Hamlin Supervisor Tom Breslawski is accusing Hamlin Dog Control Officer David Maynard of conspiring with town employees and elected officials to deceive voters in an effort to get Eric Peters elected supervisor.
Breslawski made the accusations during a regular town board meeting on October 15.
“I have 569 pages of undeniable proof,” Breslawski said, producing a thick envelope of materials. He alleges Maynard utilized town property and resources to falsely accuse him of working to shut down the town’s dog shelter and swing voter support to Peters.
“The shelter is not at risk,” Breslawski said, noting the town is required to maintain the shelter and has budgeted for dog control. The supervisor accused Maynard of utilizing and then shutting down the shelter’s Facebook page to create an issue and help gain support for Peters. “(Maynard) purposefully and knowingly deceived residents,” Breslawski said at the meeting.
Supporters of the dog shelter demonstrated outside the town hall before the meeting and Maynard told the media he was being bullied by Breslawski because he doesn’t back him in the November election. Maynard accuses Breslawski of shutting down the shelter’s Facebook page – preventing the shelter from posting dogs and receiving donations.
Breslawski alleged the demonstration was called for by Maynard and orchestrated with the help of town employees and elected officials. He read transcripts from messages on Facebook and employee emails between dog control and various town employees regarding getting him out of office and which stated that protests would cast a poor light on him and his campaign.
Breslawksi says the dog shelter remains open and that he supports the shelter. He also denied charges that he misused donated funds meant for the shelter, saying the donated funds are not missing and have not been used.
“The Town Board authorizes all transfers … the supervisor cannot use funds without board approval,” he said.
Maynard tells the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald that the whole situation could have been easily avoided simply by the supervisor contacting the dog control/shelter liaison and talking about the situation.
“It could have all been resolved if he went to the liaison. I would have talked with him (Supervisor Breslawski),” Maynard says. He adds that shelter volunteers are upset over the situation. “I want the shelter to run like it used to,” he says.
Maynard explains that he made a mistake in utilizing a town dog control email account to set up a Facebook page regarding the shelter. “It was done by me,” he says of the page, “there was no town involvement on the page. I should have done it with my personal email.”
Breslawski has provided the information he has gathered to the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office and the Monroe County Board of Elections for investigation. He said he expected resignations and added the D.A.’s office would determine whether or not any of the activity is illegal.
The meeting became very emotionally charged as Supervisor Breslawski presented his report. There was shouting from both members of the audience and town board members at the close of the meeting.
“You’re a disgrace,” Council Member Craig Goodrich told Breslawski.
Goodrich told the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald following the meeting that the supervisor should have first addressed his concerns with Maynard in a private meeting. He said the Supervisor’s report had made him feel sick, “ … it was distasteful, disgusting and appalling,” he said. “How do you continue when (the Town Board) is so fractured? The bottom line is that we are not working as a team.”
10/20/13
