To the Editor:

The assault on Joel Willsey during the November Berne Town Board meeting was disgraceful. The email correspondence shared was revenge ammunition reminiscent of the photograph of a former town supervisor on an ATV, presented at the draft ATV law meeting on Feb. 20, 2023. Aim, fire, ready.  Both rounds were duds. It appears that our town board adopted the cheap political tactic of retaliation against people who question or disagree.

The agenda item (“Read Emails from resident”) was introduced by Supervisor [Dennis] Palow primarily as an accusation of attacks from the resident who wrote the messages and a “we’re sick and tired of it” complaint from disgruntled board members. Sick and tired of free speech?

The first email from the resident (Joel Willsey) was read by the Deputy Supervisor [Thomas] Doolin and the correspondence did not contain hostility or attacks. As a matter of fact, it was laced with several cooperative offers to assist the town.

Those offers came from a former town board member, and a valued community member with extensive professional experience in highway engineering, budgeting, and governmental procedures.  His volunteer assistance to the relocation and design of the Berne Library alone attests to his commitment and support of his hometown. 

The supervisor’s reading of the second email identified town personnel and employment circumstances of an individual. That demonstrated a lack of sensitivity, never mind basic disregard for ethical public disclosure about a town employee.  Supervisor Palow chose the message to read and when questioned why he chose to read the entire content he dismissed the question as “that’s what was said in the email.”

Yes, it was; an email directed to specific people and not intended for a public reading. There was a lack of discretion and sensible judgement that the supervisor should have used. 

The agenda item was inappropriate. A resident offers assistance, opinion, and his perception of public sentiment and they become an agenda item? If the recipients of the messages do not want assistance, say no and move on. What was the point of this agenda item? Was it once again to silence a constituent?

Meanwhile, and disappointingly, town board members were unfazed with this attempt to belittle/humiliate or whatever spiteful reason they had for including it on the agenda. The last sucker punch to Joel after eight years of them.

The board owes Joel an apology.

Tim Doherty

East Berne

Editor’s note: See related story.