Town of Montgomery NY Oversight

Jeannie’s view❤️

Remember all his whining and crying ?
Then he finally gets the warrant and he hides it
Big blubber mouth

Wallkill & Monroe Rejected the Dino Park:
05/19/2021 BlooLoop, “Massive Dino Park Eyes Wallkill”.
03/25/2022 Times Herald Record, “Orange County Dino Park ROARS NO!”, “60 animal replicas, rides, playgrounds and attractions for kids.” Judge Owen, “Wallkill doesn’t allow private money making amusement parks.””Location has NO municipal water or sewer service.”
“Taxpayers objected loudly to, traffic, aesthetics, increased litter and garbage, noise and a detriment to residents.”
04/20/2022 Times Herald Record, “Dino Park Still Clawing It’s Way Into Orange County”. Monroe refused Dino Park citing, Noise, Traffic, Aesthetics, Roadside Trash.” Residents brought up that, “Neil Gold has another Dino Park 45 Minutes away in Leonia, NJ. Why would we need another one here?” Dino Park promised 60 animal models, some mechanical, tents with games for hire, train ride, dino rides, food services onsite, toys and souvenirs for sale.”
04/28/2022 Times Herald Record Online, “Dino Park Rejected in Monroe!”, “Protected wetlands preclude work, wetlands, buffers, slopes and setbacks reduced buildable areas for a Dino Park to 29 out of 131 acres. Public rejection of the development had set off taxpayers regarding traffic, noise, detriment to the community, with an online petition collecting already 714 signatures by Wednesday.” Monroe Town Board authorized the lease March 7th, signed the lease April 1st and the project was rejected from Monroe by the 28th of April. Steve Gross, County Economic Developer, “We are working with Neil Gold to identify other locations for the Dino Park Project. The 288 acres owned by the county known as Camp LaGuardia, a former homeless shelter, is, “Off the table and not cup for consideration,” Article states, “15 years ago a similar $10 Million Dino Park was proposed in Modena , Ulster County was rejected.. Objections included:Traffic, Roadside Trash, only summer jobs and other issues.”
05/15/2023 News12, “Dino Park Opposition in Monroe & Wallkill”, in a private office interview, Supervisor Ron Feller declares, “Montgomery Welcomes the Dino Park”.
05/15/2023 MidHudson News, another rave interview in a private county office.
05/16/2023 Hudson Valley Times, “Ron Feller, acting town supervisor, “I have not received one negative call about this to my office.”
The Dino Park in Montgomery had not been discussed, mentioned, on a town agenda in public or in the town clerks minutes when this statement was made to the MidHudsonNews. Per Freedom of Information

06/14/2022 Hudson Valley Post ”Dino Park has 60 plastic animals, some mechanical, 6 playgrounds, sand box dig $10 to keep the prize, Water Splash Park, Train Ride around property, dinosaur rides, amphitheater, food trucks and refreshment services all onsite.”

Orange County Sales Promoter Amanda Dana:
“Average 300,000 visitors per year.
School buses will bring 300 students per day.
Traffic patterns very similar to LEGOLAND.”

Montgomery Dino Park will have its Own:
ONSITE Food services, refreshment services and people can bring their own food coolers.
Train ride around perimeter
Dino Themed rides
SPLASH Park
Plastic Dinosaur models some with mechanical movement, some with sound.
Amphitheater
Night Performances
6 Parks
Food Trucks
Souvenir Stands
Parking
Open April to December

Municipal Services available at Montgomery Dino Park Location:
NO municipal water service, Ground Water will be tapped.
NO municipal sewer service, a small plant serving village of Maybrook & Neelytown Rd. Corridor, is 5.5 linear road miles away.

NYS Route 17K FACTS:
Designated as a Principal Arterial by NYS DOT, in the 85th percentile with an average speed limit of 60 mph.
2022 recorded 93.33% passenger vehicles.
Present highest volumes/capacity Tuesdays thru Thursdays.
Present hourly volume - 350 vehicles per hour.
Present daily volume - 850 vehicles per day.

Environmental Stats, of what until 2023, was County Public Land:
Location is contiguous to 33,696.50 acres and onsite approximately 60 acres of wetlands.
Wetlands on parcel in question consist of-
Watershed HVC 12: Muddy Kill & Wallkill River & Tributaries to the Wallkill River.
Freshwater Forested/Shrub Wetlands
Freshwater Emergent Wetlands
Hydric Soils Floodways

Note: Montgomery’s Electeds have not adopted nor implemented ANY of the NYS recognized and advised Town of Montgomery Conservation Advisory Council, codes and or regulations into law. Guidelines for protecting drinking water aquifers, well head protections or wetlands protections have all been ignored by Montgomery’s Town Board. Presently all fragile at risk areas remain under the bare minimum of protections offered by the NYS DEC and even less so by the Army Corps of Engineers due to the fact NYS is Home Rule.

