Dear Editor:

My wife and I have lived in Cold Spring about three years now, and so far, our political establishment has spent the majority of its time in self-serving, factional disputes instead of doing the people’s work. The volunteer committees, on the other hand, are the real heroes, working tirelessly in their spare time with their only goal being to improve things for village and all its residents. Unfortunately, the less than sterling performance of the board has had a significant negative impact on the committees. The recent (effective) dismantling of the Parking and Code Update Committees are great examples of our elected officials taking two steps back without the usual one step forward.

It seems to me that the best part of our “government” are the volunteers, but unfortunately they are being held back by the people getting paid. One way to resolve this would be to eliminate the paid officials, transfer their roles to the town and enhance the committee system. That way everyone working directly for the village would be doing it for the right reason.

By the way, I am not a “Government is bad” type of individual. I like to have someone taking care of our streets, bridges and schools. But in this case, we seem to have an extra layer that not only costs money but is counterproductive. Let’s eliminate that layer, shore up what’s working, and move forward.

Rich Franco
Cold Spring

Behind The Story

Type: Opinion

Opinion: Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.

This piece is by a contributor to The Current who is not on staff. Typically this is because it is a letter to the editor or a guest column.

4 replies on “Letter: Can We Do Without a Cold Spring Government?”

  1. Not a bad suggestion in this era of recommended consolidation of local government. But then, where would those of us without television find our daily dose of humor if we didn’t have the foolish antics in the village to read about?

  2. Saying that the Code Update Committee was “dismantled” is a falsehood. I take it that Mr. Franco supported the outgoing members and is unhappy with the new ones, who are equally as qualified and energetic, but that doesn’t qualify as “dismantling.” They quit, and for political reasons. No one forced them out.

    It’s such misinformation, and a commensurate barrage of willful misinformation put out by the other paper on a weekly basis, that sows these seeds of discontentment with our local government. I’m sure that the personnel referred to as “paid” — Trustee Fadde, who put in countless hours to resolve our resident parking predicament, and Trustees Early and Murphy, who took on the Main Street project like it was a full-time job, and our Mayor, who resolved once and for all the longstanding Boat Club issue as well as overseeing every other issue before the board — might tell you they have better ways to earn what amortizes to a pitiful hourly wage, and might feel hurt that their long hours and dedication to this village are overlooked by some and just laughed at by others.

  3. Michael, I assure you that the reason I resigned from the Code Update Committee was not “political.” To declare that I am playing some sort of political game is improper, and careless of the truth.

  4. Since you resigned when GreenPlan was hired I assumed that it was the different personnel hired by a different administration that was the catalyst, thus a political motivation. I accept your correction that it was not and apologize; and further I thank you once more for your tireless (and unremunerated) work for this community.

Comments are closed.