To the editor:

I have read the recent letter to the editor of the Pelham Examiner regarding meetings of the town board. Because the work of the town board is so different from what the author of that letter seems to understand, I feel compelled to write.

The letter asserts that town board meetings are “under attended” due to a “lack of transparency.”  Town board meetings have been held on the first Monday of the month, but for holidays and unusual circumstances, for decades.  The schedule of all the year’s meetings is published online in the minutes of the first meetings of the year and also in the town calendar.  Both are easily accessible on the town website. Moreover, each month public notice of the upcoming meeting also appears in the Pelhams Plus.  Additionally, for our residents who don’t have internet access, notices of the meetings are printed and placed on the town bulletin board in front of Town Hall.

The letter assumes, without basis, that despite such widespread notification of upcoming meetings, public budget workshops and public budget hearings, town board meetings have “gone unnoticed by the vast majority of Town of Pelham residents.” That, of course, is a leap of logic—actually a leap of “faith” made rather transparently by a resident who has no authority to speak on behalf of “the vast majority” of town residents and clearly has a political agenda.  The author may never have had any reason to take notice of town meetings before until, of course, this election season, but she certainly has no basis for claiming that the vast majority of town residents have taken no notice.  Our door is always open and I encourage everyone to attend our town board meetings and to call, write, email, text and message any of your board members about anything of interest to you.

The letter veers into a host of criticisms that, frankly, seem ill-informed based on the author’s failure to attend any town board meetings. Had the author attended, she would have learned that the board began exploring podcasts before her criticism (even pricing equipment and discussing how extensive a system to deploy without further burdening our over-burdened taxpayers) some time ago.  She would have learned that some recent town board meetings have been held next door to Town Hall in the Daronco Town House (with a notice placed on the front door of Town Hall) because I have suffered a physical handicap recently and can be more easily accommodated accessing the Town House.  She also would have learned that in view of my difficulties and those of others I have observed, your town board has worked to obtain a $325,000 grant (and completed engineering plans) to construct an elevator at Town Hall because we understand how difficult it can be for people like me, senior citizens and handicapped individuals to access the second floor of Town Hall.  (We worked hard to ensure that Town Hall is ADA compliant with ramps to the first floor and an agreement to provide all services, upon request, by bringing employees to the first floor to provide any requested services. We want better, of course, and have worked hard to arrange better without raising town taxes to achieve it.)

Had the author attended our meetings, she would have known that as required by law, every time the town board conducts an executive session—like those conducted by the school board and our two village boards—I state the legal statutory basis for conducting an executive session during the public portion of the meeting.  Such permitted purposes under the law include personal privacy issues, personnel matters, legal/litigation issues, labor negotiations and wage issues.  The author’s baseless and partisan insinuation that I lie to the public regarding the purposes of such executive sessions is insulting. I was shocked to read it.

I don’t want to be overly critical of those few aspects of the author’s letter that try to make suggestions because, although she has chosen to raise these issues on social media and also in a letter to a local website without ever first raising them with your town board, we should never discourage constructive input. However, the letter is a classic example of why residents should involve themselves and attend meetings with such suggestions rather than attempt to debate issues on social media or by statements to local web sites. In such circumstances, misinformation and errors such as those contained in the letter take time and effort to correct when all that really needs to happen is a little face-to-face dialogue (during a town board meeting or otherwise).

Indeed, I encourage the author of the letter, and everyone else, to attend our next regular monthly town board meeting on the first Monday of November. Information is available on our town website at http://townofpelham.com.

Peter DiPaola

Town Supervisor

4810 Boston Post Road (Apt. 4E)