To the Editor:

After listening to the political bantering and bickering in the town of Knox, I believe it is time for a few comments and statements of my own.

I have been a registered Conservative all my life with the exception of having switched to the Democratic party several years ago in order to participate in a caucus so my voice could be heard.  Mid-February of this year, I approached Mrs. [Amy] Pokorny and asked her when the caucus was this year. 

She lied and told me a date wasn’t set when she knew all along that the caucus process had been changed to a primary. I wasn’t the only person she lied to. With no more caucus process, back to the Conservative party I go.

I have been an active attendee at planning and zoning board meetings for a decade or more. It is my opinion that with the personnel changes over the past couple of years, both boards have become visionaries instead of obstructionists while conducting town business and dealing with residents. With a couple more personnel changes, we could actually see Knox progress into the future.

In the upcoming election, for the positions of town council, my votes go to Dennis Cyr and June Springer.  

I have known Dennis Cyr for quite a few years; I served with him when he was the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7062 and watched him bring in many benefits to the post along with excellent management skills.

I have also had to watch him move his business (as I had to also) out of the town of Knox in order to expand and hire employees because of the obstructive planning board members. He knows firsthand the challenges residents face in Knox and can use his experience to help Knox progress.

June Springer I have also known for years and have watched with joy as she raised her children, managed Little League, served president of the school board, along with many other community endeavors. She gives her time freely and selflessly and places the needs of her community ahead of any party. 

For town clerk, I will be casting my vote to Traci Schanz for the following reasons.

Traci Schanz I have come to know in my dealing with her as the current town clerk and with the Hometown Heroes project. I have found her to be dedicated, knowledgeable, reliable, friendly, and overall a giver to the community.

Her recent announcement of the town accepting online payments through her office so that residents can pay fees and real estate taxes is exactly what we need to help Knox progress.

For town supervisor, I will cast my vote for Supervisor Vas Lefkaditis for the following reasons.

Vas Lefkaditis has managed personnel to repair and move forward the town of Knox in the last 3.5 years that wasn’t done in previous years. His financial wisdom is phenomenal, as are his dealings with suppliers and personnel, always with the benefit of Knox taxpayers in mind.

Keeping tax hikes at 0 percent for four years, making improvements to our park and buildings, and reading in last week’s paper he nearly doubled our money in the bank to $1.7 million.  (A footnote: Saturday, when he should have been campaigning, he was at the town hall making a spider for the kids’ Halloween Party tonight. Stop by and see it; that’s community commitment.)

As for the town justice and tax collector, I will vote for Bonnie Donati for justice and Elizabeth Walk for tax collector. In short, their experience alone qualifies them over any other candidate running.

The slate is diverse. Not all of the candidates are from the same party; the slate has put people before party as Mr. Cyr said in his letter in last week’s paper. I find these candidates to be very well qualified and trustworthy of the positions.

As for their opposing candidates, I will offer these short words.

Russ Pokorny for supervisor? Tax assessor, maybe. But when he and his wife run what I believe to be a business (Octagon Barn) in a non-business district without the proper permitting on top of ecologically sensitive area and they spend every moment attending meetings, protesting other businesses and zoning changes, it’s unacceptable to me.

Do as I say not as I do are hardly the qualifications of someone I want to run the town of Knox.  

Dennis Barber, Earl Barcomb for town council? I consider these two to be totally political and nonprogressive for the future needs of Knox. They stood in the way of rezoning the Highlands Restaurant and spent four years finding ways to insult and point the finger at the supervisor instead of trying to compromise and keep Knox progressing.

Joan Adriance for town clerk? I served with Joan on the school board when she could make the meetings. As the board president, it was her responsibility to set the agenda and when myself and another gentleman worked for years to get the veterans’ exemption up for vote, she would not bring it up for a vote.

Not until she was defeated in a re-election bid was the vote passed by a different board without her on it. Veterans, please calculate how much that cost you in taxes over the years.

Dana Sherman for town justice? Sorry, Dana, I just believe that the other candidate is more qualified.

I thank you for your time in reading such a long letter but it took a long time to analyze and qualify the candidates. Remember to vote on Nov. 5 for Vas Lefkaditis for supervisor, Dennis Cyr and June Springer for town council, Traci Schanz for town clerk, Betty Walk for tax collector, and Bonnie Donati for justice.

Ed Ackroyd

Knox

Editor’s note: Amy Pokorny responded, “I do recall Ed asking me when the caucus would be, and I told him we didn’t have a date. I regret and apologize for that misleading response.”

The Knox Democratic Committee informed the Albany County Board of Elections it would use a primary instead of a caucus was Feb. 7, according to the board of elections.

On the Octagon Barn, Amy Pokorny responded that she and her husband went to the Knox Zoning Board of Appeals when they built the barn to ask for a special-use permit. “They looked up the use table in the zoning ordinance and found we fit ... and we didn’t need a permit. They said, ‘You can go home.’” The listing, on page 29 of the ordinance, is for “cultural facility (art gallery, museum, community building).”

She and her husband set up a bank account “to keep our money separate,” Pokorny said. “We are registered as a DBA [Doing Business As] in Albany … We pay sales tax on money people give us.”

Joan Adriance responded that New York State first offered veterans’ exemptions in 2013. She noted that she was on the school board at that time along with Vasilios Lefkaditis and Earl Barcomb, both now Knox Town Board members. The school board’s vote was unanimous to grant the veterans’ exemption, at the lowest level, and Berne-Knox-Westerlo was one of the first districts in the state to do so.

“We couldn’t get all the tax data from all the towns in time to know what the financial impact would be,” Adriance recalled, noting the board collectively decided to be cautious and start with the lowest level of exemption so as not to overburden non-veteran taxpayers who would have to pick up the slack.

“I, personally, did not refuse to bring it to a vote … the board as a majority decided to implement the first year,” said Adriance. She also noted that, although a school board president sets meeting agendas with the superintendent, any board member can add to the agenda. “I rarely missed a meeting,” Adriance added.

In 2016, after Adriance was no longer on the board, it voted, again unanimously, to more than double the amount of the veterans’ exemption. Adriance noted, “The district finally had permanent leadership,” having hired Timothy Mundell as superintendent following several years of shifting leadership.

BKW moved to the eighth level, more than halfway up the state’s 14 levels. Each level has three maximums: one for service in wartime, an additional amount for service in a war zone, and a third additional amount for becoming disabled while in service. Originally, BKW was at $12,000/$8,000/$40,000. The 2016 vote moved the exemptions to $27,000/$18,000/$90,000.

According to a 2016 survey by the New York State School Boards Association, about 60 percent of districts across the state have not adopted veterans’ exemptions. Wealthy downstate districts are the most likely to have adopted exemptions. “Because there is no state financial support, school districts that adopt the exemption have two choices: cut programs and services available to their students in order to accommodate the reduced revenue, or raise taxes on the remaining taxpayers,” says the NYSBA report.