What Brookhaven Does While You're at Work
Sep 28, 2008 Filed in: General
Announcements | Your Action
Needed
The majority of the members on the Brookhaven Town
Council would apparently prefer that the public not
attend Town meetings. They would also prefer that one
of the council members who represents Lake Ronkonkoma
and Farmingville not attend Town meetings either.
On the evening of September 9th the Town Board meeting, which started at 5:00, lasted a little too long into the night, so a continuation of the public meeting needed to be scheduled for a future date. Amazingly, the majority on the Town Board, including two of the representatives for Lake Ronkonkoma, Councilwoman Kathleen Walsh and Councilman Timothy Mazzei, voted to hold the continuation of the meeting on Tuesday, September 16th at 2:00 in the afternoon!
It seems that our Town Board representatives find it necessary to schedule public meetings at a time when most working families would not be able to attend.
But there was a method to their madness. For at this afternoon meeting, which for obvious reasons was poorly attended by the public, they decided to change the start time for Town Board work sessions for the specific purpose of preventing Councilwoman Connie Kepert, who's district includes Lake Ronkonkoma and Farmingville, from representing her district at these meetings.
Every other Thursday at 1:30 PM, the Town Council holds a work session at which council members conduct Town business, and discuss and schedule the resolutions to be presented publicly at the next Town Board meeting the following Tuesday. The majority of the Town Council voted to change the start time for these work sessions to 11 AM knowing full well that Councilwoman Kepert is a teacher in the Longwood School District and would be unable to attend at that time, thereby leaving the 4th District unrepresented.
Town Council positions are considered part-time positions primarily for the purpose of encouraging community members, like Connie Kepert, to seek elected public office, making it possible for them to serve on the Town Board and actively participate in their government as citizen legislators without being forced to quit their regular jobs.
Unfortunately, Councilwoman Kathleen Walsh and Councilman Timothy Mazzei seem to feel that public meetings should be inconvenient for the public to attend and that certain council members shouldn't participate in Town government. How shameful.
And they get away with it because no one complains about it. So we're asking you to complain about it. Phone and email the council members below and let them know that public meetings must occur in the evening when the public can attend them, and that work sessions must start at 1:30 PM so that Councilwoman Connie Kepert can properly represent Lake Ronkonkoma and Farmingville.
If you don't care, then why should they?
Councilwoman Kathleen Walsh: 451-6647, councilwomanwalsh@brookhaven.org
Councilman Timothy Mazzei: 451-6645, tmazzei@brookhaven.org
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