The plot thickens in Poughkeepsie! Local elected
officials not informed about refugee arrival, by Ann Corcoran 11/3/16
Uh! Oh! The
resettlement contractors are getting awful cocky (and desperate for new
sites). I assumed (when I first mentioned Poughkeepsie) that there were
some local officials brought in on the plan to begin resettling Syrians in
Poughkeepsie in a few short months, but the mayor and others are denying they
were informed.
Mayor of
Poughkeepsie Rob Rolison (R) says he hasn’t been included in discussions while
DOShas already approved the site. Welcome to the secret world of refugee
planning from Washington. Bio here: http://robrolison.com/about-rob/
It appears,
according to USA
Today!, that Church World Service and the US State Department acted
unilaterally (and against the law!) if they have already settled on this new
site.
The Refugee Act of 1980 requires
consultation with local elected officials. They often skirt this
requirement by putting on a small briefing for someone in local government just
to check the box, but wow, they didn’t even do that here (or so the mayor
says!).
See our
previous posts on Poughkeepsie here, and here. From USA
Today (headline: “Refugee resettlement planned for
Poughkeepsie, but city officials unaware”):
POUGHKEEPSIE,
N.Y. — The Church World Service network expects to settle 80 refugees
in the City of Poughkeepsie in the next fiscal year in conjunction with opening
a resettlement office in the city, network representative said. But area
officials, including City Mayor Rob Rolison, do not have details on how the
settlements will work, and the Dutchess County Executive’s Office says it did
not have a hand in approving the plan.
The faith-based
Church World Service network, or CWS, is set to open a resettlement office in
the City of Poughkeepsie, according to Christina Levin, director for external
relations at CWS.
The
Poughkeepsie office, which would serve refugees from all countries, was
approved by the state Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The exact
location of the office to still to be determined.
CWS’ presence
in Poughkeepsie has ignited debate among the candidates for the 18th
Congressional District seat in next week’s election, as well as area residents.
At least one group of local organizations has banded together to support the
resettlement efforts.
Levin said the
CWS has been “working with a number of local partners, including the City of
Poughkeepsie” in establishing the office.
But, Rolison said
Wednesday he is still seeking answers regarding how the plan will work. “We learned recently that they were
considering Poughkeepsie for this, and now that is has been announced they’re
going to establish one in the greater Poughkeepsie area, I’ve reached out and
left a message (with CWS) about it. We’re trying to learn more details. At this
point, I don’t have any,” Rolison said. Much
more here.
Tip for the mayor: Do not bother with CWS, just go right
to the US Department of State in Washington, DC for answers. Find out from Barbara Day how all this has come about.
Concerned
citizens better get
registered for this
meeting next week. I warn you this will be a controlled meeting which
means they will probably not allow open questions from the floor. Learn a
little about something called the Delphi Technique for controlling the outcome of a meeting. Here
are all of our mentions of the technique, don’t let them herd you like cattle.
Church World Service will hold an information
session about the new Poughkeepsie office Thursday, November 10. at the
Adriance Memorial Library.
By the way CWS
was the contractor where I live that was responsible for the creation of RRW in
2007 because straight answers were not forthcoming. I need to do a new
dossier on their finances, but I am tired of researching today…tomorrow maybe!
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