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Editor:

On November 7th, please be sure to vote for Sean Pogue for Barre Town Supervisor, and Margaret Swan and Kirk Mathes for Councilmen.

They would like to improve life for Barre residents in a number of ways! They want to lower your taxes, provide high speed/low cost internet for as many residents as possible, further develop the Town Park, and encourage new businesses to come in to town. And they will continue to find ways to make improvements and cut costs.

Sean Pogue, current Barre Town Supervisor, has been a strong leader for this town for six years. He’s always seeking to make this community one that residents want to live in now but also will prosper for the years to come.

Sean has accomplished much for this town, including an increase in water districts and electric for the Town Park! The Host Community Agreement that he championed could mean paying reduced town property taxes for 30 years! The opposition candidates may claim that they care about the financial burdens on the community, but no one has come up with more “real” plans to lower taxes than Sean. And make no mistake, he’s the one who will make sure that residents get the maximum benefits.

Margaret Swan, currently a Barre councilman, has served on the board for four years, and among other contributions, has worked on ideas for developing the Town Park and researching the ambulance service projects. She has had involvement with District Court meetings. Margaret also helps out in the community in any way she can, including delivering meals to residents.

Kirk Mathes, running for Barre councilman, has been an active member on the Barre Town Planning Board since 2007 and was a member of the County Planning Board for many years. Kirk has been involved and helping out with almost every  event in Barre, including the Barre Bicentennial Celebration. And according to “Doc” Harling “If he is half as good a councilman as he is a neighbor you’ll never find a better one!”

Sean, Margaret and Kirk want to work for all the Barre residents! With them on the Barre Town Board, there will be real positive progress! They are the best team for the job!

Chris Loss

Barre

Editor:

In response to Mr. Smith’s letter, I wish to clarify that I was not invited to Saturday’s forum.

Shelby’s MEOs don’t have access to the GPS tracking of town vehicles. MEOs can access a vehicle’s service records. There’s a difference.

Contrary to claims, no diesel fuel was ever disposed of in the refuge. While patching on Southwood and Tibbets Roads, I left some blacktop in the turnaround when cleaning out the tailgate. I continued patching throughout the day and forgot about it. It was later cleaned up, and there was no ill intent.

When I was acting water superintendent, I started a spreadsheet to log the work performed in the town’s water districts. It saved time. Prior to that, people wrote everything long hand and later gave it to the water clerk to decipher and type into the system.

The laptop I used worked perfectly fine, and the data was backed up on a flash drive. I didn’t have a problem with the computer. Maybe there was a computer glitch or a lack of technical ability on someone’s part.

For over a year, the public has been told the town can’t generate supervisor reports and other compliance documents because of the software or computer system. Ongoing issues with generating reports seem to be a common theme in Shelby. I don’t think it’s a “me” problem.

I was surprised to read yesterday that I was “relieved” of my duties as water superintendent. I don’t recall it being that dramatic. I was told they needed me to do more repairs in the shop and that’s how I took it. There are meeting minutes online that say the same.

In my 12 years working with the highway department, I believe I have a strong rapport with my colleagues. While the work environment has changed since 2019, it doesn’t affect my job performance.

I have butted heads with the current highway superintendent, particularly on the importance of flushing water lines. I view it as essential for maintaining water quality and preventing bacterial contamination. He thinks it’s a waste of money. This year, water quality tests for Ryan and Salt Works Roads failed multiple times, and calls from concerned agencies were ignored.

It’s telling that the official who profited personally on wind, solar and wastewater, gave us towering windmills, and an influx of wastewater from another county is now trying to discredit me. I must be on the right track.

Bill Wolter

Candidate for Shelby Highway Superintendent

Editor:

I want to commend Mike Sidari for his service to the Village of Medina. His recent announcement of a decision not to run for re-election brings his era to a close at the end of this term.

He was elected to serve a deeply divide village after the failure of a dissolution referendum. He has worked to unite and progress the village to a good position during his administration.

Our local ambulance service is the best in the county.  Our parks are vibrant and being used. Medina has become a destination to visit in Western New York. With a national hotel chain locating here and the Bent’s Opera hotel, we have more places to welcome visitors.

Streets are being paved and water lines are being maintained (despite an aged and failing status that will be the next issue to be dealt with). Mike has also led the way with strong communication, Facebook and the txt/e-mail alert system to keep us informed.

The village web page allows reading of meeting reports and other information. He leaves with more advances on the horizon with the build out of the $4.5 million grant for downtown, a new fire hall and a much-needed new custom-built ladder truck on the way.

The next mayor will have big shoes to fill. The current progress must be maintained while watching the bottom line in a small tax base. The new mayor must partner with businesses and community organizations to further our desirability.

