The Monroe Gazette
Updated SBG Timeline
In early 2021, not long after taking office in a controversial fashon, Joel Stern is appointed confidential assistant to the mayor, and Isaac Ekstein is appointed legislative aide. Stern then assumed the role of “Village Executive” and identified himself as such in emails to local, county, and state officials. Within the Satmar community, when “the mayor” of South Blooming Grove is referenced, it is Joel Stern that is referenced, not Mayor George Kalaj.
The Village of South Blooming Grove then attempts to change the terms of office from two-year to four-year terms; however, the Village fails to file this paperwork with the Department of State until late 2024, after missing the regularly scheduled Village Election of March 2024. In March of 2025, the Village Election is then skipped.
During the tenure of Joel Stern, the FBI, EPA, Department of Health, the Orange County Department of Health, the New York State Comptroller, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the New York Attorney General’s office launches multiple investigations into activities by Stern and Ekstein. Multiple lawsuits are also filed.
On February 20th, 2025, Joel Stern provides testimony as part of a lawsuit between Orange County and the Village of South Blooming Grove, stating Mayor George Kalaj’s term of office expires in March of 2026.
On September 25th, 2025 at the Woodbury Village Board meeting, un-elected Village Trustee, Rhonda Fabbro, declares that any criticism of South Blooming Grove is anti-semitic. Mrs. Fabbro, her son (the actual elected Village Trustee), James Freiband, and Valerie Hebel are political allies of State Senator James G. Skoufis. Mr. Skoufis has repeatedly ignored or otherwise pushed off residents of south Blooming Grove who brought these numerous instances of malfeasance to his attention. Mr. Skoufis has also tried to downplay concerns about South Blooming Grove using the same language as Mrs. Fabbro, writing it off as “fear mongering” or “conspiracy theories.”
On October 9th, 2025 from his Gmail account, Joel Stern sends an ad to the Mid-Hudson Times announcing the election for 10/22/25
On October 16th, from his United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove email, Mr. Joel Stern asks the Orange County Board of Elections for the complete voter role of South Blooming Grove. We have this and other emails via a FOIL request.
On October 20th, Isaac Ekstein, using the Deputy Clerk email from SBG sent an email to the OC BOE stating that the election went well with 61 yays and 10 nays concerning a referendum to move the Village Elections from March 2026 to October 2025. Note that Joel Stern is copied on this email. This may have happened at the 10/20 VOSBG meeting; however, there is nothing on the agenda for that meeting concerning an election. There IS something on the agenda concerning the Mayor’s property, 58 Fort Worth Place: (*On October 27th, Kerry Dougherty is recorded stating Isaac Ekstein is a Deputy Village Clerk, and may have access to the email in question that interacted with the Board of Elections. However, no where in any budget or document (that we have found thus far) demonstrates that Mr. Ekstein is a Deputy Village Clerk. This also raises concerns about FOIL, because it would mean Mr. Ekstein has directly participated in processing records requests that he himself was the subject of.
Ekstein then informed OC BOE that the election would take place two days later, on October 22nd and requested a pollbook. (Note here that OC BOE stated to The Monroe Gazette that they had NO knowledge of the election. This email shows that the OC BOE was lying and had full knowledge of the election, choosing not to intervene.)
On October 21st and 22nd, there is an email discussion with OC BOE and the person believed to be Ekstein, asking for an updated pollbook before 10am on 10/22. (Mrs. Dougherty, when asked, did not have a physical copy of the pollbook, nor did she have a readily accessible digital copy that was requested from the Village.) We have now spoke with several residents that expressed concerns that Mr. Ekstein wanted the pollbook in order to forge signatures.
Mrs. Kerry Dougherty, when asked, has only confirmed an election was involved, that it was a “special” election, and that the incumbents were all elected to four year terms. (Note that the original law to change the terms of office from 2 years to four years was filed three years after originally passed in 2021 and it appears filed incorrectly from what I can tell.) Mrs. Dougherty, as you can see in the video in the post and audio of our call, refused to answer any additional questions, saying she would answer them by email. At this time, The Monroe Gazette can confirm Mrs. Dougherty opened and read our email on Friday, but has not replied. When asked on 10/27 when she would respond to our email, she gave no timeline for response.
