Once upon a time, in the faraway Kingdom of Delaware County, there lived a public official named Wayne Marshfield.
Wayne had a peculiar misfortune.
Wherever Wayne went, terrible financial mysteries seemed to occur around him.
And every time they occurred, Wayne was shocked.
The Great Senior Meals Mystery
First came the Great Senior Meals Mystery.
For decades, Delaware Opportunities provided meals to senior citizens in Delaware County. Then, suddenly, in May 2026, Delaware Opportunities announced that it could no longer continue the program because Delaware County allegedly owed it approximately $300,000.
A crisis erupted.
There were emergency meetings, emergency meals, volunteers, restaurants, churches, sheriff's deputies and heroic efforts to make certain that senior citizens did not go hungry.
Everybody rushed to rescue the senior citizens.
Everybody was shocked.
Especially mysterious was how the disaster had managed to sneak up on everyone.
Wayne Marshfield was not some innocent traveler who happened upon the wreckage after the fact. He occupied positions within both institutional worlds surrounding the senior-meals program: he was a Delaware County Supervisor involved with the County's Office for the Aging structure and simultaneously Treasurer and a Board member of Delaware Opportunities. Other officials likewise occupied overlapping positions.
So some of the people sitting on the side that allegedly had not paid approximately $300,000 were also sitting on the side that allegedly had not received approximately $300,000.
Who was billing whom?
Who was reviewing the bills?
Who was reconciling the accounts?
How did the alleged debt reach approximately $300,000 before the senior-meals program collapsed?
It was a terrible mystery.
And Wayne was there when everybody discovered it.
But fairy tales sometimes repeat themselves.
And now Wayne has entered Déjà Vu Land.
This time the mysterious disappearing money is called insurance premiums.
“Our Insurance Costs Went Up Drastically”
On September 8, 2026, Wayne brought troubling news to the people of Hamden.
The Town might have to exceed New York's property-tax cap.
Why?
Among other things, insurance had become terribly expensive.
Wayne explained to a local news outlet:
“Our insurance costs went up drastically because NYMIR recommended we increase the coverage on a couple of our facilities.”
Between insurance, wages and fuel, Marshfield reportedly anticipated that Hamden probably would exceed the tax cap.
Oh dear.
NYMIR costs had gone up drastically.
Another terrible financial mystery.
Where could all that insurance money possibly be going?
As luck would have it, Wayne had recently participated in a little NYMIR adventure of his own.
Poor Wayne Gets Sued
Only a few months earlier, Wayne had encountered a terrible problem.
Someone sued him in Neroni v. Watershed Agricultural Council, EF2026-106 in Delaware County Supreme Court.
Naturally, Wayne went looking for someone to pay for his lawyers - not out of his own pocket, of course. Only mere mortals like the rest of taxpayers do that.
First he went to the Town attorneys and asked for Town insurance coverage.
Alas, ALLEGEDLY (the mystery of who is behind the NYMIR invoice is still outstanding) they could not help him.
Wayne later explained under oath:
“I was informed shortly thereafter that the Town attorneys could not represent me as I was sued in a capacity other than my capacity as Town Supervisor.”
And:
“Since the claims against me did not appear to relate to my duties as a town officer, the town attorneys, after several days, determined that they could not represent me in the matter.”
Poor Wayne.
This wasn't Town business.
So Wayne tried another door.
He contacted his homeowner's insurance broker.
Then he produced the Town Board resolution concerning defense and indemnification of Town employees to see whether that might provide coverage.
Alas, that door was locked too.
Wayne swore:
“Unfortunately, that turned out not to be a basis for a defense and indemnification.”
Later in the same affidavit, Wayne made the point once again. Neither he nor the attorneys working with the Town had reason to believe the lawsuit had anything to do with his official duties.
What a predicament.
The lawsuit did not concern Wayne's duties as Town Supervisor.
The Town attorneys could not represent him.
The Town's defense-and-indemnification resolution provided no basis for defending or indemnifying him.
The homeowner's insurer had not come riding to the rescue.
Whatever was Wayne to do?
Enter the Fairy Godmother
Every good fairy tale has a fairy godmother.
