To the Editor:

It is alarming and discouraging to witness the deterioration of Berne’s town government over the past two years.

Previous administrations focused on managing the issues inherent to any municipality. Today, town government is a hotbed of petty politics and retribution. This sorry state of affairs has been on display at every town board meeting since inauguration day in January. The evolution has been disheartening and destructive.

Rather than the open, inclusive government promised, this administration has repeatedly hampered public participation. Decisions that should be made in open forums are undertaken without public knowledge or input.

Residents’ concerns are ignored or marginalized, left without resolution or attention. Citizen committees have been disbanded, denying Berne residents the opportunity to contribute to their community.  Appointed public officials have been “let go” without notice.

Rather than focusing on the issues of town government, this town board has viciously focused their energies on ousting a duly elected town board member with whom they disagree, an official who happens to be a member of another political party.

Like the citizens’ committees they didn’t reauthorize, or the appointed officials they replaced with partisans, they want him gone, and they are doing everything in their power to drive him from office.

That elected official is Joel Willsey. Joel has become their whipping boy. He has been laser-targeted for their bullying and harassment. They decry his presence on the board, mocking his efforts, threatening  him with investigation or removal from office, and disparaging his efforts to work with them in a professional and open manner.

This bullying has heightened in the six months since the current town board took office. Whether accusing Mr. Willsey of being anti-veteran, manufacturing situations that feed their dishonest narratives, or refusing to address highway issues he knows are dangerous, that board has made him the subject of lies and mistruths, publicly humiliated and mocked, all with the hope he’ll be pressured into resigning from office.

This is more than poor professional behavior. It is blatant disrespect for the voters who elected Mr. Willsey to office. In attempting to force Mr. Willsey off the town board, this administration betrays its utter disrespect for the citizens of Berne.

With a Republican majority on the board, four of the five votes needed to pass any proposed initiative is in hand, but that is not enough for them. They don’t want Joel’s dissenting votes. They don’t want him questioning the legality of their actions or their motives.

They don’t want him pointing out errors, or discussing the actions they’ve taken with the public. They’ve passed laws that ban sharing information with the public because Joel has always been open and honest with his constituents, and that honesty exposes the mistakes and missteps they’ve made.

Joel Willsey is just the most obvious and egregious example of this board’s harassing behavior. But there are others. Both Dawn Jordan and I, like Joel, have been subjects of investigations undertaken with no basis.

Dawn was investigated, and exonerated, because she voted against Randy Bashwinger’s request for an 18-percent pay raise, as did I. I was investigated, and exonerated, for recommending background checks on individuals chaperoning a town-sponsored, overnight camping trip to Thomson’s Lake for Berne teenagers.

Overseeing the town’s financial management, and ensuring town-sponsored activities do not endanger participants, are fundamental town board responsibilities.

Filing requests for frivolous investigations is a political strategy, an expensive way to discourage questions, malign those accused, and thwart efforts to develop good policy. They are meant to intimidate, and with outside lawyers hired to conduct the investigations, cost the taxpayers — the citizens of Berne — a lot of money.

Remember these people: Cheryl Baitholtz, Emily Vincent, Tim Doherty, Todd Schwendemann. Illegal, unethical dismissals made for no sound reason but to serve a political agenda.

Add to this the fact that the planning board no longer meets. The zoning board of appeals no longer meets … And the Switzkill Farm Board no longer meets.  Permits are being issued without the oversight required.

Some of these groups are not meeting because, in January, at the organization meeting, long before the coronavirus dictated such measures, the town board told them they should not. Chairs and committee members were not appointed, memberships not renewed. Liaisons, the vital connection between citizens’ committees and the Town Board, were eliminated. We don’t know if the Berne Youth Council still meets because its initiatives go unreported, its minutes unrecorded.

Lies, intimidation, misinformation, and an effort to undermine the will of the people. It’s all  integral to the way this town board operates. Joel Willsey is absorbing the brunt of their mean-spirited schemes, but we are all suffering as a result of them.

Berne has fallen a long way since the days when citizen committees were welcome, participation encouraged, and voices were heard. It took just six short months to turn the town board into an exclusive club operating on principles that preclude citizen involvement and promote coercion as a means of control.

What a legacy this group will leave for us.

Karen Schimmer

Berne

Editor’s note: Karen Schimmer, a Democrat, did not seek re-election last November as a Berne councilwoman.

See related story.