Three-member town boards will empower supervisors
Remy Orffeo’s recent Sunday Viewpoints article was welcome relief to board-cutting proponents’ weekly mantra, which has already morphed from “saving taxpayers’ dollars” to “empowering citizens.”
Without once criticizing Kevin Gaughan by name, Orffeo adeptly identified voter frustration as the fuel for this misguided effort. Armed with an obscure state law allowing citizen-initiated referendums, the leader of this crusade has sought to use this tool as a meat cleaver rather than the scalpel intended.
It defies proper planning and reason to suggest that Concord (70 square miles) and Brant (25 square miles), Amherst (pop. 115,500) and Sardinia (pop. 2,600), Clarence (which pays its councilmen $22,000) and Farnham (where trustees earn $1,800) equally should apply this simplistic “one size fits all” remedy to our governance woes.
What is truly bizarre about Evans’ recent downsizing vote is that a town of 42 square miles and 16,900 people soon will be governed by three board members, while its integral village of Angola (1.5 square miles and 2,100 people) is led by five board members! The same fate awaits Alden and Hamburg if their voters go down this ill-conceived path in November. Two-member majorities will make supervisors kings.
Richard L. Taczkowski
Buffalo
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