TOWN OF AURORA
Wahl leaves Aurora board, urges downsizing
Published: November 21, 2009, 12:30 am
Story tools:
Share this story:
Aurora Councilwoman Kelly Wahl has resigned from the Town Board, effective this week.
And if she has anything to say about it, her resignation should lead the town to join the region’s downsizing movement.
Wahl, in the middle of her first board term, had two more years remaining in her term.
She could not be reached to comment but said in an e-mail her decision came down to a question of how much time she could devote to the town.
“I believe that in order to be an effective board member, you have to put the time in that the position deserves,” she wrote. “I’ve taken on some additional responsibilities in the last year that have made my time a premium. To be fair to the taxpayers, I need to focus on doing one thing well rather than being pulled in too many directions at once and giving a mediocre effort.”
Supervisor Dwight Krieger confirmed Wahl’s resignation Friday. He said Wahl had sent an e-mail to the town clerk’s office Wednesday. Her resignation was effective the same day.
What the Town Board will do to fill the gap remained unclear, but Wahl said she hopes the position remains vacant.
“Given that downsizing legislative boards seems to be a priority for many of our surrounding communities, and right here in our village, this might be the perfect time to reduce the size of the Aurora Town Board,” she wrote. “My outgoing recommendation is to keep the seat vacant and vote to downsize altogether. It could be a huge win for the residents of Aurora. I honestly believe that when it comes to government, less is more!”
In the past six months, at the urging of civic activist Kevin Gaughan, residents in the towns of Alden, Evans, Hamburg, Orchard Park and West Seneca all have voted to cut the size of their town boards to three members from five.
Gaughan has said he now plans to focus his efforts on persuading village residents to eliminate that entire layer of government.
East Aurora Mayor Clark Crook has said he agrees with that idea and will work to persuade residents to dissolve the village.
krobinson@buffnews.com
Newsletters
Sign up now for daily and weekly newsletters from BuffaloNews.com and get quick links to the info you want delivered directly to your inbox.Reader comments
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Comments have been disabled.
Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News’ guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News’ opinion pages.