To the Editor:

At the Oct. 10 Knox Town Board meeting, certain members of the town board, the town attorney, and a small group of vocal opponents in the audience appeared to be intentionally trying to provoke the town supervisor, Vasilios Lefkaditis.

The ambush backfired, though, because instead of losing his temper amid the uproar that ensued, the supervisor was the person who took the lead to calm everybody down and ensured that the meeting got back on track.

One trap was set when Councilman Earl Barcomb read a carefully prepared statement accusing Supervisor Lefkaditis of not responding in a timely manner to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request regarding the income and expenses for the Pucker Street Fair. The implication was that Supervisor Lefkaditis had not yet responded to the request because he had something to hide.

It was observed that it had only been four days since the request was made and therefore the supervisor’s response was not late at all. It was agreed by Supervisor Lefkaditis and board member Barcomb that the latter was welcome to visit the supervisor’s office and look at all the documents.

This request could and should have been handled much more diplomatically and cordially except that its whole purpose appeared to me to be to annoy and embarrass the supervisor just before the election. All the town board members had previously been given copies of the records and had signed off on them, meaning that they presumably had reviewed the records and had found them to be in order.  

Supervisor Lefkaditis remained calm and quieted down the audience, which was very upset by these allegations. Supervisor Lefkaditis clearly demonstrated his growth as a person and as a political leader.

Anna Wolfe

Knox

Editor’s note: Anna Wolfe is married to Thomas Wolfe, a member of the Knox Planning Board.

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