FALLSBURG — Councilmember Sean Wall-Carty has publicly shared his frustration about not being able to serve the people who elected him, pointing to what he says is a growing pattern of blocked agenda items. 

In a Facebook post, Wall-Carty laid out his concerns about the town’s water and sewer infrastructure and explained how his efforts to start a public discussion about raising rates were blocked.

“As many of you know, we have a water and sewer infrastructure problem. A main part of that problem is water delivery (pipes),” Wall-Carty wrote. “We need to have a public discussion about funding a water maintenance program. Others have mentioned this idea, but action has yet to be taken.”

Wall-Carty said that despite following the proper process to add a resolution to the agenda—one that would increase water and sewer rates by 10 percent for 2025 with future increases based on inflation—the item was left off the agenda entirely.

While Wall-Carty said that the town supervisor has the right to control what goes on the agenda, he pointed out that leaving this issue off ignored a serious problem that residents bring up all the time at public meetings. 

“There has yet to be a single meeting I’ve attended where someone doesn’t mention the need to fix our water infrastructure,” he added.

According to Fallsburg Town Supervisor Michael Bensimon, he had concerns over the hastily drafted Resolution 57 which Wall-Carty posted on Facebook, which would automatically raise water rates without a public hearing, in contrast to the more “robust Resolution 52.” 

“Resolution 57... doesn’t address the deficiencies,” Bensimon said, saying that the town attorney had not yet reviewed it. He also pointed out that while Resolution 57 proposes rate increases starting in 2025, Resolution 52 would address immediate needs by implementing changes right away and would include more usage. 

“It’s not about blocking... I’m going to make sure that we do our due diligence,” added Bensimon he said he remains on protecting residential users. 

Councilmember Nathan Steingart, speaking to the Democrat, shared the frustration: “The board is frustrated with one person controlling what gets on the agenda, and we feel that we have no choice but to add items last minute to get business done.”

At the September 10 town board meeting, Steingart, along with fellow Councilmembers Jeff Wiener and Miranda Behan, added several last-minute items to the agenda. These included removing Bensimon as the personnel director and appointing Fallsburg Comptroller and Delaware Town Supervisor Scott DuBois in his place. 

They also moved to hire Harris Seletsky as the new park manager, effective September 30, and set a public hearing to change a local law. The change of the local law would make all five police commissioners members of the town board, instead of a mix of general public members and board members—a change prompted by recent reviews of community policing after the death of George Floyd.

According to Councilmember Behan, who is willing to have the water sewer rates agenda item come up for a vote, “When the supervisor doesn’t want something on the agenda, it doesn’t get added.

“Some of these things need to be taken care of,” Behan told the Democrat.

She also said that the town’s aging water and sewer infrastructure has been neglected for far too long and is overdue for serious maintenance. 

The situation is worsened in the summer when Fallsburg’s population triples, putting more strain on an already struggling system. Just this past summer, some areas had to conserve water because the reserve tanks were running low.

Wall-Carty told the Democrat, “I am still hopeful we can return to working together as a  united board.”

Wall-Carty, in his Facebook posts says he plans to introduce the resolution at the Tuesday, September 17 town board meeting. “We need to have this open conversation; we cannot kick this can down the road anymore.”