The changes came about as a result of the discovery of purchases made by village mayor Michael LaDuke and his wife Debra, the village clerk. The LaDukes were charged earlier this year with third degree grand larceny and falsification of business records and are currently under investigation by Sheriffs Department and District Attorney Jack Gibbons and.

Monday night, the two village trustees, Sabine Curry and Lori Henry, new village clerk-treasurer Margo Russ and village attorney Richard McVinney held a meeting to bring residents up-to-date on the status of the LaDukes and the village's financial condition.

McVinney explained that Michael LaDuke made purchases at various businesses and used open charge accounts the village had established or charged the personal purchases to the village which were later paid for with village funds.

When the trustees became suspicious and confronted LaDuke it started to become apparent what had been going on and they contacted McVinney and law enforcement officials who started an investigation. The LaDukes were subsequently arrested.

McVinney said theft like that is "not easy to find" and that is was "almost luck" that trustees Curry and Henry caught on.

The trustees told residents that they trusted LaDuke and his wife. "We had no reason to believe he was lying to us. "If you know Mike, you know he's a smooth talker," Henry said.

"This was smooth enough Audit and Control (NYS Comptroller's Office) did not pick up on it two times," McVinney added.

According to McVinney and the trustees, the LaDukes falsified the minutes of some board meetings after they were approved. The changes would reflect that certain purchases had been approved by the board when in fact the trustees had no knowledge of them. In other instances, checks were written on village accounts, but the purchases were never submitted for approval by the trustees.

"Vouchers were not approved, but checks were written. We saw what he wanted us to see," Henry said.

Officials believe $8,000 to $10,000 is missing because of purchases made by LaDuke, but much of the merchandise has been recovered, Henry said. The full extent of the purchases may never be known.

To tighten controls on spending, Russ and the trustees have instituted new purchasing procedures, closed all open charge accounts the village had with businesses and now require two signatures on each check.

"You would have to be really tricky to do what they did to us," McVinney said.

Russ, a certified public accountant, said that when she took over, essentially the books had not been done for two years. When the books are not completed, she said, you can easily hide purchases and show the trustees only the checks and vouchers you want them to see.

Russ said she has set up a computerized bookkeeping system and expects to have everything current in early October.

Debra LaDuke resigned from her post in April, but her husband remains in office and village residents are not happy about it.

More than once they asked if there wasn't some way he could be removed from office, but McVinney said there is no way to compel him to step down. One person asked if it was possible he was in violation of his oath of office?

"Yes," McVinney replied, "but that's not enough."

If he was convicted of a felony he would have to leave office immediately, but it's possible his term, which is up for election in March, would be over before the case could make its way through court.

"He is mayor in title only," McVinney said. "We changed the lock on the village offices and Mike doesn't have a key." The locks were changed so more documents would not come up missing, he said.

Village officials said they met with Otsego County District Attorney Jack Gibbons last week and were told that the case would go before a grand jury next month. Whether the LaDukes are prosecuted or not is up to the district attorney and the grand jury officials explained to the audience.

In addition to the purchases, officials said Michael LaDuke's involvement in the renovation of the corner store is still being investigated. The village was given the building following a fire which heavily damaged the structure. The village board planned to use the building for offices.

LaDuke told the trustees that a new roof had to be put on it and obtained a $75,000 loan for the project and arranged for the work to be done by Lincoln Construction of Oneonta without the normal bid process because it was an emergency.

The village paid Lincoln $67,5000 for work done on the building, but now believe, based on the opinions of someone who looked at the work, that only about $40,000 worth was completed. "We were lead to believe that work that was going to be done was more than what was done," Henry said.

McVinney and the trustees now suspect LaDuke was working for Lincoln at the time or that he worked out an arrangement with the construction company. It may be impossible to discover if there was fraud "if they keep their mouths shut," he said.

Residents asked it there was something they could do and Curry said that someone has to run for mayor in March. She and Henry also suggested that people take a more active interest in village government.

The village board meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the fire department meeting room.