WAWARSING – "It's not good. It's not good for the town. It's not good for nobody," said town highway superintendent Tony Paes before the town's January 5 meeting was adjourned.

For the majority of the meeting, which included official re-organizational votes, councilmen and supervisor were at each other's throats, leaving many in attendance to question the board's conduct.

Tim Distel, son of the town supervisor, called the five-member board "petulant children" after disagreements regarding stipends and confidential secretaries erupted into hurtful verbal jabs and accusations.

There was little new on the organizational side of things, aside from supervisor Leonard Distel announcing that former town accounting clerk Kareen Donohue would be serving as his confidential secretary, the supervisor's' fourth since taking office three years ago.

Engineering firm Lanc & Tully was also okayed to continue its work for the town planning board after councilman Dan Johnson inquired if the planning board could interview other prospective firms.

The meeting got dicey when councilman Stephen Bradley called for a motion to remove a number of stipends from the town's budget, including $6,000 paid to the supervisor as budget officer.

"We've been working hard to get some of the stipends removed," Bradley said, noting that the supervisor wasn't actually doing the job the stipend was supposed to pay for since the town hired an outside accounting firm to create detailed monthly reports, augmented by town clerk Roxanne Shamro's conducting all budget workshop meetings. By suspending that and other stipends, Bradley added, the town could save $20,000.

In response, Distel pointed out that the board voted to give all elected town personnel a $2,000 raise in 2017, bringing the yearly salary of councilpersons to $13,600. He said that it was unfair to reduce the salary of the supervisor by $6,000, adding that when he took office the second go around, he had reduced his salary by $2,000 then.

"It's looking a little bit like politics here," Distel said.

As the meeting heated up even more, discussions once again returned to the position of legislative aide, held by the supervisors' former confidential secretary, Tracy Moza. Allegations were repeated that the supervisor had intended to hire his son for the position before the board made it part time, ineligible for health benefits.

In other news, councilman Mike Durso and Distel awarded the Pride of Wawarsing award to former pool director and town judge Charles Dechon for his eleven years of service to the town. Dechon resigned from the position of pool director this past December.

After approving six resolutions on the agenda, Distel also appealed to the board to again consider amending the position of confidential secretary to a full time position, saying that the board created the position of legislative aide illegally.

"You are unbelievably stubborn, trying to push information that isn't factual," said councilman Terry Houck. Bradley backed Houck, adding that the board worked closely with the county in creating the position. Referring to a list of nearby municipalities, Houck added that the town of Wawarsing has the most as far as personnel working in the supervisor's office; where many of the other towns have one or zero, Wawarsing has two full time and one part time employees.

When the councilmen prepared to talk about individual concerns at the meeting's end, Distel surprised everyone by stripping water and sewer liaison responsibilities from Bradley and giving them to deputy supervisor Johnson. It was a move, Houck said, that was vindictive and reminiscent of when the supervisor Houck was removed as liaison for parks and trails last year, giving those jobs to Johnson, as well.

Johnson didn't accept the offered position, saying that his 60-hour a week job and personal responsibilities elsewhere didn't allow for it, and the position was returned to Bradley the following day.