Today, three members of the Alma Town Board; Steve Dickerson,
Jerry Currier and Beverly Root, will try to hold an illegal meeting at the Alma
Town Hall. The regular meetings of the Town Board that are scheduled for the
first Tuesday of each month have been lawfully suspended by the Town Supervisor
pursuant to New York Executive Law §24 based on the continuing state of
emergency that has been declared in the State and County due to the COVID-19
pandemic. Individual members of a town board, even a quorum of members, have no
power to hold a board meeting whenever they desire to do so. Under Town Law §62
(2) only the Town Supervisor has the authority to call a special meeting of the
board outside of a normally scheduled board meeting. Town Supervisor Ronald Staedt in
fact did this at the request of two Board members (Dickerson and Currier) on
April 17, 2020. When Mr. Currier did not call in for that meeting Mr. Dickerson
and Ms. Root chose to not continue the meeting because they did not have their
majority of members to carry out their desired business, even though they could
have proceeded to meet as a four-person quorum since Supervisor Staedt and
Deputy Supervisor Bock were also in attendance. The bottom line is that this
June 9th meeting will not be a lawful meeting of the Alma Town Board and none
of the so-called “business” transacted at this gathering of board members
Dickerson, Currier and Root on June 9th has any legal force or effect.
Ronald Staedt
Supervisor Town of Alma
