Sheriff’s Office Called to Hartwick Meeting in First 10 Minutes

Town Board Manages To Pull It Together, Completes Hourslong Organization Meeting

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
HARTWICK

The Town of Hartwick’s town board organizational meeting the night of Monday, January 12 barely made it past the pledge of allegiance without incident.

After a visit from two Otsego County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles with deputies speaking to opposing factions, the meeting proceeded with only a few raised voices over the following three hours, successfully completing the must-do organizational meeting for various procedures, contracts and appointments.

AllOtsego was not able to independently verify allegations made by Hartwick officials in this article by press time.

Newly-elected Town Supervisor Cody Moore, who ran on the Republican and Hartwick United lines on a platform of bringing civility back to Hartwick government, began the meeting with a statement requesting that “the materials and the keys from the supervisor’s office be returned within 24 hours, and that access to the office and its files be restored immediately.

“Our town records do not belong to one individual. They belong to the people of Hartwick,” Moore said.

In an interview after the meeting, Moore said she had not had access to those items since the start of her term at the beginning of the year.

As Moore proceeded to the next agenda item, public comment, Councilmember Tom Murphy jumped in.

“Point of order, supervisor,” Murphy said. “You had your comment, but I see no comments for the other councilmembers.”

“Not today. I make the agenda,” Moore replied.

The two continued to go back and forth about the issue, with Murphy at times shouting.

“How do you want to stop me?” Murphy asked.

“I will postpone the meeting,” Moore said.

“This is not right that I don’t get to speak after you,” Murphy said, saying that had been permitted the prior two years.

Moore then postponed the meeting “until he can calm down.”

“Would you like to be removed from the meeting?” Moore asked Murphy.

“Sure,” he said.

“Ok, then you can leave.”

“No, no, you said ‘removed’.”

“Okay, so then I will call the police,” Moore said, shortly before leaving the room.

Murphy, Councilmember Bryan LoRusso, and Town Clerk Andrea Vazquez (who was Moore’s election opponent last fall) discussed and argued and aired out dirty laundry with members of the public, among them some current and former town officials, for nearly an hour. Several attendees walked out of the meeting.

Vazquez accused Moore of locking her out of town financial records, said Moore lacked the experience for the job, and declared that voters ought to have chosen her instead for supervisor.

Murphy made nonspecific accusations of ageism and age discrimination, appearing to trace back to incidents at meetings in the prior two years. He at one point compared Moore’s preventing him from offering comments to Nazism.

When deputy sheriffs arrived, they first met with Moore and Briggs, then with Murphy, Vazquez and LoRusso. Having brokered some kind of agreement, officials eventually returned and resumed the meeting with permission granted to Murphy to provide general comments at the conclusion of the must-do organizational meeting. Deputies remained to observe for some time after the meeting resumed.

Over the next three hours, the board passed organizational procedure rules, appointed Chris Briggs as deputy supervisor over the objections of LoRusso and Murphy, reappointed Hancock Estabrook, LLP as the town’s counsel, approved meeting dates and town holidays, and more. In appointing various committee members, officials discussed with audience members their potential interest in joining, some of whom they had just been arguing with. A few jokes were even cracked.

The Town of Hartwick posts recordings of its meetings at hartwickny.gov/meetings/video/.

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