It was not on the agenda, but a special meeting of Dansville village trustees Tuesday night turned into a finger-pointing session.
The board had called the meeting to pay bills held over from last week’s regular meeting. Trustee Jay Griffith asked fellow village officials to delay paying the bills until the board could see current budget statements. While those reports are still unavailable, village Clerk Kerry Ann Wood said she was confident the bills would fall in line with the budget.
While the board took several other actions, the discussion that consumed a significant portion of the meeting started with comments by Trustee Pat Kreiley in response to a letter sent from Mayor Peter Vogt to the village’s health reimbursement account provider, EBS-REMSCO Inc., based in Fairport.
Vogt indicated he had hoped to bring the matter up in an executive session, but Kreiley’s comments during the public meeting eliminated the mayor’s request to discuss the matter behind closed doors.
Kreiley explained the HRA program and summarized the board’s previous decision to have her look into correcting problems with its implementation. She quoted from the mayor’s letter, in which Vogt claimed Kreiley had allegedly given directions to EBS-REMSCO.
“Whether you were given specific instructions or it was assumed, I want to make it very clear that no trustee has any authority to give you instructions of any kind on behalf of the village,” the mayor had written.
Kreiley claimed, with support from an email from EBS-REMSCO, that she had not given instructions and that her conversation with the company had only identified areas that needed correction and how to go about correcting them through the village clerk.
“There were contradictions in what was said by various people from EBS, which is indicated in what you just read,” Vogt said, adding his concerns of potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. He said he had not pursued the matter, but that once he learned information may not have been handled correctly, he had referred the matter to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Trustee Don Sylor raised questions about whether EBS-REMSCO had improperly disclosed private employee information. Griffith pointed out, based on information provided by the village clerk, that EBS-REMSCO seems to have been providing information to anyone claiming to represent the village, even without verification.
It was not on the agenda, but a special meeting of Dansville village trustees Tuesday night turned into a finger-pointing session.
The board had called the meeting to pay bills held over from last week’s regular meeting. Trustee Jay Griffith asked fellow village officials to delay paying the bills until the board could see current budget statements. While those reports are still unavailable, village Clerk Kerry Ann Wood said she was confident the bills would fall in line with the budget.
While the board took several other actions, the discussion that consumed a significant portion of the meeting started with comments by Trustee Pat Kreiley in response to a letter sent from Mayor Peter Vogt to the village’s health reimbursement account provider, EBS-REMSCO Inc., based in Fairport.
Vogt indicated he had hoped to bring the matter up in an executive session, but Kreiley’s comments during the public meeting eliminated the mayor’s request to discuss the matter behind closed doors.
Kreiley explained the HRA program and summarized the board’s previous decision to have her look into correcting problems with its implementation. She quoted from the mayor’s letter, in which Vogt claimed Kreiley had allegedly given directions to EBS-REMSCO.
“Whether you were given specific instructions or it was assumed, I want to make it very clear that no trustee has any authority to give you instructions of any kind on behalf of the village,” the mayor had written.
Kreiley claimed, with support from an email from EBS-REMSCO, that she had not given instructions and that her conversation with the company had only identified areas that needed correction and how to go about correcting them through the village clerk.
“There were contradictions in what was said by various people from EBS, which is indicated in what you just read,” Vogt said, adding his concerns of potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. He said he had not pursued the matter, but that once he learned information may not have been handled correctly, he had referred the matter to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Trustee Don Sylor raised questions about whether EBS-REMSCO had improperly disclosed private employee information. Griffith pointed out, based on information provided by the village clerk, that EBS-REMSCO seems to have been providing information to anyone claiming to represent the village, even without verification.
In the public comment portion of the hearing, audience members called on the board to stop the finger-pointing and to work together better.
“It sounds like you all need to sit down with a bottle of beer,” resident Paul Hoffman said. “I think you all need to get off your high horses.”
Richard Fox agreed and commented, “I feel like a basic essential change has got to come in communication.”
Fox reminded the board that when the previous village administrator’s position was terminated, the village had said they could handle the responsibility.
“You probably are overworked, but you committed to it,” he said.
