To the Editor:
Most of us believe that actions taken by a public body should be done in a manner that is consistent with the letter and intent of our laws.
I strongly feel that many of the resolutions passed by the Legislature of Herkimer County on issues and items relating to the construction of a new county jail were executed incorrectly and, therefore, they are invalid.
Most of the resolutions, especially those pertaining to expenditures, begin with the statement,
“Whereas, the NYSCOC has mandated that Herkimer County construct a new county correctional facility” and then go on to describe the resolution and the expected result.
This is clearly wrong!
The word “mandate,” as described in my dictionary, when used as a verb, means to “officially demand” or “make mandatory” (which itself, as an adjective, means “required by command”).
And therein lies the problem.
The SCOC cannot demand, or command, or dictate, or direct, or order us to construct a new correctional facility. q.v. statement by Mr. Thomas A.Beilein, Chairman, N.Y.S. Commission of Corrections, February 12, 2011, Utica Observer Dispatch, “The Commission does not have the authority to compel any county to build a new jail.”
So to formally justify an action with an untruth, to officially instigate a plan based on a false premise, to ascribe to the SCOC a power that is not granted to them by any law is to grievously mislead and deceive the public and is illegal.
The legislators have long known the facts as to this limit of SCOC’s authority, yet they continue to embellish any jail discussion with the word mandate.
I guess it’s done to keep up the bogey man aspect of this problem.
Now, if they want to be truthful in their “Whereas’s,” they could substitute that the SCOC has suggested, or recommended, or proposed, or threatened, or intimidated, or bullied and any of these words would be correct.
Or they could stop hiding behind this mythical power of the SCOC and honestly admit that “Whereas we haven’t done a proper evaluation of options, and Whereas we really don’t have to explore other solutions because we’re elected to think for you and Whereas we would like to have a new jail anyway; therefore, we Resolve to build a new over sized jail when there are cell vacancies all around us, build it on contaminated property that we’ll get by suing the poor owner to if we have to, cause such property to be removed from the village tax base, saddle the already over burdened tax payer with a 30 year continuation of the jail tax, end up with an empty 32 year old structurally sound building, own a 30 year old “new” building that we’ll not maintain any better than we did the old and once again, get our names on a brass dedication plaque.”
The honest, whole truth would be so refreshing and novel. You’d think that the county attorney would see to it that only the truth is used to justify any legislation, not some endlessly repeated lie.
Carl Streeter, Ilion
