'It goes much further than just the cost'

The Town of Woodbury Town Board would like to correct the misconceptions that the residents of Woodbury seem to only concentrate on the cost of the town's lawsuit against the Village. It goes much further than just the cost.

This is the results of Former Supervisor David Sutz who secretly completed land transfers between the Town of Woodbury and the Village of Woodbury. He did so without notifying the Town Board and without receiving any opinion or advice from the Town Attorney.

More specifically, Mr Sutz unilaterally hired a surveyor, subdivided town land without Planning Board approval, personally made boundary line determinations, conveyed Park Lands without legislative approval and arranged for the recording of deeds in the Orange County Clerk’s office without the knowledge or consent of the Town Board or town and village attorneys.

His abuse of power was illegal, unauthorized and a violation of the public trust. He walked with a surveyor pointing out property lines that he alone determined. He never provided the town board with and documents or visuals to review before the exchange was final. He had the surveyor prepare the deeds and specifically stated “he did not want the town attorney to prepare the deeds because it was cheaper to do it himself.” Rather than go before the planning board for final sub- division approval he approached the planning board then Chairwoman to sign off on the maps and plans. Sutz signed both the Village and Town deeds and filed false documents to the Orange County Clerk. He by passed the title search process and the town later learned it owed $62,000 on a bond for the land that Sutz just gave away to another municipality.

David Sutz claims that this is just a clerical error, “fix it.” Well, David, it has cost the town and village $180,000 to fix your “clerical error.”

The Town of Woodbury, Town Board has filed a letter with the State Attorney General to officially look into Sutz’s clerical mistakes. Only time will tell just what his mistakes will cost.

The Woodbury Town Board