To the Editor:

Why can’t we know?

We all count on sound, current information to make decisions and know where we stand.

Do we need to get milk the next time we are at the store? Plastic milk jugs are transparent for that exact reason. Isn’t it nice to know where the level is?

Now scale this up to something a thousand times more expensive than a gallon of milk but a lot less transparent: your town tax bill. Why is it that it’s so hard to find out how the Westerlo Town Board spends your tax money, and why the town board spends it on some things that don’t make sense and not on others that do make sense?

At town board meetings, the people who do attend keep on having to ask the town board members to describe, let alone explain, what they’re working on, to hear about alternatives or things they’re not considering, or even to let what they’re discussing be audible to the public.

We usually see the same faces at the town board meetings, and I admit there would not be enough space if everyone in town did decide to attend every meeting. However, wouldn’t it be nice for everyone in town to know that, if you wanted information on what the town board is doing, it could be readily accessible?

I’m the Chief of the Westerlo Fire Company. It’s my job to be sure that the money available to the fire company gets spent in ways that make us best able to meet the needs of the town. When we meet, I make sure everyone gets heard and what they bring up gets considered. I then make decisions, but everyone knows why and how I reached those decisions.

I’m running for Westerlo Town Board in this year’s election, and my basic reason for doing that is to get the town board to become transparent and responsive to the public in what it’s doing and why.

There are a number of issues to tackle, including the water district, the highway department building, infrastructure upgrades, cable and internet access, and even development of business in the town (which would enable us to shop, dine, and get services in Westerlo, and provide the town with a stronger tax base that would take some of the load off landowners).

I don’t have all the answers, but would hope that, given the opportunity, I could get the town board to keep everyone up to date on what it’s doing and why, and to genuinely consider information and alternatives brought up by citizens.

Kevin Flensted

Westerlo