DeStefano: “We caught them in a lie.”
MIDDLETOWN – Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano Friday unleashed
a harsh verbal reprimand on the leadership of the Village of Kiryas Joel.
The village sued the city and Orange County over their deal for Middletown
to acquire water from the Indigot Creek and resell it, claiming Kiryas
Joel had a right to tap into the creek for water as well. It claimed in
its court papers filed with State Supreme Court Justice Gretchen Walsh
seeking annexation of 164 acres of land in the Town of Monroe that it
had ample water supply to expand. Yet, in the most recent lawsuit filed
with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Sciortino seeking Indigot Creek water,
village officials said they had an emergency water shortage.
The village won the right to annex.
“We caught them in a lie and now they are trying to back out of
it,” DeStefano said of the village’s leadership. The mayor
said he has no problem with the residents, but village leadership was
untruthful.
The mayor said he was also told by leadership that the reason they were
withdrawing the Indigot lawsuit was because the village had just received
the permits to move forward on their water pipeline, but DeStefano challenged
that saying the approvals were granted a year ago.
Whichever statement is accurate, that the village does or does not have
ample water supply, DeStefano urged the towns and villages in the southern
part of the county to consider going back to court against KJ.
He said the village administrator tried to influence the city to lean
on the county so they could get their water pipeline permits in return
for dropping the lawsuit. “The judges need to know what they did.
It casts a lot of doubt on the village leadership. When you lie to the
court, it needs to be exposed.”
Assistant Middletown Corporation Counsel Alex Smith said the situation
is “very serious. You can’t say one thing to one Supreme Court
judge and use it to get a favorable decision and say pretty much the opposite
to another judge in a different lawsuit, suing other municipalities.”
The Kiryas Joel pipeline in the Cornwall area will eventually tap into
the New York City aqueduct.
