Baldwinsville — Greater Baldwinsville residents turned out in high numbers to recent town board meetings.
Both the towns of Van Buren and Lysander held public hearings Aug. 7 and Aug. 13, respectively, to listen to comments regarding a proposal to change elective positions to appointive.
Supervisor Claude Sykes opened Van Buren’s public hearing on the matter by stating, “The board is aware that this is a somewhat controversial topic and in some people’s viewpoint does not merit consideration.” However, Sykes continued, having an elected highway superintendent is an outdated statute dating back to 1934 and, “with a three-fourths of a century old statute, perhaps the question should be why should the position remain elected?”
During the public hearing, opponents of the referendum said leaving it as an elected position allows residents to determine satisfaction of service.
“If we don’t like how the highway superintendent is doing his job, we can vote him out,” said Diane Branish.
“You’re taking away a kind of right – just because everybody else is doing it doesn’t’ mean we should have to,” added David Blaisdell, a resident and employee of the Van Buren Highway Department. “If there is no major concern, why change it?”
“We have to look to the future,” Sykes responded. Sykes then asked what right was being taken away if political parties choose the candidate for highway superintendent, and then there’s no opposition or choice anyway for decades at a time.
Virginia Lathrop, who spoke in favor of the motion, noted that Doug Foster, the current Van Buren Highway Superintendent was appointed after the former highway superintendent retired. She noted the board and employees seem to be happy, so “it shows you can do the right thing by appointing.” Voters later elected Foster to the position.
Van Buren officials approved the motion six to one to change the highway superintendent position from elective to appointive during the town’s Aug. 7 board meeting.
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Comments
turgid 10 months, 1 week ago
Lack of information is their own fault. If a person spent the same amount of time looking up some information, they would have been informed. The JAM team ran on shared services and consolidations. A simple review of the the 3 municipalities budgets lets a person see potential savings with shared services. It is just sad that the LRC whips the up the people with lies and disrupts the Public Hearings. Don't count on the LRC to tell you the truth, they haven't for decades. Do your own research. Understand what a referendum is. Attend the meetings more than once in your life. Aspire to knowledge. Don't be a LRC mushroom.
turgid 10 months, 1 week ago
Your headline is a bit misleading. The referendum votes were never on the agenda for that night so they were not postponed. The board needs time to reflect on the comments before voting.
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