Wayne's was called NYMIR.
Suddenly, Wayne had Hancock Estabrook LLP and attorney Frank Miller.
Wayne told the Court that on March 16 he had been able to “retain” Hancock Estabrook and Miller.
There was even a charming fairy-tale flourish:
“Since Mr. Miller was already familiar with many of the suits filed by the Neronis, he graciously agreed to accept my representation.”
Very graciously indeed.
Because months later, a magic invoice appeared.
It was dated August 12, 2026.
It was for $8,192.70.
And the “Client” identified on the invoice was not Wayne Marshfield.
It was:
NEW YORK MUNICIPAL INSURANCE RECIPROCAL.
The matter was:
“TATIANA NERONI V. WAYNE MARSHFIELD CLAIM #THDN-2026-001-001.”
Of course, as of April 3, 2026, that is not even a correct description of the case and Marshfield is not a party there anymore - but who cares when the Fairy Godmother can pickpocket taxpayers for Marshfield for as much as Marshfield wants/needs for his private needs?
A 30-year habit of treating public property as his own dies hard.
Even the date of the magic transformation was preserved.
Hancock Estabrook's March 16 billing entry—the very date Wayne said he had been able to retain Miller—states:
“Received and examined incoming summons and complaint re: Marshfield with assignment by insurance company.”
How did litigation which Wayne himself swore was outside his duties as Town Supervisor, and for which Wayne himself swore the Town's defense-and-indemnification resolution provided no basis, suddenly acquire a municipal-insurance fairy godmother?
Our fairy tale does not say.
It tells us only what the documents tell us:
On the facts to which Wayne himself swore, he was not entitled to municipal coverage. Yet NYMIR money was used to finance his lawyers.
But This Fairy Godmother Is a Pickpocket
There is something unusual about Wayne's fairy godmother.
She doesn't have any money of her own.
She cannot actually turn pumpkins into legal fees.
Before the fairy godmother can wave her magic wand, somebody has to fill her purse.
And ultimately that money comes from taxpayers.
So Wayne's particular variety of magic works something like this.
The taxpayers put money into municipal coffers.
Municipalities pay NYMIR.
NYMIR pays lawyers.
The lawyers litigate.
The lawyers send NYMIR the bill.
And when the purse needs replenishing, the fairy godmother quietly slips her hand back into the taxpayers' pockets.
Wayne's fairy godmother is a pickpocket.
And she was only getting started.
Wayne Escapes the Lawsuit — But the Fairy Godmother Stays
On April 3, 2026, Wayne was removed as a defendant through the amended pleading.
Wonderful news!
The lawyers' own billing records acknowledge receiving the amended summons and complaint on April 6 and describe it as an action “to eliminate Marshfield as defendant.”
Wayne was out.
Surely the fairy godmother could put away her wand.
Surely the lawyers could stop billing.
Surely the taxpayers could put their wallets back into their pockets.
Not in this fairy tale.
The lawyers kept toiling - unlawfully - at taxpayer expense, without disclosure to the court or to opponent WHICH MUNICIPALITY is unlawfully funding the defense of Marshfield through NYMIR out of scarce taxpayer funds.
They billed for opposing the effort to remove Wayne from the docket - after he was already removed from the case.
They billed for asking the Court to rule on Wayne's earlier, now mooted (nullified) motions.
They billed for pursuing Wayne's nullified sanctions effort.
They billed for stuff as if they never footed the door of a law school.
April passed.
The meter ran.
May passed.
The meter ran.
June came.
The meter ran.
July came.
The lawyers reviewed the decision purporting to award sanctions “in favor of our client” and reported their “successful outcome” to Wayne and the insurance company.
August came.
They billed for preparing the application for attorney fees.
The fairy godmother had transformed herself from someone supposedly defending Wayne against litigation into someone financing Wayne's continued affirmative participation in litigation after Wayne was no longer a defendant.
And Wayne's contribution toward this enchanted legal adventure?
Wayne Never Paid the Fairy Godmother - But Kept it Secret
How much did Wayne personally pay Hancock Estabrook and Miller?
Nothing.
How much did Wayne personally owe Hancock Estabrook and Miller?
