Aliya Schneider reports for Columbia-Greene Media that taxpayer funds covered work of the town attorney reviewing text that the Ghent Planning Board used in an advertisement it paid for in the Columbia Paper. At the April 15 Ghent town meeting, the town board criticized the planning board for their handling of an application from Art Omi. That problem led to the art organization withdrawing its application from the planning board. So then planning board members paid for the newspaper ad to defend themselves. Town board members then questioned how the letter would benefit the town at all. Art Omi Chair Francis Greenburger said of the planning board members buying an ad that, “It seems as if they wanted to present their narrative without the fact-checking and normal review that the press usually subjects newspaper reporting to,” he said, noting that an adjacent property owner on the planning board declined to recuse herself on the issue. Full disclosure: Art Omi is a WGXC underwriter. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.