Ex-trustee Airinhos Serradas has been attacking Matt Francisco for his attendance record in the pages of the PCNR and other web postings. He’s right that attendance matters.
Cathryn Fadde showed up an average of 55 percent of the time to the Special Board meetings when she also served as its treasurer — a vital position in shaping the future of this village. Her responsibilities included overseeing the largest grants of any Village Board. In 2011 she attended 62 percent of the meetings, in 2012, 53 percent and in 2013, only 50 percent. These figures come from easily verified minutes from meetings during her three-year tenure.
In contrast, Trustee Francisco has attended 81 of the 84 Village Board meetings since he took office — 94 percent in 2012, 96 percent in 2013, 100 percent in 2014. Including workshops and special sessions, the Village Board meets approximately five times more frequently than the Special Board. Mr. Serradas is right to remind us that poor attendance shows a lack of caring.
Mr. Serradas served on the Village Board and knows full well the job description of “board liaison” but willfully misrepresents it. Mayor Gallagher wisely established liaison positions in order for the Village Board to keep abreast of activities of satellite boards. Liaisons would get monthly reports from the chairperson and share this report at the monthly meeting. They were never charged with attending every, or even any, meeting of satellite boards.
Thus, Mayor Gallagher, liaison to the HDRB, rarely attended their meetings but most often would read a statement prepared by Chairman Zgolinski. Trustee Campbell rarely attended the Special Board meetings. And Trustee Serradas rarely, if ever, attended the Planning Board meetings, for which he was liaison for two years. I challenge Mr. Serradas to dispute this using the Planning Board’s minutes. Francisco has now attended 64 percent of Planning Board meetings, going above and beyond the charter of his position.
If people are really asking, “where’s Matt?” as Mr. Serradas is fond of repeating, I recommend they look around the room. They’ll probably see him there.
Michael Robinson
Cold Spring