Thanks again Mike Sidari with your vision and achievements. You have served us well.

Dayton Hausman

Medina

Editor:

We would like you to join us in our support for Christine Pask for Town Clerk in Shelby. We feel she is better suited for creating a more cohesive work environment since there has been an increased turnover in the office.

The current clerk’s campaign ads are misleading and the “exemplary service” you’ve been receiving over the past 16 years has been largely due to the dedicated and competent Deputy Clerks that were on staff.

It is time to take a stand and make a change for the better!

Thank you!

Lori Myhill

Hannah Forder

Dorothy Nolan

Editor:

I’m launching a write-in campaign to keep my seat on the Shelby Town Council. While I’m a registered Republican, I believe the work of the Town Council should serve every citizen, regardless of their political affiliation.

Recent developments have highlighted critical issues around transparency, governance, and ethics within the council that urgently need addressing.

It is no secret it has been frustrating for some of us the past few years, fighting an uphill battle trying to do the right thing by the people, often being misled, selectively informed or continually out voted by three board members desperate to keep a lid on things.

My promise to you:

Transparency and Accountability – Missing reports and poor bookkeeping plague Shelby. In 10 months, there have been four supervisor reports – six have not been generated.

The bookkeeping department frequently overdraws bank accounts and checks are returned for insufficient funds. Outsourcing the bookkeeping could prevent this from happening and save the taxpayers money.

Tax dollars are being used for activities that target individuals. Tax dollars are being used to target and discriminate against individuals.

Meetings of a quorum of the board are taking place that don’t follow Open Meetings Law. Town meetings need to follow Open Meetings Law, and the council should provide routine supervisor reports.

Training and Development – Professional HR training for officials and employees should be prioritized. State-recommended supervisor training is long overdue.

Formal bookkeeper training recommended by the comptroller has been avoided. Training is critical for not only compliance but the fiscal health of our community.

I am committed to ending the hostile atmosphere and illicit surveillance by officials. I will boycott any off-the-record meetings.

A respectful work environment and open public engagement – The current atmosphere is secretive, hostile, and unproductive. I am committed to ending certain officials use of tax dollars to find creative ways to surveil and target people.

I will boycott the board’s illegal, off-the-record meetings where decisions are made away from the public. I will work to instill respect and collaboration among staff, officials, and local agencies.

I’ll push for more open public comment periods during board meetings and will advocate for consultants who act in the interests of the public and not merely a few officials.

During my time in office, I’ve fought for what I believed was in the best interests of residents against obstacles. These include being continually excluded from meetings and lied to about municipal issues while confronting ongoing hostility and retribution from officials.

Since 2021, I’ve been publicly speaking out against activities I find wrong. Contrary to recent claims, there is a public record of my comments pertaining to officials’ discrimination and targeting tactics, which continues to this day. While it’s not my right to publicly share everyone’s personal experiences, I will continue to fight these issues.

I urge you to write in my name on the ballot in the upcoming election. With your help, we can create a council that truly respects and serves all of Shelby.

John Pratt

Write-in candidate for Shelby Town Council

Editor:

I hired Bill Wolter as a motor equipment operator for the Town of Shelby twelve years ago.

Bill always followed direction was a hard worker, excellent mechanic and operator.

Bill learned the operations of the town highway department quickly.

He took part in any chance to further his education in different capacities to serve the town.

I know Bill Wolter is the most experienced and qualified man for the job of Shelby Highway Superintendent.

Please vote for Bill Wolter.

Sincerely,

Michael O. Fuller

Retired Town of Shelby Highway & Water Superintendent

Editor:

Since Bill Wolter, candidate for Shelby Highway superintendent, was unable to attend the public forum on Saturday, here are some questions voters might want to ask him before deciding how to vote.

1. Please explain the unauthorized use of GPS tracking data for town trucks being used to track a fellow employee, and was this data released to unauthorized users?

2. Why did you dump diesel fuel and asphalt from a town truck on the wildlife refuge?

3. When you were relieved of duties as water superintendent, why was the computer returned without the Excel file with two years of Town of Shelby owned water data? Did you realize that in trying to recover the data the hard drive on the water department laptop was ruined? Did you realize that the town had to pay for someone to re-enter two years of important data?

4. How is your relationship with your fellow town highway workers?

Jeff Smith

Former supervisor Town of Shelby

Editor:

As we get closer to Election Day, we all have choices and decisions to make about who would be the best candidates to vote for in your town, county, state, and federal government.

One person who I was shocked and dismayed to see running was Steven A. Colon for the position of Yates Town Councilman.  As any avid Hub reader remembers, in June of last year he posted that he attended the attempt to overthrow our freely elected government and was at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. that day – Jan. 6, 2021.

