Berne needs open, functional, responsible government

To the Editor:

With the COVID-19 pandemic, government business everywhere has been disrupted. In Berne, town board meetings have been transitioned to Zoom meetings, with very limited interaction with the public.  Advisory board meetings have been suspended. Furthermore, since not everyone has internet access, public comment and feedback at town board meetings has become restricted.

A new law has been proposed to expand the Berne Planning Board to seven members from its current five. I find the timing of this proposal to be suspicious, and I find its stated reasoning to lack credibility.

I wonder why, if this town board was elected on the promise of smaller government, it is so eager to expand the size of the planning board? The reasoning is said to be to make the planning functions “more efficient.”

Why is a larger board more efficient, I wonder? And why does this have to be done exactly now, when feedback and input from the public is restricted due to the pandemic? Why can’t it wait until later in the year, when things open up some more, people can be kept informed, and input at truly public meetings can be obtained?

We’re in a period when we, the citizens of the town of Berne, seriously need transparency and good communication with elected officials. Instead it appears that the town board is using this time of crisis to accomplish what was prevented by the State Supreme Court in Emily Vincent’s successful Article 78 appeal, namely, to appoint Mr. Spargo to the planning board.

As far as I know, this is the first letter to the editor I have ever written. It is coming out of my very deep concern for the public image of the town of Berne that is created by these actions. They are inconsistent with any notion of open, functional, responsible government.

Kathleen Moore

Berne

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