NYS is a Home Rule State. Home Rule means our State cannot mandate counties, towns or villages within it to do anything within the municipal jurisdictions it governs. UNLESS it infringes on the publics civil rights.
It is left to our local governments to keep up and follow through legislating code to protect the quality of life, well being and safety of the public.
Our state carries on Educating, Building Awareness and offering Funding to all municipalities to install their own degree of public and environmental protections for the Health, Safety, Quality of Life and Historic Preservation within a community.

Town of Montgomery remains deeply ensconced in the past practice of the uninformed doing nothing at all.

Page 9 of 9
Yet another project rejected by other towns,
settles in the Town of Montgomery.
Did the sale of 130 acres of public land, "Go to the Highest Bidder", as per Langdon Chapman?
Was it really "useless public land and open space"?
Undeveloped land directly accessible to Stewart Park & Preserve by way of Ridge Road overpass above I-84 is "useless", really?

Read through the documented facts. Make an informed decision as a taxpayer.
It's all here pages 1 through 9.

Page 8 of 9

Page 7 of 9

Page 6 of 9

Page 5 of 9

Page 4 of 9

Page 3 of 9

Page 2 of 9

Public Opposition Drove it out of Wallkill and then Monroe, so how exactly did it suddenly get approved in Montgomery?
Page 1 of 9

Repost:

Resident posts about an issue with traffic at one of the local elementary school.

Post gets lots of comments, including mine, asking if traffic control falls under the responsibility of the officer stationed at the school. An action the Town and PD lobbied hard to make happen. We should have a MOU with the PD & Town, that outlines the agreement and each party’s responsibility under the agreement.

Local PD catches wind/or is told about it. Within a day or two, there’s a traffic control person in from of the school directing traffic and preventing cars from passing on the shoulder, other vehicles turning left in the school.

New post goes up praising the police for the action. Local hopeful candidates jump in, gushing over the action.

Me: Yeah, but WHY wasn’t it being done all school year anyway? Especially when we pay the PD and Town to have a guard/officer at that school building, because THEY campaigned hard for it? Why has no one reviewed the MOU with the Town/PD and the school to see if we the tax payers, have been paying for this service all along, but were not receiving the service?

And why is it that people elected and running to be elected to various town and village positions aren’t asking these questions? Why is it always regular citizens FOILing and asking?

And some folks wonder why there’s such apathy from voters.

Meanwhile, off to make a FOIA request for the 2023-2024 MOU between the district and the Town/PD.

Tonight there will be a town board meeting @6:15pm to discuss changing the term of the Supervisor from 2 years to 4 years. Please attend if possible, and if you cannot you can email the town board before 5pm, and request your email be read into record.

Here is one letter from an admin:

Dear Supervisor Feller & Board Members,

I am writing in the event I am not able to make tonight's public meeting on changing the length of the supervisor's term. My wish is this to be read into record in the event I am not able to be present in person.

I am writing to express my opinion that not only is there no reason for said change, but for Montgomery, it will rob the community and voters of the ability to make swiffer corrections of elections when needed.

Montgomery is a town that has not only experienced a lot of change and growth, but continues to be a community that faces continuous questions of what we want our future and community to look like. By extending the term of supervisors, this limits the ability of the engaged voters-of which Montgomery has many, to address and correct when the vision of a particular supervisor (and town board) does not align with what is best for the community and tax payers of the community.

There should be no fear of loss of election/seat to any incumbent, to lose an election after 2 years, IF they are truly doing the Peoples work. The current two year term should instead encourage all incumbents to work that much harder, listen that much closer, and to respond to the will of the community even more. In doing so any elected official, from any party, should feel confident in their re-election and the agreement that the community shares their vision for the Town of Montgomery.

I hope you take my, and other resident's comments into serious consideration and lead by example, and show the constituents of TOM that you too believe in the motivating force of democracy, and the opportunity for frequent elections to be a driving force pushing the values of democracy and true representation forward.

If there is a need to change anything about term lengths, let that change be a public referendum on term limits.

