Prosecution rests in Covel trial

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July 23, 2009

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG The Press Republican Thu Jul 23, 2009, 05:35 PM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — Peru Town Justice Peter Keenan said he was concerned by the alleged behaviors of town Code Enforcement Officer Paul Blaine.

“Mr. Blaine at times was out-of-control,” Keenan said this afternoon as the first defense witness in Peru Town Supervisor Donald Covel’s official-misconduct trial.

“(It was) conduct that was completely out-of-control and nuts and not good for a workplace.”

Keenan said he shared his concerns with Covel about two weeks before Blaine was temporarily dismissed from his position.

“He (Covel) at this time said he was going to suspend or terminate Paul Blaine.”

At issue in the trial is whether Covel inappropriately fired Blaine in early 2008, when he was officially listed as suspended with pay, and whether the supervisor issued unlawful permits and certificates for his wife’s business while he briefly served as acting enforcement officer.

Town law says a supervisor would fulfill the duties of the code enforcer if a vacancy arose.

Defense attorney Lawrence Elmen, despite objections from Assistant District Attorney Jaime Douthat, offered Keenan’s testimony to help document Covel’s state of mind before Blaine’s dismissal.

Don Lee, a retired code-enforcement officer for the Town of Plattsburgh, later described his contact with Covel during Blaine’s absence.

“He asked if I could perform code-enforcement officer duties,” Lee said as evidence that Covel had tried to otherwise fill the position.

Lee said he and his former assistant were unable to help the adjoining town because of their busy schedules.

Plattsburgh resident Ian Fasking later told jurors that he too was asked to serve the town in that capacity during the vacancy.

Earlier today, before the prosecution rested after calling five witness, Blaine spent several more hours on the stand detailing his relationship with Covel and past work experience, all the while maintaining that he thought he was inappropriately fired.

He told jurors that he, too, had approved applications for relatives but said he advised his superiors of those actions to avoid any appearances of a conflict of interest.

Blaine said there were various reasons why he didn’t approve Linda Covel’s requests for her business, Frosty Springs Co., saying portions of her application were either incomplete, in question or that inspections were needed.

After speaking about the many rules and guidelines that must be followed in the permit process, Elmen delved into Blaine’s work history as the former code-enforcement officer for the Town of Black Brook.

Days before Blaine resigned from that position, trial evidence showed, he had approved his wife’s request for extensive renovation and construction on the couple’s Silver Lake Road property.

Though construction began after the approval, which was granted the same day the application was submitted, it reportedly did not have Adirondack Park Agency inspection or consent, something Blaine later said was not needed under non-juristictional law.

Prosecutors have argued that Covel fired Blaine without the Town Council’s consent and necessary Civil Service procedures so he could approve his wife’s applications. Blaine had denied those applications for months.

Covel and Blaine had a well-known acrimonious relationship.

Blaine’s testimony was frequently interrupted by objections from Douthat, who questioned the relevance of Elmen’s probe into the Black Brook incident.

Blaine later told jurors that Black Brook had a very informal permit process, while Peru requires an extensive one.

Additional defense witnesses will take the stand Friday when the trial resumes.

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com