social Services from Hudson to the former Ockawamick School in Claverack, six miles outside the county seat. And they are studying a proposal to move the Pine Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center from Philmont to Kinderhook.
On the State Street sidewalk outside the front door, about 40 people held signs that said things like “Keep Pine Haven in Philmont,” “Keep DSS in Hudson,” and “What about us.”
“Let’s stop the secret upstairs meetings,” intoned Al Wassenhove through a bullhorn. “Let’s have the facts, folks. Keep DSS in Hudson. Give [Hudson Mayor Rick] Scalera a seat at the table.”
Linda Mussmann and Claudia Bruce led choruses of “It’s a Long Way to Ockawamick.”
“Who sold this piece of asbestos laden junk to us?” asked Ockawamick move opponent Dan Udell of Taghkanic. “Who unloaded this on us? What were the terms and conditions? We were never told. It was a solution without a problem. It was never discussed.”
“It’s a totally inhuman thing to do this to people who are so helpless and need so much support to get on a bus,” said Mary Udell. “People with health problems, sight problems, elderly — it’s inhuman. The supervisors want to hollow out Hudson. This hurts the economy of Hudson and the people who are in need, when it’s supposed to help them.”
Pine Haven employee Ruth Taylor said she was there to keep Pine Haven county owned and operated.
If the move to Kinderhook happens, she said, “more than likely they’ll privatize certain departments — laundry, housekeeping and kitchen.”
Lorraine Decker, a 23-year employee of the home, said she didn’t know if long-time employees of the home would be able to travel the distance to the proposed new location.
Home employee Martha Hoyt said, “The care’s wonderful, the people are wonderful, the ambulance response time is tremendous.”
She said she didn’t understand why Kinderhook would need two skilled nursing facilities, Pine Haven and Barnwell.
Where were the supervisors while the people were out on the streets? Supervisor Tom Dias, R-Ancram, and a few Hudson supervisors were out talking to them. The rest were apparently in ill-lit rooms.
At the end of the board meeting, when supervisors are usually visibly anxious to adjourn, Supervisor Ed Cross, D-Hudson2, rose to address his peers.
“I walked into the Democratic caucus,” he said. “The lights were out.” He noticed the same thing in the Republicans’ caucus, he said.
“We’re a team,” Cross said. “If something’s wrong and someone sees, it’s up to them to tell it. I said months ago the purchase was wrong. We tried to squeeze DSS in there, make it fit. Why do we need to put it there so quickly? Are we afraid the building will turn to a pumpkin?”
He referred the supervisors to a list of questions he had placed on their desks.
“Look at them, in your solitude,” he said. “Talk to your constituents. We are a team. We’re supposed to be working together. We’re not doing that.”
The questions cover such issues as financing, public referendum, cost of the transportation plan, maintenance costs, DSS procedures and a host of others.
Supervisor William C. Hughes, D-Hudson4, rose next.
He said he and other Hudson supervisors had been criticized for making comments on Ockawamick.
“We wanted you to understand the depths of this decision,” he said. Both the Ockawamick and Pine Haven projects, Hughes said, need to have both cost analyses and humanistic analyses done.
Outside in the hallway, bed-and-breakfast owner Mary Koch accosted her supervisor, Republican James Keegan, over the Ockawamick plan.
He told her the plan will benefit Claverack because it gets two acres for a town hall, if built within the first 10 years.
Koch said this would come at the cost of hardships for the DSS clients who would have to travel to Claverack.
“What about the people in New Lebanon?” Keegan asked. “It doesn’t work out good when you don’t have a car and can’t get to Hudson.”
Claudia Bruce said 60 percent of the people using services are in the Hudson area, and Linda Mussman said people from the outlying towns who drive to DSS would rather come to Hudson to shop at the same time.
Koch said the plan would weaken Hudson, and that it was a bad time for a plan that increases gasoline consumption.
“We should be spending less money on oil,” she said.
“This was a good building that was going to go to waste,” Keegan said. “Now it’s a viable, working building.”
“It’s a mistake,” said Meg Cashen of Claverack. “You’ll be so sorry if you do it. It’s so unfair to the recipients.”
Keegan said people who were very close to him had had two deaf children. The mother never drove a car in her life, but got to DSS by bus.
“I’m not immune to this,” he said.
Mussmann asked what the difference was between taking the prison out of Hudson — an issue that unified almost all local leaders in their opposition to it — and taking DSS out of Hudson.
Koch argued that the Health Department and DSS should be located near each other because of the overlap in their clienteles.
“We’re all willing to work and try to help rationally get this idea to work,” Mussmann said. “But the doors were shut the minute the idea was floated.” She recalled that 29 people spoke against it at the only public hearing on the topic, with no supporters.
“All agency people,” Keegan said.
Bruce and Mussmann disputed this contention.
“Have one more public hearing,” Koch pleaded. “See what the people have to say.”
“2011 is coming upon us,” Keegan said, referring to the end of DSS’s lease with Tony Concra at 25 Railroad Ave., Hudson.
“You can’t rent it one more year?” Mussmann asked. “Give us a little more time.”
“Contractor costs are going up as you’re talking,” Keegan said.
“Hudson is a center of need,” Cross said. “A group that gets burnt out of this. Hudson will get burnt. This is all scripted for us poor folk to get out of town.”
