WGXC-90.7 FM
Council again rejects property assessments, with pushing and shoving
Apr 25, 2019 12:59 am
Roger Hannigan Gilson reports in The Other Hudson Valley that there was another vote April 24 by the Hudson Common Council to put aside the city’s preliminary property assessments and their was also foul-language insults, and pushing and shoving between a former and a current Common Council member. The Common Council passed the same legislation they voted for last week, and that Hudson Mayor Rick Rector vetoed, but changed a section to specifically ask the mayor to reject the assessment. The resolution asks Rector to “terminate” the contract with GAR, the private firm aiding in the assessments, and reject “any recommendations and opinions by GAR” concerning the assessments. Eileen Halloran, Rob Bujan, and Dominick Merante — who all abstained from the first vote — voted against this resolution. Hudson City Attorney Andrew Howard said the resolution was illegal by state law. Alan Weaver, a local real estate agent, began verbally sparring with Common Council President Tom DePietro during the public comment period of the meeting, and DePietro banged his gavel to call for a five-minute recess. Then, outside the meeting room John Freidman, a former Common Council member, was heard asking if DePietro had called him a word not allowed to be said on the radio. Friedman then used another expletive, aimed at DePietro. "DePietro was then seen shoving Friedman against the wall at the edge of a staircase. The two struggled until they were pulled apart by" Alderperson Shershah Mizan and others. Rector will most likely veto the very similar legislation, and then the Common Council could override his veto with a two-thirds majority. FULL DISCLOSURE: DePietro is a volunteer WGXC programmer. Read the full story in The Other Hudson Valley.