Two weeks ago, at the last Chester Town Board meeting (Aug. 11), a former town councilman and longtime member of our community, Michael Sussman came to the meeting as a representative of the Golden Age Club and a group of concerned residents in Sugar Loaf.
After waiting an hour for the public comment section of the meeting to begin, he tried to speak on the behalf of these two groups.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t treated with respect while trying to bring some important issues to the attention of the Town Board.
Instead of carefully listening to these group’s concerns, the Town Supervisor chose to argue with the Mr. Sussman over the details and addressed him with an attitude unbefitting an elected representative.
He was shouted at and talked down to over the issues he was trying to bring up. I am positive the groups he was representing, hoping their concerns would be heard and taken seriously, did not feel better about their situations after seeing how their speaker was mistreated.
The Town of Chester deserves better leadership than this. Members of the Chester Town Board need to respect their constituents even when they disagree with them.
Instead of being defensive, they should work toward solutions to these issues. Chester residents will continue to have a negative opinion about government and their elected officials while this kind of behavior continues.
Brandon Holdridge
Candidate for Chester Town Board