By Timothy Knight

SCHOHARIE - Holding a special county board meeting last Monday evening to learn by what criteria the site selection process for the Public Safety Facility was conducted, supervisors came looking for answers, but left with more questions.

Held before a packed room of almost seventy residents, Wright Supervisor Amber Bleau questioned Flood Recovery Coordinator Bill Cherry on how the Seebold Farms site was selected over the others, considering the cost of the property is nearly double the assessed value.

Answering that, unlike the other potential sites, Cherry said Seebold Farms had a Century 21 Market analysis completed that pegged the property's value between $395,00-$425,000. Schoharie County is currently contracted to buy the site for $375,000.

Unsatisfied, Bleau further asked for justification of the site when taking into account that Seebold's was the most expensive site in the selection process.

Cherry responded that after a year of evaluations were conducted by two separate engineer and recovery representatives, Schoharie County DPW Commissioner Dan Crandall, and himself, "eventually all of us came to a universal conclusion" on selecting the site in question.

Concluding that Seebold's was the most cost effective and the best possible site, Mr. Cherry - in light of the heightened tension surrounding the selection of the location - offered the supervisors two choices moving forward.

"Your choices: do you put confidence in that joint decision...or not," Cherry commented before adding, "and if you don't; no hard feelings, but there is a risk involved."

That risk being the potential for the county to lose FEMA reimbursements for the cost of housing prisoners at Albany County jail, which the coordinator had alluded to at the previous county board meeting the Friday before.

Commenting "When I look at the numbers they're not lining up," Ms. Bleau questioned how the site could be scored when there was no assessment.

Explaining that the scoring was done through a series of ratings, Cherry said "there was four people who did the scoring independently," and, "we compared our sheets and in the end Seebold was the one we all agreed on."

Chiming in that he believes this "needs to be done in the right way," Summit Supervisor Harold Vroman further chimed, "there should have been a public hearing."

Opposed to the selection of the Seebold Farms site for a variety of reasons, an at-first small contingent of town residents that has steadily grown in size since May, has become a force to be reckoned with in Schoharie.

Concurring with Vroman's sentiment, Jefferson Supervisor Sean Jordan argued "this is a very large project that will effect a lot of people," and continued, "a lot of people feel like they weren't engaged with a little or at all."

After additional remarks, Mr. Jordan motioned for a public hearing to be held on a later date to afford the community the opportunity to comment, despite the public having commented on the facility's location twice before at regularly scheduled meetings.

Jordan's motion was approved 11-3 and a public hearing has been set for Monday, July 6th at 6:00 pm. Supervisors Shawn Smith of Blenheim, Bill Federice of Conesville, and Carl Barbic of Seward were opposed; the rest of those present were in favor of an additional meeting.

Numerous residents, despite a public hearing being officially set, addressed the county board in opposition to the jail's placement at the Seebold Farms property.