Regards,

Lisa D. Ruiz
VCPSJ
OCPPAC

Interesting considering how many complaints have been made regarding Town of Montgomery.

https://midhudsonnews.com/2023/03/10/ethics-complaints-up-against-municipal-officials/?fbclid=IwAR0SLNO1NbtZrnVBn0NWPQjNPj4_QWRxoOYuVrvoqp__wcpzHBmyOKr1HxU

Ethics complaints up against municipal officials - Mid Hudson News Orange County DA David Hoovler says that ethics complaints against municipal officials is on the rise.

townofmontgomery.com

FINALLY the Town of Montgomery has released the Police Shared Services & Efficiency Study it paid over $20,000 of tax payer money to commission from Patterns For Progress. We deeply appreciate a member of the Walden of Village Trustees, who repeatedly inquired about it at public board meetings, particularly in light of the Montgomery Town Board entertaining proposals for the purchase and or construction of a new police station.

We are sharing the link, so anyone interested may read and review the document for themselves.

For those who would like the shortened version, here are the core suggestions for ways the TOM police department and town board could handle ensuring adequate coverage and efficiency, in both services provided, as well as fiscal savings to the town taxpayers:

The three recommendations of this report are summarized here. A more detailed explanation of each recommendation can be found at the end of this report. These recommendations are informed and supported by the findings in this report.

Recommendation 1: Create a Town-wide Shared Communication Center- Create a shared communication center housed in the Village of Walden that provides dispatching services for all four police departments in the Town of Montgomery.

Recommendation 2: Create a Shared Mental Health/Addiction/Domestic Dispute Response Team -
Create a shared response team of professionals trained in mental health, addiction, and social work.

Recommendation 3: Town of Montgomery Police Department Staff Adjustments {3 Options)

Option A -The Town of Montgomery Police Department reduces the number of full-time officers and utilizes more part-time officers.

Option B: Town of Montgomery Police Department transitions to a completely part-time Staff

Option C: Town of Montgomery Police Department dissolves (with the village police and state police departments coverage area expanding to cover town residents outside of village limits)

____________________________________________________________________

Some impressions and points we would like to clarify/Our comments regarding this study:

1) Last night at the Town of Montgomery board meeting, Supervisor Maher INCORRECTLY stated it was not one of the recommendations to fully dissolve the TOM police department. As you can see in suggestion 3C, that suggestion was indeed made, and it is our opinion that it would not have been made if the opportunity for the village police and state police could to ensure public safety could not be met if the TOM police department were to be dissolved.

2) This report has been in the hands of the Supervisor and Town Board for months. WELL before the supervisor and town board proposed the new police station build/purchase, and WELL before the suggestion to provide security staffing for the school district. Why was this study not included in those discussion?

Why was it not taken into consideration in regards to the hiring of 11 part time officers to provide security for the school district, and how does it affect the community now that half of those officers are not needed for that job they were hired for?

Also, if they do have an excess of part time officers-why are they still approving the hiring of more (as recently as 10.20.22 meeting)?

3) We would like to point out suggestion #2 which is to create a "Create a Shared Mental Health/Addiction/Domestic Dispute Response Team", was suggested and requested by a member of the original EO 203 Police Reform committee, Lisa Ruiz. As Ms. Ruiz was blocked from being a part of the newly formed Police Civilian Advisory Board, and as the newly formed committee has still not held a public meeting, we are unclear if this proposal is being seriously considered by the town and police department, but feel it is a vitally important addition to the police department/emergency response services.

4) How will this study impact the upcoming budget process?

5) It is our understanding that the Town of Montgomery Police Department is not an accredited police agency. We also have seen no announcements that the department plans to do so,-did this impact the Patterns for Progress study-particularly in the suggestions to dissolve the department?

6) Did the overpayment, and illegal appointment of part time office Ragni, to acting chief, as well as other payments forced to be made to other officers due to errors made, impact the study, on grounds of fiscal waste and costly errors made by town? The town board made no effort to recuperate any of the overpayment made to officer Rangi, nor to correct his salary at nearly 3 times that of other contracted part time officers in the department. This went on for months with the Supervisor fully aware of the conflict and illegality of the appointment.

8) It is deeply concerning that the Town Board would pay over $20,000 of tax payer monies to commission a study, and then push off the discussion until 2023, very likely AFTER budget talks and work sessions.

9) And as always we are AGAIN asking when the first item of the Police Civilian Advisory Board's mission statement will actully happen?

