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Recusals rare in Cairo

Oct 07, 2019 11:55 pm
Sarah Trafton reports for Columbia-Greene Media that Cairo Town Board member Jason Watts voted in August for a resolution authorizing a $50,000 federal Housing and Urban Development Grant from 1998 to be given to the Cairo Development Foundation for low-income housing. Watts voted and did not recuse himself on the issue even though he has done work for the Cairo Development Foundation, and says they still owe him money. In 2017 there was a similar issue in Cairo, with another town board member not recusing themselves in an obvious conflict of interest. A neighbor of Watts, town board member Doug Ostrander, filed a lawsuit against him, and then refused to recuse himself when a vote on an issue with Watts came before the board. At that time, Watts said he would recuse himself from voting on the issue. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.