February, 2009

Usually Kent Town Board meetings are held on Monday nights, but last night, Wednesday February 25th (a date of infamy?), without wide notice to residents, if any public notice at all, and in a small conference room at Town Hall, our elected reps met. Quietly they voted to hold a public meeting on March 23rd in support of a referendum to change the term of service for the Supervisor from two years to four. If the four year referendum wins, whoever is eleced this year will be seated for four years.

This initiative is from our current Supervisor who claims that she has spent most of her time "cleaning up the mess of past supervisors." Does she now recommend that we look forward to a string of four-year messes to be cleaned up? Does this initiative serve ayone but Ms. Doherty, who will secure for herself, if she is re-elected, $65,000 per year, equaling $260K over 4 years PLUS FULL HEALTH AND PENSION BENEFITS.

I am informed that people from all local political parties are upset by this new initiative, but the strong hold that Doherty has over her voting bloc will make the referendum difficult to defeat. The four Republican members of the Board consistently vote the same way, the public voice of voters has effectively been silenced by this group of four as they run our government from back rooms in classic old patronage methods. The demise of the Putnam County Courier serves to further silence citizen input, and the beat of ignoring the Freedom of Information Law goes on.

Not only has our current Town Board produced little change and showed little ingenuity, but now they are moving to put a stranglehold on our democratic process that they believe will give them control of government for years to come. I urge, instead, that the Town Board author an initiative to ABOLISH the office of Supervisor, electing five Concilpersons, and that they hire a Town Manager. The current Supervisor salary, supplemented by what a professional manager can save us, will put us ahead fiscally and remove a lot of political maneuvering from the management of the town of Kent...that can!

Submitted by Joyce Mitchell