Central Bridge sewer district board members took no action after a sometimes heated debate at Thursday’s public hearing on whether to take 1.1 acres of land through eminent domain from two local farmers.
After the hour-long hearing, attended by about 25 people, board members went into executive session to get advice from legal counsel.
Board members took no action after the executive session, said Schoharie Supervisor Martin Shrederis.
A decision on whether to take the land, owned by the Seebold family, through eminent domain, could be made at the next sewer district meeting, scheduled for September 2, or at a special meeting prior to that date, he said.
Though no action was taken after the closed door session at the Methodist Church Hall, Mr. Shrederis said there was “quite a discussion” in executive session.
“I don’t know which way it’s going to go,” Mr. Shrederis said.
Some board members want to go one way, others the opposite, he said.
Mr. Shrederis said board members also spoke with the engineer during the executive session.
Schoharie councilman Matt Brisley and Esperance Supervisor Earl VanWormer were not at last week’s meeting.
Unlike last month, there were few speakers at the public hearing.
Property owner Bill Seebold said that he met with Mr. Shrederis and a councilman on July 12 in a meeting to settle the issue.
There was much discussion at that meeting but no positive conclusion, he said.
“I left this meeting with the exact same feelings as I had at prior meetings, something was wrong, terribly wrong,” Mr. Seebold said.
Some of the elected officials he has dealt with, Mr. Seebold said, have shown through their actions or statements “that they had their minds made up even before they had all the facts.
“To bully us into an agreement, using threats that if we don’t roll over, do it their way, and sign off that they will take us to court is just wrong.
“A lawsuit isn’t needed, common sense and decency are.”
His family, he said, has tried to remedy the situation for years “but these few elected officials have made it impossible to accomplish that goal.”
His father, he said, “tried to get this squared away in 1999. You were very well aware of it.”
The Seebold family, he said, has not been “waiting at the end of the bushes to ambush anyone.”
Tom Seebold added, “All you guys have dragged your feet and done nothing.”
Mr. Shrederis said a maximum offer was made at the July 12 meeting.
No one from the Central Bridge Civic Association spoke at the hearing last week.
When the pumping station was being built, district officials believed that the association owned the property that the pumping station was built on and county tax maps showed the association owned it. It was only after the station was built and piping was put in and a survey was done that it was found that the land belonged to the Seebold family.
Paul Slavinski, acting president of the Civic Association, said Friday that the group will wait until the sewer board takes action before deciding on the group’s next step.
The association has been denied access to their field, pavilion and snack bar. The pavilion and snack bar were found to be on Seebold property, as was the access to the field.