1) "Hold open regularly scheduled meetings to discuss current issues and provide a forum for community input."

townofmontgomery.com

Many questions, like was a complaint ever made to the Town Of Montgomery Police Department?

Also where is the Police Civilian Advisory Board on all this?

And does the Montgomery Town Board and Supervisor feel the New York State Troopers were not justified or did not do their due diligence in building a stonrg case to arrest Officer Memmelaar, and is that why there is no comment on his continuing employment with the town police department?

Montgomery police officer arrested, calls stalking charge 'totally false' Kenneth Memmelaar, a part-time police officer in the town of Montgomery, has been charged with stalking. The Goshen resident denied the accusation.

Last year, during the EO 203 work we asked the Town of Montgomery PD to add annual trainings to identify and prevent domestic terrorism and hate based attacks. Officer Ragni, who was illegally acting as chief argued it wasn't needed. NYS disagrees with his assessment.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-10-million-support-creation-threat-assessment-and-management-teams

Governor Hochul Announces $10 Million to Support the Creation of Threat Assessment and Management Teams in Counties Across New York State Governor Hochul announced $10 million available to all 57 counties and the City of New York to support the development of Threat Assessment and Management Teams, a key component of local Domestic Terrorism Prevention Plans required under Executive Order 18.

We still cannot get the unredacted FOIA request copy of officer Wright’s resignation letter. We believe that’s because it calls out racist comments made by fellow officers-including the chief of police, in the Town of Montgomery police department.

One has to wonder why the town is so adamant on not sharing it in it’s entirety. Perhaps it would show that town officials are choosing to ignore the issue-even though the chief is on probation as condition of his promotion.

https://www.facebook.com/10643211755/posts/10161647037896756/?d=n

After a police officer sent a racist text, a town dissolved its police department After officials in Vincent, Ala., fired the police chief and assistant chief, the city council voted to end the department entirely. But the mayor says it's only a temporary measure.

It is fascinating that the Town of Montgomery Supervisor is moving forward with hiring TEN part time police officers with no commitment of payment from the Valley Central School District, with nothing more than a "VERBAL commitment" from the district.

Then we have the proposed full time SRO position, described in the article, which sounds a lot like a continuance of the current Memorandum of Understanding, that criminalizes minor students for breaking school policy and code of conduct-but not necessarily any actual civil laws. The quickness and willingness by the supervisor and Town of Montgomery Police Department, to introduce children to the criminal justice system for minor code violations and offenses is deeply troubling and concerning, and makes us think these parties are conflating what happens in the school with behavioral and discipline issues with the violence of school shooters from outside the school community.

This is another example of the Town of Montgomery Supervisor, Brian Maher, once again showing he is out of his depth, and too lazy to educate himself on all aspects of problems he attempts to address.

As taxpayers, community members, parents, and students-we deserve a viable, thoughtful, plan with mindful and careful implementation-not another round of all frosting, no cake, that we continually get and settle for.

https://www.recordonline.com/story/news/2022/07/21/valley-central-school-district-montgomery-add-security-officers/65377555007/?fbclid=IwAR2M8S5L9PFm45UwH7amM4go_lQRvm3BcR0evW4O7SFSvoMTEkEXMbvlsio

Valley Central ramps up security in reaction to school shootings Some parents call for scrutiny of the candidates’ qualifications and comprehensive training as Montgomery may increase school security force.

We encourage the community to make a formal request of this plan in writing from the Town of Montgomery & TO Montgomery Police Department.

We also encourage the community to request the identity of the author(s) of the plan.

PLEASE READ & SHARE this update concerning the Town’s plan to provide security in all of our Valley Central School District buildings beginning in September. We look forward to partnering with all of our local law enforcement agencies including State Police, County Sheriff’s Office & our three Village Police Departments, as we work with the VC administration and school board in the coming weeks and months. As the Town of Montgomery Police Department begins hiring the personnel we require to support this security plan please help us spread the word to find the right applicants for these positions. We have so much talent here locally and we look forward to hiring the right people to protect our children and build bonds.

Sincerely,

Supervisor Brian Maher

—- —- —-

Full Press Release:

TOWN SUPERVISOR BRIAN MAHER & TOWN OF MONTGOMERY POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCE SCHOOL SAFETY PLAN

Supervisor Maher encourages local town residents with law enforcement background to apply for a minimum of ten new part-time positions

Montgomery, NY – This morning Supervisor Brian Maher and Town of Montgomery Police Chief John Hank announced more than ten potential part-time job openings for the purpose of putting an armed Town of Montgomery Police Officer in all seven school buildings located in the Valley Central School District. This announcement comes after Supervisor Maher and Chief Hank made a presentation at the June 13th Valley Central School Board Meeting.

