Letter to the Editor: To Get Full Flavor of Village Board Attend a Meeting

I didn't get the full flavor of what four of our Village Trustees and the Mayor are like until I started attending Village Board meetings.

For instance, unless you're there to observe, you're unaware of the cheap shots they give (that don't get reported by the media) to the other two Trustees, a Village Staff Member previously, and most recently at Michael Cassa of OEDC.

Along those lines, it was deplorable to me that the most recently re-elected officials agreed to have their campaign signs posted in their supporter's back yards that face St. Anne's Church, which to the Church's chagrin implied that the church was also backing them.  Cheap tricks.

All Public Forum Speakers at the last two board meetings were OEDC supporters (just as there were mostly TIF supporters speaking at last summer's TIF meetings).  So it makes me wonder, why aren't the people who voted them in at these meetings?  

Since the four trustees claimed numerous times at the most recent meeting that the Election gave them a mandate to take over Oswego's Economic Development, you'd think that those voters would be at the Village Board meetings to give back up to their claims that OEDC has not done its job.  Or are these voters finished with their responsibility now that they've unleashed this power hungry scourge on the rest of us.  

I guess these voters just want to believe what they're told by them and don't want to see for themselves what's going on.

I wouldn't say any of those re-elected were given a mandate when the vote totals show that Terry Michels squeaked by re-election by 17 votes.  If anyone can claim a mandate, it would be Gail Johnson with over 1,900 votes compared to the next highest re-elected vote getter with numerous hundreds fewer votes.

Another curious thing, ever since word came out about last summer's Open Meetings Act Violations by these same re-elected officials and their other cohorts on the Board, their main supporter has become eerily silent.  Curious that.  Any connection?

Judy Siedlecki, Oswego