In his own words he wrote, “Treasonist, traitorous, lying rat actions drove me there.” In the nearly three years since the attempted coup to overthrow our freely elected government, 378 people are in prison because they did the same thing that Mr. Colon did.

There still is not one shred of evidence that the 2020 Presidential Election was not valid. I don’t know Paul Lauricella, but the phrase “you are the company that you keep,” so I can’t imagine that he is a choirboy either.

To me, voting for this pair would be dangerous to our area and is a grave mistake. If you can’t even live in reality, how can you govern honestly?

John Fredericks

Albion

Editor:

While it’s disappointing that Joe Sidonio lost the Republican Primary for Murray town supervisor, it shouldn’t be the end of his political career – his many accomplishments speak for themselves and need to continue.

As I mentioned in my previous post, members of the Town Board and a few employees  convinced someone who Joe thought was his friend to secretly record him in a private conversation without his knowledge and use it to go as far as contacting the news media and Black Lives Matter to try to cause harm to Joe and his family. They’ve gone so far as putting this recording on a website to steal the election and further discredit Joe. This is just another example of a string of attempts to get him out of their way – don’t fall for it.

I agree that Joe shouldn’t have used that kind of language as it was bad but he was venting to someone he thought was his friend about how he was being set up. Joe has since apologized and realized what he said was in poor taste but those opposed to him want to use this as a weapon against him. I urge the Town Board members and the few disgruntled employees to stop their hateful, disrespectful behavior and apologize to Joe. If they don’t, it just further speaks to their character.

Joe is really a good person. When my wife passed away he was there for my family and I, he attended her funeral and even sent flowers, a true friend. He called every day to check on my granddaughter when she was about to give birth to make sure she was okay.

There are many examples like this in the community about Joe, he’s not the cold-hearted monster that his opposition wants you to think he is. He’s someone who really cares about people.

Since becoming Supervisor, Joe – an accomplished businessman with a degree in accounting – has demonstrated his ability to manage our Town finances better than anyone by keeping our taxes under control and putting emphasis  on our town’s water-loss problem.

As a veteran, I appreciate Joe’s commitment to the Fancher War Memorial. Joe is a Marine Corps veteran and it shows in his work ethic and his never give-up attitude.

As a fellow veteran and his friend, I will continue to support him in the November election and I urge every veteran, Conservative, Independent, Democrat and Republican to contact him and get to know him, and then vote for him in November.

Jim Johnson

Murray

Editor:

Is it too early to think about Christmas? Oh no it isn’t, especially if we’re going to do something exciting in our Village of Albion then we have to start thinking about it now. Actually we are late!

So let’s get going! We have a beautiful Santa statue. Let’s build around the concept that Albion is the original home of the Santa school! Christmas should be the time we showcase our little village! Here are some ideas.

We should build a little shed down by that Santa just like the one in Medina but more like a little school house. If it works there and can work here too it would be a great place for a little mailbox to send letters to Santa. The little park all decorated up would look fantastic! We could even hold a little fun contests there like a “Ho, Ho, Ho” contest, best beard competition, Santa costume parade! How fun is that!

With our beautiful, historical Courthouse Square, it would be a beautiful place to put Christmas trees to honor loved ones or if you don’t want to do that because everyone else does it (even though it is a success, and I will travel to Lyndonville and Middleport to see theirs) maybe we could do wreaths of all sizes and decorate them in the Square.

Christmas caroling! What is more fun on a winter’s evening then Christmas caroling with hot chocolate and friends! We could do it once a week at the Square and groups could break off and walk down the side streets caroling – different organizations can supply the hot chocolate!

Movies … a month of Christmas movies, hosted at churches, different businesses that can accommodate, the library, the schools, Elks Lodge, any of the beautiful party venues we have.

Beg the Santas to come back! It’s probably too late for this year, but wouldn’t it be great to have them here next year? We had so much fun when they were here!

Do the Christmas decorations and contests for homes and businesses, but have people post their gorgeous pictures, and perhaps an online map of the decorations for folks to check out. Then have judges go around and pick winners in different categories, popular vote really doesn’t work, secret judges would be great!

Adopt a pole! (pun intended, North Pole county) all the beautiful light posts could be decorated with Christmas trees, Santas, angels … you get it , anything Christmas! The poles could be judged for winners, too! The prizes do not have to be monetary. It could be a dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Claus….. a winter wonderland sleigh ride, something like that would be fun for the whole family!

Did you see the big beautiful Santa at the Browsery? Check him out.

Lori Laine

Kent

Editor:

I have been a Shelby Town Board member for over 10 years and I have never seen or experienced such vitriol and aggressive behavior as I have seen in the last three and a half years.

I became a member of the Shelby Town Board to contribute and better my community.  I would like to see the board go back to being for the Town of Shelby and not for certain individual’s own agendas.

