WOODSTOCK, N.Y. — Woodstock Library Board of Trustees President Jeffery Collins was arrested Saturday and charged with petit larceny in the theft of political road signs that claim the proposed site for a new library is “toxic.”
An investigation is continuing into whether additional charges of possession of stolen property should be filed, authorities said.
On Sunday, Collins issued a statement saying “I made a mistake” and that he would offer his resignation to the library board when it meets May 19. But he also railed at a “disinformation campaign” by project opponents about contamination of the proposed library site.
“The library has performed the environmental tests necessary to prove that 10 Dixon Ave. is safe for humans and the environment,” Collins said in the statement. “This assessment has been substantiated by both the Woodstock Environmental Commission and the Woodstock Water and Sewer Department. Claims of toxins at the site are false and constitute libel. In addition, this disinformation is creating a public health scare that is irresponsibly frightening residents of the Bearsville Flats.”
Woodstock Police said Collins is accused of stealing campaign signs asking voters on Tuesday, May 10, to reject a proposed bond that would pay for a new home for the library on state Route 212 in Bearsville.
The arrest was made after project opponents took photographs Friday of a vehicle running over a sign on Glasco Turnpike and then later saw Collins remove a sign from the intersection of Zena and Rowe roads.
Collins, 61, of 105 Cardinal Court, Woodstock, was given a ticket to appear in Woodstock Town Court on May 18.
The proposition is scheduled to go before library district voters from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center at 56 Rock City Road in Woodstock.
The referendum asks library district voters to authorize borrowing $3.96 million to purchase the property at 10 Dixon Ave., a former manufacturing site that housed Model Optic’s operations from 1970 through 2012.
Library officials have acknowledged site contamination stemming from the past manufacturing operation, but have issued studies reporting that the contamination does not affect the proposed library building or areas that would be used by the public.
Collins on Sunday acknowledged taking the signs, but said three of them had been placed on his property, another was on country property, and all contained false information.
“This is not about me, it’s about what’s best for Woodstock,” he said. “My mistake shouldn’t damage what Woodstock needs as far as a new library goes.”
Collins said he removed the signs because they incorrectly described 10 Dixon Avenue a “toxic” building.
“I did it because the signs were libelous,” he said. “There are two types of signs that just say ‘vote no’ and that’s somebody’s opinion, somebody’s thoughts. That’s great, I have no problem with that (over a) sign that says ‘Don’t buy a toxic building.’ Those are ones that should not be out there.”