“At a minimum, if we do not have an armed guard or police officer protecting our children for the entire school day in all of our buildings, we are wrong,” exclaimed Supervisor Brian Maher during the school board presentation. Maher continued, “The recent school shootings that have taken place throughout our country have made all of us look inward to see what we can do to ensure our children are protected.”

“As Valley Central graduates and as parents of Valley Central students, Supervisor Maher and I are as invested in this issue as you can possibly be,” said Town of Montgomery Police Chief John Hank. “We have recently received positive feedback from both the Valley Central School Board and the Town of Montgomery Board. Now, at the direction of Supervisor Maher, we are moving forward to hire the required personnel to ensure that at the beginning of our next school year in September 2022, our plan is put into effect. We will put a Town of Montgomery Police Officer in every school building located in the Valley Central School District for the entire school day and our children will have the protection they need and deserve.”

“Providing a safe learning environment for our students and staff is a top priority of the district,” said Valley Central School Board President Joe Bond. “The Director of Security and Emergency Preparedness role created by the district and the town's safety plan align to ensure our children have the protection they need and our district has the resources to address issues before they escalate. We thank the town for partnering with us to improve the safety of our schools.”

The Town of Montgomery Police Department Draft Proposal is as follows:

There are seven schools that make up the Valley Central School District. Six of the school buildings are located in the Town of Montgomery. The middle and high school complex, Berea Elementary, Montgomery Elementary, Walden Elementary and the Alternative Learning Center. The East Coldenham Elementary School is located in the Town of Newburgh. The Town of Montgomery Police Department currently has two part-time officers assigned as School Resource Officers (SRO). One SRO is assigned to the high school and one SRO to the middle school. While these officers are dedicated to their assigned schools there is not staffing to replace them when they are off or must leave the buildings in the course of their duties.

Beginning in September of 2022, the Town of Montgomery will provide police officers to staff every school in the Valley Central School District. This would create a single point of contact for the district with law enforcement. The Town of Montgomery Police would then work with our law enforcement partners, including our three Village Police Departments, State Police & County Sheriff’s Office to handle issues that occur. We would keep the SROs in the middle and high school. They would be supplemented by resuming the use of a full-time School Resource Officer for the district. This officer would serve as a trained Juvenile Officer, D.A.R.E. Officer and would be the primary investigator for incidents that occur in the district. The full time SRO would also provide additional security during the summer school months when school officers are not in service, and events when needed.

The Town Police would also hire a minimum of ten additional part-time police officers to provide security in the elementary schools and the alternative learning center located in the Village of Maybrook. The town plans to enter into an agreement with the Town of Newburgh for the Town of Montgomery Police to provide security for East Coldenham Elementary School. This would be in addition to the SRO already working in the high school and middle school.

The following is an explanation of the initial breakdown of cost:

There are approximately 180 days of school each year. Our proposal is to staff the five school buildings outside the high/middle school complex with security utilizing ten part-time police officers.

We believe eight-hour shifts, five days a week, at 180 days split between ten officers would be sufficient. Eight Hours per day @ $30.53 for 180 days would be $43,963.20 and would amount to $219,816.00 for the year.

The total cost for this program, including equipment costs, is anticipated to be less than $300,000.

“The safety and security of our schools and the children and staff in them is crucial,” continued Chief Hank. “The horrifying trend of mass shootings in this country must be taken seriously. We believe the best defense against an event like this happening in our community is to put a police officer in every school, every day. These officers will also be able to build bonds with the students, staff and parents at these schools. This can’t happen overnight. We need to find and hire the right people to fill these positions. We will be looking for officers to protect our kids and staff, while also building positive relationships.”

“Having officers present and engaged with the community can help to prevent issues as they are attentive to the day-to-day activities in the school,” added Supervisor Maher. “Our officers will recognize issues and address them as opposed to simply being a reactionary force. This will help to create a working relationship between the police and the community we serve. The better the relationship between the public and the police, the more effective the police can be at preventing crimes. It is not enough to put a plan in place to respond to a school shooting. We must do everything we can to prevent these shootings from happening as well.”

If you are interested in applying for one of these part-time positions and/or would like to verify the minimum qualifications required please email Town of Montgomery Chief of Police John Hank at – [email protected]. Applications are being taken effective immediately.