The current leadership has proven they are working for the best interest of Shelby.

Beware of the salesman selling snake oil.

Steve Seitz Sr.

Shelby

Editor:

I wanted to inform the residents of Shelby that I have recently been made aware of an event for “all Shelby candidates” scheduled for Saturday, October 21th.

Unfortunately, due to a long-standing prior commitment, I will be unable to attend this event. I understand the importance of opportunities to connect with voters, and I regret not being able to participate.

I want to assure voters in Shelby I am fully committed to fiscal clarity, open communication and greater intermunicipal collaboration. And I am always willing to have productive discussions. With the right board, we can work towards bettering the town.

I am grateful for all the support I have received and hope that those of you who may not know me yet have confidence in selecting me to represent you. I will not squander the opportunity to do my best for everyone in Shelby if you choose to vote for me November 7th.

Sincerely,

Linda Limina

Candidate for Shelby Town Council

Editor:

Being a long retired business man, I have time to spare. I use it to peruse websites of the western NY area that lean toward community involvement and the dissemination of local information.

I find these websites less politically slanted and more open than regular newspapers. I especially like ones that allow comments and open Letters to the Editor on current events in the local community. Whether you agree with them or not, I think what people have to say in these forums can tell you a lot about the community itself.

Unfortunately, some letters to the Editor can get pretty aggressive when it comes to the political arena. While debating and sharing one’s ideas about political agendas and elections is a good thing, and totally acceptable, the mud-slinging and attacking the character of individuals seeking office is not.

That is a bane to the political process itself.  Some letters to the Orleans Hub that I recently read faintly eludes to those tactics. For that reason, I felt compelled to substantiate the character of a long-time friend of mine that’s running for office in the Town of Shelby.

I did a lot of business in Orleans County back in my younger days and I still have a lot of friends there, Dale Root among them. I’ve known Dale and his family for about 27 years, and I can tell you that they are very decent folks.

As to Dale himself, I’ve never observed him to treat anyone with nothing less than honesty, respect and fairness, including those who work for him in whatever capacity. Dale is a dependable man; he’s what I refer to as a “get ’er-done” kind of guy.

He’s also a man of his word and if he tells you he will do something for you, consider it done!  He has a good business head on him and just as important, a ton of common sense. He has a forthright work ethic and whatever he does, he does to the very best of his ability.

Is he perfect? No. But then, neither is anyone else running for a political office anywhere in this country. Shouldn’t we try to remember that in our comments?

Thank you for hearing me,

Robert Posey

Lockport

Editor:

For some time, I as well as many others have viewed the Shelby Town Board as the “good old boys” network, where public input and transparency are minimized. While 50% of the population is female, there has not been a woman board member in 30 years.

Half the village of Medina is in the Shelby township, yet not one of the current board members lives in the village. This situation hardly represents the general population.

Actions by this board, over the last several years, have resulted in: voting to join the STAMP wastewater pipeline and now filing a court motion to oppose it; book keeping questions; proposed 630-foot windmills and now harassment allegations. The windmills involved potential financial gain for the previous supervisor and the STAMP wastewater pipeline provided immediate pay out to his sisters. These are not histrionics but real contentious issues that demand our attention.

So how did we get here.

Given that Republican voter registration in Orleans County is over 2 times that of all others, it is not surprising that it is exceedingly rare for non-Republicans to get elected. This alone is not a problem, but the process by which candidates are appointed or selected tends to continue the “good old boy” board makeup.

Councilman John Pratt is a classic example of a system that rewards a do not rock the boat mentality and punishes those that dare to speak up. John was a member of the Republican committee that selects candidates and appoints individuals to the board to fill vacancies.

In 2019 John was appointed to the Shelby board to fill a vacancy. Later he resigned from the committee, something he was not required to do. Recently he has suggested an addition to the proposed ethics policy that any board member or employee of the town should not also be on this committee. The town of Ridgeway has such a rule.

Of course, this idea is opposed by those who would be impacted, losing the power to choose who they work with and who represents you. As you can see from John’s recent letter to the editor, he has rocked the boat and subsequently that same Republican committee decided not to endorse him as a candidate. These actions are by an unelected committee that decides who serves and who does not.

The residents of Shelby now have the opportunity to vote for change.

Let us put Linda Limina on the board, the first woman in 30 years.

Write in a vote for John Pratt, he is still a Republican just not committee endorsed.

Vote for Bill Wolter, the hardest working individual I have ever met. (As an aside, his opponent Dale Root sits on this Republican committee.)

Get out and vote, do not line vote, but look and choose those individuals you believe will do the best job. Attend the meetings either in person, view it live streaming on-line or recorded on YouTube.

James Heminway

Medina