Is Prattsburgh boardmember being responsible?
To the Editor,

The Prattsburgh Town Board consists of a supervisor and four additional board members, each of whom receive an annual salary of $1511.50. An average year includes 12 monthly meetings, a couple of budget meetings, possibly some public hearings, and an organizational meeting that requires the attendance of these members. Over the last 15 years, there has been an average of about 17 meetings per year. This equates to almost $90 per meeting.

Occasionally, a situation may arise in which a member cannot be present at a meeting. This is generally not a big deal, as we expect that the member has a valid reason for his/her absence, and makes it a point to stay informed of what is happening in their absence.

David Hall missed seven meetings, including five regular monthly board meetings in 2006 because his job sent him to China to work. At the yearly organizational meeting of the board, held this past Thursday, Mr. Hall was questioned as to how many more meetings he plans to miss. This is a very valid question to ask, because as voters and taxpayers, we shouldn't pay an employee who isn't available to do his job. Noticeably absent from this particular meeting was board member Charles Shick. This led me to do some research, and here are the facts:

Since January of 1993, David Hall has served this community in exemplary fashion, missing only seven meetings in 13 years on the board. Only three of these were regular monthly meetings. In fact, prior to 2006, Mr. Hall had not missed a meeting at all in over four years. David Hall is a committed community member who has an unblemished record of researching all aspects of a situation, and voting for what he believes is best for the community as a whole.

Let's now contrast this with Mr. Shick's record. In his first year, he has missed 5 of 18 meetings (almost 30%.) Charles Shick ran for Town Board solely because he is against the building of windmills in Prattsburgh. It seems that there are no other issues that he even give a second thought. If any particular meeting of the board won't concern windmill business, he just doesn't show up.

As voters and taxpayers, we can understand Mr. Hall missing a few meetings because of work constraints. Even though he was in China, he stayed in continual contact with other members of our town's leadership, and stayed well informed of the going on back home. Mr. Shick's reason for absence Thursday night? We paid him $90 to attend a Junior Varsity Basketball game at the school. Food for thought next time we go to the polls. Steven R. Kula Prattsburgh