Republican reacts to Haverstraw town trucks’ hauling dirt
- September
- 12
As the election nears, it appears that more calls come in to point out a possible abuse of governments’ money or a conspiracy.
Today’s call was about Haverstraw Highway Department’s dump trucks transporting dirt from a construction site on Railroad Avenue to the highway garage.
The caller, Louis “Butch” Babcock, a Republican who is running for town supervisor against Democratic incumbent Howard Phillips, said that it wasn’t appropriate for the town to use its manpower and equipment to haul the dirt, and that the town was doing a favor for the contractor, Scafidi.
I called Highway Superintendent Frank Brooks, a Democrat, to ask what was going on. Brooks said it was a common practice for the town to accept clean fill material from construction sites so the town could use the dirt for its parks and the golf course. Brooks said his men worked for about two days to transport about 450 square yards of dirt because it was a good deal for the town. He said clean fill material would have cost about $12 to $16 per square yard if the town had to buy it.
Babcock then said he believed that the highway department had many other important jobs to take care of other than hauling the dirt. He also said the contractor was one of the contributors to the Haverstraw Town Democratic Committee. I checked the committee’s financial disclosure reports on the state Board of Elections’ Web site, but I didn’t find the name as a donor.
Please let me know if I missed it.
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