Before a proposal to create a new Town of Palm Tree carved out of a section of the Town of Monroe can be voted upon by residents of Monroe, the Orange County Legislature must give its okay. The town would expand the Hasidic Village of Kiryas Joel.

A “super-majority” of 14 out of 21 votes must be cast in support of the proposal in order for it to go to a referendum.

Even if all Republicans and the one Independence Party member, vote for the measure to pass, it will need Democratic support.

Democratic Caucus leader Matthew Turnbull is unsure how the vote will go.

“It’s really hard to say; I would just call it a moving target. It is an evolving issue. New information comes out every day,” he said.

Turnbull is leaning toward voting against the proposal for more than one reason.

“One is constitutionality of the issue. The second one is I feel the process was incredibly flawed. I don’t want to endorse anything that encourages more backroom discussion,” he said, noting they encouraged the Republican leadership to open up the process.

In recent weeks, the Democratic Caucus members have met with United Monroe, the KJ Alliance, KJ leadership, the eight municipalities involved in an earlier lawsuit, and they attempted to meet with the Monroe Town Board.

(Source: Mid Hudson News)