The Town of Monroe is a far neighbor north along Route 17, just above the green belt of Sterling Forest and Harriman State Parks that surrounds Tuxedo and Sloatsburg.
In recent years, the Town has undergone political and community infighting, especially amid plans by Kiryas Joel to expand and grow into a much more densely populated Village.
At the Town’s January 4 reorganizational meeting, the Town Council welcomed new members and installed fresh legal counsel, giving the work to South Nyack law firm of Feerick Lynch MacCartney.
One of FLM’s particular areas of specialty is land use and municipal law. Sloatsburg resident and associate attorney at the firm Brian Nugent was tapped to lead the FLM Monroe effort and sits on the dais as advisor to the town on all legal matters.
Nugent is a former Suffern police officer and Sloatsburg Village Trustee, and has spent time as a Village of Hillburn Judge. He received his law degree from Pace University of Law.
He’ll need all of those skill-sets when dealing with the Town of Monroe political landscape. On the job just a few months now and Nugent has already come under attack by Monroe Supervisor Harley Doles, who suddenly dropped out of sight in December.
Doles, now on an unspecified medical leave of absence, has kept busy writing missives to Nugent, acting Town Supervisor Tony Cardone and other board members on topics that range from the Kiryas Joel annexation plan to the town’s purchase in 2012 of the Monroe 6 multiplex movie theater to use as municipal offices.
Acting Supervisor Tony Cardone, moving to bypass Doles’ grip on the Town Council, requested information on Doles’ current condition, stating in a late January correspondence that Doles must proffer a doctor’s notice that articulates what duties Doles can and can’t perform while on medical leave.
Supervisor Doles called Cardone’s move and Monroe’s legal advice ridiculous and dangerous.
The Town Board, with Nugent on the dais, is expected to take up the Supervisor’s duties during Monday’s, February 8, Town Council meeting.
