This latest act to further limit transparency in Berne is another action based on false pretenses. I was very careful when I made that motion to record all meetings, including executive sessions, in 2020 and it was not easy for me to get anything passed in the politically polarized situation I was in on that board in 2020.
Isn’t this a little over the top? Berne stonewalled me for weeks on my Freedom of Information Law request for the recording of the Aug. 13 executive session meeting called immediately before firing Shawn Duncan [“Berne Town Board terminates transfer-station worker,” The Altamont Enterprise, Sept. 3, 2025]. They claimed they needed the extra time to evaluate the record.
I assumed they would redact it under the advice of a lawyer. But after all that extra time they informed me there was no recording! Extra time was necessary to evaluate an audio recording they knew did not exist? Or did they decide to destroy it?…