Salem
Brannen
POUGHKEEPSIE – The two Poughkeepsie council members who sit on the city’s Industrial Development Agency Board are questioning why Council Chairwoman Ann Finney wants to remove common council members from the board.
The IDA board is currently comprised of seven members.
Finney has a resolution on tonight’s council agenda that would take Council members Sarah Salem and Sarah Brannen off the IDA.
Salem said Finney’s proposal “presents itself as rather odd following the recent decision of the board to grant a PILOT to a development project that has been publicly before the IDA since March.”
Salem said if the question is if council members present a conflict of interest by serving on the IDA, “then the interests of all other council members who currently hold a position on a city board should also be called to question.” Salem said as for the PILOT approved for the development project, “that is a matter that is under legal determination.”
Brannen said Feeney’s resolution to remove two council members
from the IDA board “appears to be in retaliation for the approval
of a PILOT, which will bring in significant new tax revenues to the city
and turn a vacant lot into good quality, affordable housing for residents.”
Brannen said the resolution also doesn’t make sense “given
the past IDA board included four elected officials – the mayor,
a council member, and two school board members.”
Brannan said state IDA law “explicitly states that elected officials can serve on the board. In fact, there have been elected officials on the IDA board for upwards of two decades.”