The buzz was about Ockawamick, as it has been for 14 months, and Pine Haven, as it has been for four months. The supervisors’ plan is to move the Department of Social Services from Hudson to the former Ockawamick School in Claverack, six miles outside the county seat. And they are studying a proposal to move the Pine Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center from Philmont to Kinderhook.
On the State Street sidewalk outside the front door, about 40 people held signs that said things like “Keep Pine Haven in Philmont,” “Keep DSS in Hudson,” and “What about us.”
“Let’s stop the secret upstairs meetings,” intoned Al Wassenhove through a bullhorn. “Let’s have the facts, folks. Keep DSS in Hudson. Give [Hudson Mayor Rick] Scalera a seat at the table.”Linda Mussmann and Claudia Bruce led choruses of “It’s a Long Way to Ockawamick.”
“Who sold this piece of asbestos laden junk to us?” asked Ockawamick move opponent Dan Udell of Taghkanic. “Who unloaded this on us? What were the terms and conditions? We were never told. It was a solution without a problem. It was never discussed.”
“It’s a totally inhuman thing to do this to people who are so helpless and need so much support to get on a bus,” said Mary Udell. “People with health problems, sight problems, elderly — it’s inhuman. The supervisors want to hollow out Hudson. This hurts the economy of Hudson and the people who are in need, when it’s supposed to help them.”
Pine Haven employee Ruth Taylor said she was there to keep Pine Haven county owned and operated.
If the move to Kinderhook happens, she said, “more than likely they’ll privatize certain departments — laundry, housekeeping and kitchen.”
Lorraine Decker, a 23-year employee of the home, said she didn’t know if long-time employees of the home would be able to travel the distance to the proposed new location.
Home employee Martha Hoyt said, “The care’s wonderful, the people are wonderful, the ambulance response time is tremendous.”
She said she didn’t understand why Kinderhook would need two skilled nursing facilities, Pine Haven and Barnwell.
Where were the supervisors while the people were out on the streets? Supervisor Tom Dias, R-Ancram, and a few Hudson supervisors were out talking to them. The rest were apparently in ill-lit rooms.
At the end of the board meeting, when supervisors are usually visibly anxious to adjourn, Supervisor Ed Cross, D-Hudson2, rose to address his peers.
“I walked into the Democratic caucus,” he said. “The lights were out.” He noticed the same thing in the Republicans’ caucus, he said.
“We’re a team,” Cross said. “If something’s wrong and someone sees, it’s up to them to tell it. I said months ago the purchase was wrong. We tried to squeeze DSS in there, make it fit. Why do we need to put it there so quickly? Are we afraid the building will turn to a pumpkin?”
He referred the supervisors to a list of questions he had placed on their desks.
“Look at them, in your solitude,” he said. “Talk to your constituents. We are a team. We’re supposed to be working together. We’re not doing that.”
The questions cover such issues as financing, public referendum, cost of the transportation plan, maintenance costs, DSS procedures and a host of others.
Supervisor William C. Hughes, D-Hudson4, rose next.
He said he and other Hudson supervisors had been criticized for making comments on Ockawamick.
“We wanted you to understand the depths of this decision,” he said. Both the Ockawamick and Pine Haven projects, Hughes said, need to have both cost analyses and humanistic analyses done.
Outside in the hallway, bed-and-breakfast owner Mary Koch accosted her supervisor, Republican James Keegan, over the Ockawamick plan.
He told her the plan will benefit Claverack because it gets two acres for a town hall, if built within the first 10 years.
Koch said this would come at the cost of hardships for the DSS clients who would have to travel to Claverack.
“What about the people in New Lebanon?” Keegan asked. “It doesn’t work out good when you don’t have a car and can’t get to Hudson.”
Claudia Bruce said 60 percent of the people using services are in the Hudson area, and Linda Mussman said people from the outlying towns who drive to DSS would rather come to Hudson to shop at the same time.
Koch said the plan would weaken Hudson, and that it was a bad time for a plan that increases gasoline consumption.
“We should be spending less money on oil,” she said.
“This was a good building that was going to go to waste,” Keegan said. “Now it’s a viable, working building.”
“It’s a mistake,” said Meg Cashen of Claverack. “You’ll be so sorry if you do it. It’s so unfair to the recipients.”
Keegan said people who were very close to him had had two deaf children. The mother never drove a car in her life, but got to DSS by bus.
“I’m not immune to this,” he said.
Mussmann asked what the difference was between taking the prison out of Hudson — an issue that unified almost all local leaders in their opposition to it — and taking DSS out of Hudson.
Koch argued that the Health Department and DSS should be located near each other because of the overlap in their clienteles.
“We’re all willing to work and try to help rationally get this idea to work,” Mussmann said. “But the doors were shut the minute the idea was floated.” She recalled that 29 people spoke against it at the only public hearing on the topic, with no supporters.
“All agency people,” Keegan said.
Bruce and Mussmann disputed this contention.
“Have one more public hearing,” Koch pleaded. “See what the people have to say.”
“2011 is coming upon us,” Keegan said, referring to the end of DSS’s lease with Tony Concra at 25 Railroad Ave., Hudson.
“You can’t rent it one more year?” Mussmann asked. “Give us a little more time.”
“Contractor costs are going up as you’re talking,” Keegan said.
“Hudson is a center of need,” Cross said. “A group that gets burnt out of this. Hudson will get burnt. This is all scripted for us poor folk to get out of town.”
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