To the Editor:

I am writing with reference to your article in the May 19, 2016 issue of The Enterprise, “Supervisor’s ‘rages’ lead other board members to meet behind closed doors.”  I’m pleased to see the word “rages” in quotations.  A less-than-careful reading of the article might lead one to conclude incorrectly that Knox Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis is well known for his “angry rages.”

I have seen Vas at town board meetings, both on the podium and in the audience, and never have I seen him launch into an “angry rage” or engage in “chest-thumping.”  He is certainly strong-willed, vocal, and so fast-thinking that at times he doesn’t give a speaker time to finish a reply before he starts talking again.

He makes it clear that he feels strongly about his positions on things.  Those of us who are averse to confrontation might want to turn away from it, but elected public servants must never do so.

With respect to the illegal May 8 meeting of town board members, even if it were not illegal, our public servants must have had some inner sense that it was wrong.  The place for elected officials to conduct public business is in public.  If Vas is subject to “angry rages” and “chest-thumping,” such unacceptable behavior should be in the open, and our board members should summon the intestinal fortitude to call him on it.

The board members are not cowards, and the town of Knox needs them more than ever to show courage and initiative and open up the process of government. Please, “gird up your loins” and engage in real “give and take” on the important issues facing the town.

Since Jan. 1, the board members have acted as an opposition bloc on virtually every new initiative brought before the town board, as if to say, “You only have two years, Mr. Lefkaditis: We can wait you out.”  This is completely unacceptable, and the voters will remember this.

In the editorial in the May 19 Enterprise it is stated that Vas has “a sense that he has a mandate to make changes.”  Vas received 55 percent of the vote in the 2015 election, an election in which even the Republican Party could not or would not field a candidate for Knox town supervisor.  He campaigned on bringing desperately needed changes to the town of Knox, and since his inauguration the board members have done everything in their power to preserve the status quo.

Also in the editorial, it is claimed that “Lefkaditis is not a consensus-builder.”  I believe that when he was on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board he was willing and able to build consensus, much to the advantage of the school district and the taxpayers of the three towns.  What’s changed?  In order to build consensus, you need to have people willing to work with you.

Raymond Hand

Knox