As the town of Tupper Lake supervisor, I feel the time has come for me to make a stand and set the record straight on a number of issues and accusations that have been leveled against me and the town of Tupper Lake.

First and foremost, let me be clear that this conflict of interest issue is purely, 100% a personal and political vendetta. Every single minute that we continue to spend on this issue is a minute not spent on legitimate town business.

Regarding the property located on Pitchfork Pond Road — the Industrial Park property — this property was never owned by the town of Tupper Lake. Let me repeat: it was never owned by the town. It was owned by the IDA and had actually been listed for sale for the past 20 years.

Concerning the letter that was written to the Town Planning Board by my attorney on behalf of my company, Tola Enterprises — this letter was written to request that the board not extend the sewer line in that district. To do so would have been very expensive to the district. The letter asked the board to instead approve that the owners of the property, Tola Enterprises, install septic systems at their own expense. The letter made it clear that this had been done in other districts and Tola’s request would actually benefit the district (as opposed to costing them).

I would also like to go on record to make it clear to all that there is no one that works for the town that is on any of my company’s payrolls.

With these four points of clarification being made, I want to take this a step further and extend the offer that if anyone would like further information, ask any questions or discuss these matters in further detail, to please feel free to stop in the town office any time to meet with me.

I also wish to make it clear that if any member of the town board feels they would like to move forward with sending any of these issues for review, I have absolutely no problem with that. It is their job as a board member to be sure that all is operating as it should. They can and they should ask questions if they have them.

It does bear mentioning that a review process that is being considered, comes at a significant cost of time, energy and money. Because every single accusation that is being made is entirely baseless, this would be time, money and effort that would not be well spent. To the contrary. And guess who will be funding this witch hunt? Unfortunately, this would fall to you, the tax payer.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider my words. It is greatly appreciated.

Rickey Dattola

Tupper Lake town

supervisor