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Bloomingburg Reorganizes Itself
Anger and Normality As New Village Board Swears In

BLOOMINGBURG – The April 16 meeting of the Village of Bloomingburg board of trustees witnessed the seating of Aaron Rabiner, ratified winner of the recent election for the seat of Katherine Roemer, who had held it for a year following the dramatic election last spring that ousted former mayor Mark Berentsen's entire administration.

The audience for this meeting included about a dozen of the community's new orthodox residents, who sat both in a group at the back and singly, dotted around the room. Despite the notable ill feelings towards these new residents in the village and surrounding town, there was no overt hostility on display. No insults were voiced, no fist fights broke out.

Rabiner was sworn in by town justice James Cracolici and took a seat at the far end of the table. In the early going of the meeting that followed he noted that he was not up to speed on the issues before the board and chose to abstain from voting.

The meeting began with re-organization, with all existing town officials asked to serve again in their various roles and functions. Roemer, despite having lost her trustee seat to Rabiner, was appointed deputy mayor and the move by mayor Frank Gerardi was greeted with a big round of applause from much of the audience.

A tentative budget was presented for the village. Estimated revenues for 2015-16 were $767,606. Spending was listed at $940,856, with $195,011 to be raised in taxes and $45,600 to come from surplus.

A local law amending last year's local law #6, which placed a moratorium on acceptance and consideration of applications for residential and commercial building permits in the village, was given a first reading. The amendment was described as a "hardship exception" related to a fire at a house on Winterton Road where several residents had been forced out of their home and needed a building permit to make their house habitable again. The mayor and trustee James Johnson voted in favor while Rabiner abstained. The matter, and budget, comes up again at a special meeting this Thursday, April 23.

During the public comment and question period, the tension in the room broke wide open as Gregory Ercolino, a resident and frequent critic of both the Chestnut Ridge development and its developer Shalom Lamm, asked from the front row if it was true that a voting fraud felon was now seated on the board. Ercolino wondered aloud how the board could discuss the lawsuit against Lamm with Rabiner present in any executive session, and then moved on to ask Rabiner how he spelled his name. The new board member did not respond, after which Ercolino claimed to have papers that indicated that Rabiner actually resides in Monroe and asked if Rabiner was connected to a firm listed as Jacoby Rabiner at a specific address there.

Rabiner replied that he didn't know anything about this. Ercolino appeared to lose his temper at this point and asked if the sworn-in board member knew "how much trouble you are in." This continued until village attorney Steve Mogel ended the public question and comment period.

The board then voted to go into executive session to discuss the litigation issue, which effectively brought the meeting's business to an end.



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