Social media once again targeted at Woodbury Town Board meeting

Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani responded to claims made on social media that the town was targeting certain members of the Park’s Committee during the April 17 Woodbury Town Board Meeting.

In a statement read at the meeting, Luciani said about four to six months ago Woodbury Parks and Recreation Director Joseph Gianzero gave her the Park’s Committee Volunteer Code of Conduct, which he created with Park’s Committee Chairperson Martha Lopez.

Luciani said she reviewed the document and said that while she thought it looked great, she wished to add a clause regarding social media.

Luciani said she asked town counsel to review the document, which included a clause she added regarding behavior on social media. She said the social media clause was meant to be a short paragraph, reminding volunteers not to make disparaging remarks about the town and other departments.

Legal counsel returned an in-depth document focusing only on social media and not the entire volunteer code of conduct.

Luciani apologized for not reviewing the document before it was posted on the town website and placed on the April 17 agenda.

She said the current Parks Code of Conduct will be distributed to the board and committee for review before being added to the next board agenda, Luciani said.

She also said the approved code of conduct will be created for all volunteer committees and thanked Gianzero and Lopez for their efforts.

During the meeting, Lopez clarified she and Gianzero did not write the document referenced on social media. Luciani acknowledged this and reaffirmed that the original document presented to her was well written.

Woodbury Resident Jacqueline Hernandez, suggested the board reference the town’s employee manual, which includes guidance on social media conduct, when updating their codes of conduct for volunteers.

Annexation request

At the meeting, the Town of Woodbury voted to declare the Village of Woodbury as lead agency in the review of Kiryas Joel’s petition to annex property located within both municipalities. In a petition sent to the town and village of Woodbury, Acres Road II Holdings, which owns property in Woodbury, requested to annex five tax lots or about 197 acres of land to the village of Kiryas Joel and the town of Palm Tree. The land is the former Ace Farms property.

“The village of Woodbury and the town of Woodbury are working together on this matter and thus we consent the village’s designation as lead agency along with the town of Woodbury being an involved party,” said Luciani. “We have no further comments on this matter at the time and it is extremely important that we display a fair balance of prudence as we battle this invitation of hate.”