Letter to Bethlehem Town Board

8/3/2019 Letter to Bethlehem Town Board

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Honorable John Clarkson, SupervisorHonorable Joann Dawson, Town Board MemberHonorable Kyle Kotary, Town Board MemberHonorable Jeffrey Kuhn, Town Board Member

January 5, 2012

Re: Interim Board Appointment

Dear Mr. Clarkson, Ms. Dawson, Mr. Kotary and Mr. Kuhn,

We write as town residents to share our recommendations withrespect to making an interim appointment to the Town Boardseat vacated by Mark Jordan. We urge you to make this

appointment on the basis of qualifications and experience, aswell as a willingness to work collaboratively with others on theboard to achieve consensus on Town issues.

Few would argue that in the year ahead, Bethlehem facesunprecedented challenges. The need to increase our economicdevelopment efforts, address infrastructure needs, and supportneeded services will not be easy against the backdrop ofdiminished resources.

In this context, the choice to fill this vacancy is extremelyimportant. We recommend the following process and criteria foryour consideration:

Select an individual with strong general knowledge,qualifications, experience and character, so as to reassure allresidents that they will be fairly represented, even though theyhave not had a chance to choose a candidate through election.

We encourage you to select someone who is knowledgeable

about town government and its services, and prepared to helpyou make group decisions on the significant issues you willneed to address. Carefully consider the professional orvolunteer expertise and background potential candidateswould bring to Board discussions and what their generalapproach to reaching consensus on Town issues would be.


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We support selection of an individual who will serve for theremainder of this year only, and agree not to seek election thiscoming November. Why? Serving for a year via appointmentcreates an overwhelming advantage for the incumbent,making it more difficult and possibly discouraging others to

run. This could result in Bethlehem voters being denied achoice among candidates competing on a level playing fieldthis November.

Because you will also be evaluating candidates using othercriteria such as their knowledge, background, ideas and otherqualifications, you (and town residents) can also be assuredthat this individual indeed will have a strong stake in theresults of their votes and other actions. There is no reason tothink that such an interim appointee who is otherwise qualified

by these criteria, would not also be committed to working withother board members to move forward with long-termsustainable solutions.

We do not support appointment of an officer of a politicalparty committee. Town board members should represent allthe citizens of Bethlehem, not just those enrolled in their partyand the presence of a political party leader on the Boardconflicts with that expectation. In addition, the appointment ofa party officer also creates the potential for pressure and

undue influence, because other Board members will eventuallyneed to seek his or her endorsement for any future run foroffice.

Similarly we are concerned about the potential conflict ofinterest in appointing someone who holds a top position in aneighboring municipality, one that could compete withBethlehem for economic development investment as well asstate and federal grants.

Lastly we urge you to arrange for a public forum to vetcandidates with respect to their background, qualifications, andideas, which would also allow the public to hear from thosewishing to be considered for this interim appointment. Such anopen and transparent process would be an excellent way to beginyour work together as a new board.


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Achieving success for our towns residents will necessitate eachof you to work together based on principles of mutual respect,cooperation and collaboration. Filling this board vacancy providesan opportunity to put those principles into practice right from thestart. With that accomplished we have confidence that you can

continue to move forward operating within this framework,resulting in many positive outcomes in 2012.

Sincerely,

Keith W. BennettDelmarPatrick J. BulgaroSlingerlands

Paul and Maureen CaginoGlenmont

Lisa Callahan and MarkBryantDelmar

Lois DormanSlingerlands

Lisa and Bruce FinkleDelmar

John GuastellaDelmar

Susan and Tom HagerGlenmont

Linda Jasinski

Selkirk

Judi E. KehoeDelmar

Mark Joseph KellyDelmar

Jean KerrDelmar

Kathleen L. Martens

Glenmont

Maureen McLeodDelmar

Jan and Sam MessinaDelmar

Robert P. MillerDelmar

Terry MoskowitzDelmar

Chan NoetherDelmar

Ellie Prakken and JohnSmolinskyDelmar

Ross and Marge PrinzoGlenmont

Joseph P. RichardsonSlingerlands


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Pam and Don RobbinsSlingerlands

William SeylerDelmar

Hank and Carolyn SteadmanDelmar

Judy Thompson

Delmar

Keith WiggandGlenmont

Lois WilsonGlenmont

Barbara ZaronSlingerlands

Documents

Letter to Bethlehem Town Board