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Cohoes Mayor Addresses Dirt Controversy

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Dave Lucas
Published May 13, 2020 at 9:06 AM EDT
William Keeler
William Keeler
Cohoes Mayor Bill Keeler

The first-term mayor of Cohoes addressed allegations that he misused city resources on his property at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.

At the onset of the meeting, Democratic Mayor Bill Keeler delivered a statement regarding pictures posted on social media last week of Cohoes DPW trucks and employees dumping and grading topsoil on property owned by Keeler, leading one councilor to call for an investigation by the state attorney general.

"DPW has a decades-long practice of disposing clean fill on private property. It did so on mine for three years, including twice in 2020. Now, I am no longer allowing it to do that."

Keeler says DPW has no formal process for disposing fill.

"We need to find appropriate places for them to dump at no added cost to the taxpayers."

Keeler claims it costs over $2000 per truckload of soil if driven to landfills.
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Capital Region News City of CohoesCohoes Mayor Bill Keeler
Dave Lucas
Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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