BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

MASSENA -- The town supervisor on Wednesday shut down public comments from two residents who were attempting to criticize the board for their handling of Massena Memorial Hospital.

Steve O’Shaughnessy said he silenced them because town councilors told him they are distressed by some of the emphatic criticisms that have been leveled at the board over the last several months.

It all started at the beginning of Wednesday’s Town Council meeting when O’Shaughnessy said he was nixing the opening public comment period and would restrict speakers to four minutes each at the closing public comment portion.

"I thought a couple of months ago that we could be civil at these board meetings, but apparently not,” O’Shaughnessy said at the beginning of the meeting. He also encouraged speakers to submit written communication or “set up an appointment outside the meeting.”

New York State Open Meetings Law does not require municipal entities to take comments from the public at their meetings. It only requires that the public be allowed to attend and observe the open portions of meetings.

Citizens Cut Off

Bob Elsner, a town council candidate and Massena Memorial Hospital administrator, was the first to speak at the close of the meeting and was cut off by the supervisor.

"I appreciate you like to keep this civil. I'd like to remind you civility starts with you and the board … You had a citizen point out he didn't think you were being very civil. Later, on Facebook, you Mr. O’Shaughnessy,” he said, and was then cut off by the supervisor.

"That's enough,” O’Shaughnessy said.

"He called me a double-dipping leech with no other interest than protecting my salary, my pension,” Elsner said. "This is what we're talking about here."

"That can be addressed later in private, or in the press if you want,” O’Shaughnessy said.

"Okay, I'll address it in the press,” Elnser said.

Next up was David Romigh, who has also been a staunch critic of the board.

"Tonight I hear words of encouragement of civility, of decorum. The civility and decorum should start with the people sitting behind this desk,” Romigh said.

"I am not putting up with it. We've had to deal with this for several months,” O’Shaughnessy interrupted, later adding “No questions."

Elsner, Romigh Sound Off

Elsner was critical of O’Shaughnessy’s asking for civility because of a recent exchange the two made over Facebook.

O’Shaughnessy confirmed that he referred to Elsner as a “double-dipping leech” in a comment thread.

In the Thursday phone interview, O’Shaughnessy accused Elsner of collecting a salary from Massena Memorial Hospital and a state pension payment simultaneously. However, on the See Through NY website, Elsner is only shown collecting a salary from MMH of about $96,000.

“It’s just to sustain the lifestyle he’s got. He’s collecting NYS retirement and he’s there on a per diem thing,” O’Shaughnessy said.

Following Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, both Elsner and Romigh shared their opinions with members of the press that they would have said from the podium during public comment.

"It begins with him. He's the leader of this town. I don't care if it's Facebook,” Elsner said. "You don't have the right to call a citizen a double-dipping leach” and make accusations of "protecting my lifestyle on the backs of the taxpayers in this community.”

"I have contributed over $25,000 of my own salary back into the operations of the hospital,” Elsner said.

He said he felt he was being reasonable in making his critique of elected representatives.

"I wasn't being loud, I wasn't being obnoxious … he didn't like where I was going, so he shut me down,” Elsner said.

He added that if he was on the board "I would be asking and calling for a vote of no confidence in this supervisor and asking for his immediate resignation.”

Romigh said he supports the board’s right to restrict comments to the end of the meeting, but thinks O’Shaughnessy was wrong for silencing them at the podium.

"What you've seen tonight with the town supervisor's comments at the beginning of the board meeting, limiting the public comment to after all meeting business has been attended, that's within their right,” Romigh said. "Shouting down the citizenry as they're making their statement ... because Mr. O’Shaughnessy doesn't like what's about to be said is wrong … It's reprehensible."

"If I had been allowed to continue my statement ... I'd have asked him ... what is he hiding? How is he going to benefit? The moves he made in his own words packing the hospital board ... have resulted in the fact that Crouse has dropped out completely ... that St. Lawrence Health System, Mr. Acker and his group are coming in and taking stock of what Massena Memorial has to offer. I couldn't help but offer during the Pedawatt presentation ... what some of these businesses and the people who work at these businesses would think if our hospital were cut back,” Romigh said.

Criticism Has Been Cut Off Before

This is not the first time O’Shaughnessy has squashed critical remarks during public comment.

A video recording of the Sept. 19 Town Council meeting shows the supervisor cut off a citizen asking questions during public comment to tell her only positive comments about Massena are allowed.

At the meeting, Gina Snyder, who owns the Blue Spruce Motel, was questioning the board during public comment about the status of a project to replace decrepit “Welcome to Massena” signs on highways leading into town.

O’Shaughnessy on the tape opens the session by saying it is “for anybody who wants to say positive things about the Town of Massena,” which he has said before but most interpreted as being in jest.

“I just wanted to check with Sam and Melanie about the new signs. It’s been two months, since June 20, that we decided to replace the Massena signs. The signs were gone on [Aug. 18]. I was just wondering if you have an update on that?” Snyder can be heard asking the board on the tape.

“Actually this is a comment period where you get to say positive things about Massena. It’s not really a question and answer, it’s not a question [period],” O’Shaughnessy can be heard replying on the tape.

Snyder does not challenge him, and goes on to praise the highway superintendent for work related to the airport.

However, in the days after the meeting, O’Shaughnessy said he does not want to stifle public speech and will not be policing the positivity or negativity of comments going forward.

The New York State Department of State’s Committee on Open Government opines that he is not required to allow any public comments at meetings.

“Within the language of the Open Meetings Law, there is nothing that pertains to the right of those in attendance to speak or otherwise participate,” Committee on Open Government Executive Director Robert Freeman wrote in the advisory opinion posted at https://on.ny.gov/2OefSzZ. “Certainly a member of the public may speak or express opinions about meetings or about the conduct of public business before or after meetings to other persons. However, since neither the Open Meetings Law nor any other provision of which I am aware provides the public with the right to speak during meetings, I do not believe that a public body is required to permit the public to do so during meetings.”