Fulton Supervisor Phil Skowfoe wasted no time skewering the leadership of new county board chairman Harold Vroman.
In a statement at the beginning of Friday morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Mr. Skowfoe said Mr. Vroman “drew a line in the sand” and punished those who did not support his actions since he became chairman on January 4. Mr. Skowfoe had been taken off the finance/solid waste and personnel committees by Mr. Vroman.
After an appeal by several supervisors, Mr. Vroman returned Mr. Skowfoe to the finance/solid waste committee Friday but that didn’t stop the Fulton Supervisor from blasting Mr. Vroman’s actions.
He thanked Mr. Vroman and his supporters for “drawing a circle keeping yourselves inside and leaving the remaining Republicans and Democrats on the outside looking in.
“Mr. Chairman, you chose to reward the people that supported you and punish the ones that didn’t.”
On January 4, Mr. Vroman, a Republican, was elected chairman in a split vote and then named his committees. Unlike last year, no Democrats were chosen to head a committee.
“By removing all Democrats from chairmanship and key positions on committees, it appears that you want to make appointments as to show who’s in charge,” Mr. Skowfoe said. “You made your point.
“But you also drew a line in the sand. I feel that action is demeaning. It is almost like a slap in the face. How can you do that and say we all have to work together?”
Mr. Skowfoe said those supervisors “inside the circle” are members of the “coffee club” which met prior to meetings and in the past year were able to influence other members of the board to eliminate the county home healthcare agency.
“You have chosen to not ask yourselves what you can do for our county but you have chosen what you can do for yourselves and your own personal agenda, Mr. Skowfoe said, echoing the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy made almost exactly 50 years ago.
“I believe that you have set this county back 20 years,” he added.
“A member of this board told me sometimes things are best done behind closed doors. I would like to know what happened to truth, honesty, and integrity, honest and transparent government.”
Two other Democrats rebuked Mr. Skowfoe’s charges Friday and Mr. Vroman defended himself after the meeting.
Seward Supervisor Carl Barbic, a Democrat, said he asked Mr. Vroman to remove him as chairman of the committee he led last year.
He disagreed with Mr. Skowfoe’s remarks, saying there is a two-party system.
“If the Democrats get control of the board again, we will have the chairmanships,” he said.
Fellow Democrats Tom Murray of Cobleskill also disagreed with Mr. Skowfoe’s charges.
Mr. Murray said he did not think there was an “inner circle” or a “line drawn in the sand.
All the supervisors are working together, he said.
“As a member of the minority party, I haven’t felt left out.
“We can all work together and we have been.”
During a break in the meeting, Mr. Vroman defended his actions.
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinions but that does not mean everyone should agree with it,” he said.
“I didn’t draw any line in the sand.
“You can disagree but that doesn’t mean you don’t work together. I just want to work together.”
When he agreed to add Mr. Skowfoe to the finance and solid waste committee, Mr. Vroman said he wanted different people to serve on different committees to get a new perspective.
“When I made those appointments I expected some people not to be happy,” he said.
After he was returned to finance and solid waste committee, Mr. Skowfoe withdrew his resignation from the MOSA board and said he would serve “as long as I don’t feel like I was stabbed in the back again.”
Dennis Richards of Middleburgh, a Republican, declined to comment, but Martin Shrederis of Schoharie, a fellow Republican, said every new chairman makes changes to the committees.
“It’s up to the chairman to make appointments,” he said.
“There’s nothing wrong with having different people serving on different committees.” He said he has been taken off and put on different committees over the years.
“We need to accept responsibility for the committee we’ve been appointed to by the chairman.”