Nothing.
Wayne admitted both facts under oath in September, in another case.
Apparently the fairy godmother didn't pick Wayne's pocket.
She knew where the taxpayers lived.
Meanwhile, in Another Part of the Kingdom...
But Neroni v. WAC was not Wayne's first adventure with our fairy godmother.
The same fairy godmother was already busy in another case.
Decker Advertising v. Delaware County.
That litigation has been going on for almost three years now—and counting.
Wayne is a defendant there too.
And NYMIR has also been providing for Wayne's defense there.
So while the fairy godmother was spending money on Wayne's WAC adventure, she was already financing another Wayne Marshfield litigation adventure that had been running for years.
One case.
Another case.
Lawyers.
Discovery.
Depositions.
Motions.
Briefs.
More lawyers.
More bills.
More years.
The magic taxpayer-funded purse apparently gets quite a workout.
And then Wayne appeared in September with the terrible news:
“Our insurance costs went up drastically.”
Oh dear.
Could the nearly three-year Decker adventure have anything to do with NYMIR's costs?
How much has NYMIR spent there?
Could the WAC adventure have anything to do with those costs?
How much else has NYMIR spent on Wayne?
Did any of those expenditures affect Hamden's premiums?
We don't know yet.
Wayne and the Locked Filing Cabinet
There is an obvious way to answer these questions.
Open the books.
Show the policies.
Show the coverage determinations.
Show the invoices.
Show the payments.
Show who requested coverage.
Show who approved it.
Show the claims.
Show what NYMIR has actually spent.
Show whether and how those expenditures affected premiums.
Wayne recently had an opportunity to illuminate at least part of this mystery in Neroni v. Merklen.
He made no documentary disclosure.
And when confronted through a Notice to Admit with the documents concerning his WAC representation, Wayne developed a remarkable case of informational amnesia.
He knew that he had personally paid no attorney fees.
He knew that he had personally incurred no obligation to pay attorney fees.
But was NYMIR identified as the “Client” on Hancock Estabrook's invoice?
Wayne lacked knowledge or information.
Did the invoice demand payment from NYMIR rather than from Wayne?
Wayne lacked knowledge or information.
Did Hancock Estabrook's billing records say that the firm received Wayne's lawsuit “with assignment by insurance company”?
Wayne lacked knowledge or information.
Did that insurance-company assignment exist before his court affidavit?
Again, Wayne lacked knowledge.
How curious.
Wayne knows enough about NYMIR to tell Hamden taxpayers that its costs have “gone up drastically.”
But when somebody asks what NYMIR has been doing for Wayne, suddenly the enchanted forest becomes very foggy.
So I Asked the Kingdom
I have now filed a FOIL request for the records.
Perhaps those records will explain everything.
Perhaps they will show that Wayne's litigation adventures had nothing whatsoever to do with Hamden's increased NYMIR premiums.
Excellent.
Then let the records show it.
But perhaps the records will tell us something else.
How much has NYMIR spent defending Wayne in Decker during nearly three years of litigation?
How much did it spend on Wayne in WAC?
Why did NYMIR finance Wayne's WAC lawyers when Wayne himself swore that the lawsuit was outside his official Town duties and that the Town's defense-and-indemnification resolution supplied no basis for his defense?
Why did NYMIR-funded litigation continue after Wayne had been removed as a defendant?
Who authorized all of this?
And did any of it affect what Hamden taxpayers now have to pay NYMIR?
Will Wayne reveal what has been going on?
Will Hamden produce the records?
Will NYMIR's magic purse finally be opened?
Or will the filing cabinet remain locked?
And remember - this same pickpocketing Fiary Godmother - as well as some other similar "godparents" - may be behind of a much larger taxpayer pickpocketing scheme - the BUTTERLFY "welcome, rich neighbor scheme" (where such schemes never happen usually without BIG-TIME briberies of local officials) - and result in a BIG TIME ROBBERY of local schools and other public services of the already under-served poor area, for all that Marshfield and Co. care. Which is also ongoing under Marshfield's wise leadership.
For the continued coverage of these exciting mysteries - stay tuned.
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