LAKE GEORGE -- Town officials denied reports of a state Comptroller's Office investigation into "potentially illegal actions" after a resident at Monday night's Town Board meeting cited a story in the Lake George Mirror weekly newspaper.
Resident John Salvadore read a monologue of comments on a variety of topics after securing a spot on Monday night's agenda, telling town officials in advance that he would address the article in the Mirror.
"I have made no personal contact with the Comptroller's Office," Salvadore said. "I know better."
Reports surfaced two weeks ago in the Mirror newspaper that the town was being investigated by the state agency, but all town officials said they knew was what they had read.
"You know what I know about it?" Town Supervisor Louis Tessier responded to Salvadore. "Same as you do from the Mirror."
Following the meeting, Tessier said his attorney told him that if he were being investigated by the state, Tessier would have been the first to know.
The Comptroller's Office is conducting an audit of the town, Tessier said, but that is nothing out of the ordinary.
Tessier said he believes the allegations came from Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky and former town supervisor candidate Robert Flacke. Both Navitsky and Flacke were quoted in the Mirror story.
As for statements in the Mirror about the town letting developers have free sand, Tessier said an old land deal with Howard LaRose, who owned a sand pit next to the town's, allows private developers' trucks to access the private pit from the town's land.
"People saw trucks coming out of our road," Tessier said. "But it's not our pit."
Navitsky recently told a Post-Star reporter that he was approached by the state agency and was asked about financial issues in the town and whether he knew of any "impropriety dealings," but had little information to give.
"I'm not that tight with the town of Lake George," he said. "I'm not on their Christmas list."
"I think they did ask me if the town gave me money to be quiet," he said. "I did not have any information to give them."
Navitsky did not elaborate.
Town Board member and supervisor candidate Frank McCoy said he is not concerned about the reports.
"The only thing I heard is what I read in the Mirror," McCoy said. "Coming five days before an election, I think it's suspicious."
Posted in Local on Monday, November 9, 2009 10:45 pm
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