Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup the Cairo Development Foundation is suing the town of Cairo in State Supreme Court, accusing town officials of withholding $50,000 in grant money. The notice of claim was dated September 29, and served on the town by attorney Daniel Benoit, Cairo's former town supervisor and the husband of CDF co-president Diana Benoit. The CDF alleges that in 2019, it submitted an application requesting the release of approximately $50,000 in Residential Rehabilitation Grant funding received by the town through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1998. In August 2019, the town board approved a resolution to release the $50,000 to the CDF. Daniel Benoit was the town supervisor at that time and he abstained from voting. According to the CDF, the funds were to be used for the rehabilitation of two residential apartments at 467 Main Street in Cairo. However, the funds were never distributed to the foundation. Fast forward to August 30, 2021, and the town board formally reversed its 2019 decision on a vote of 3 to 2, saying there was no CDF application on file. Supervisor John Coyne, and town board members Tim Powers and Stephen Kralovich, voted in favor of overturning the board's earlier decision. The CDF argues that it relied on the town's 2019 promise and will “suffer financial hardship unless they receive the promised funds.” Diana Benoit said the board's assertion that an application had never been filed was "categorically untrue," and the board's recent action was "based on lies."Read the full story at porcupinesoup [dot] com.