# # #

Recent 1A audit of the Town of Montgomery, done by Good Guy Audits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=figRQK2NHKk

I’ll walk him around ! 1st amendment audit! Town Hall 110 Bracken Rd, Montgomery, NY 12549Open ⋅ Closes 5PMtownofmontgomery.com(845) 457-2620Montgomery, New YorkCashapp: $goodguyaudits

It shall be interesting to see what the discussion will be for the PCAB (Police Civilian Advisory Board), slated for tonight’s town board meeting.

Will it finally be formed?
Will they announce who is on it?
Will it be a diverse, multicultural, and economic cross-section of our community?
Will it have critics as well as supporters?
Will it have any social justice advocates and stakeholders from our town?
Will it again be made up of Maher sycophants who conveniently run other town committees as well?
What powers will it actually have?

And does anyone else find it suspicious that it finally only materializes AFTER The Town Of Montgomery supervisor, Brian Maher, announces his run for state assembly?

Stay tuned tonight and let’s see what the answers to these questions are.

This FOIA request was made after we received information of multiple resignations having been submitted from officers in the Town of Montgomery Police Department in the recent months.

We had previously received information regarding unprofessional treatment of Officer Wright from then fellow Officer, now Chief Hank, which we competed FOIA inquiries for in the past, we then completed a FOIA inquiry for the any letters of resignation that Officer Wright may have submitted because we suspected he was one of the resigning officers.

The screenshots shown are the response from the Town of Montgomery Supervisor Brian Maher and Town Clerk Tara Stickles.

Notice the redacted portion that the Supervisor claims is protected by public officer's law 87, section 2(b) which states:

2. Each agency shall, in accordance with its published rules, make available for public inspection and copying all records, except those records or portions thereof that may be withheld pursuant to the exceptions of rights of access appearing in this subdivision. A denial of access shall not be based solely on the category or type of such record and shall be valid only when there is a particularized and specific justification for such denial. Each agency shall, in accordance with its published rules, make available for public inspection and copying all records, except that such agency may deny access to records or portions thereof that:

(b) if disclosed would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under the provisions of subdivision two of section eighty-nine of this article;

89 section 2 states:

2. (a) The committee on public access to records may promulgate guidelines regarding deletion of identifying details or withholding of records otherwise available under this article to prevent unwarranted invasions of personal privacy. In the absence of such guidelines, an agency may delete identifying details when it makes records available.

(b) An unwarranted invasion of personal privacy includes, but shall not be limited to:

i. disclosure of employment, medical or credit histories or personal references of applicants for employment;

ii. disclosure of items involving the medical or personal records of a client or patient in a medical facility;

iii. sale or release of lists of names and addresses if such lists would be used for solicitation or fund-raising purposes;

iv. disclosure of information of a personal nature when disclosure would result in economic or personal hardship to the subject party and such information is not relevant to the work of the agency requesting or maintaining it;

v. disclosure of information of a personal nature reported in confidence to an agency and not relevant to the ordinary work of such agency;

vi. information of a personal nature contained in a workers' compensation record, except as provided by section one hundred ten-a of the workers' compensation law ; or

vii. disclosure of electronic contact information, such as an e-mail address or a social network username, that has been collected from a taxpayer under section one hundred four of the real property tax law .

(c) Unless otherwise provided by this article, disclosure shall not be construed to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision:

i. when identifying details are deleted;

ii. when the person to whom a record pertains consents in writing to disclosure;

iii. when upon presenting reasonable proof of identity, a person seeks access to records pertaining to him or her; or

iv. when a record or group of records relates to the right, title or interest in real property, or relates to the inventory, status or characteristics of real property, in which case disclosure and providing copies of such record or group of records shall not be deemed an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, provided that nothing herein shall be construed to authorize the disclosure of electronic contact information, such as an e-mail address or a social network username, that has been collected from a taxpayer under section one hundred four of the real property tax law .

So the question begs-what activities or behavior and by whom does redacting portions of Officer Wright's resignation letter protect? If Officer Wright saw fit to put into writing, details pertaining to his employment at the Town of Montgomery Police Department, and how these events have led to his decision to resign from the Town of Montgomery Police Department-why does the Town of Montgomery NOT want that information to be made public?

****This is a direct message to Officer Wright if you would like to share your resignation letter, or your reasons for resigning with our group, please either email us at [email protected] or you can submit this information through our anonymous free suggestion box:

https://freesuggestionbox.com/pub/kymdauy