A year ago, I answered the call from friends and neighbors to run for a Village of Brockport trustee seat. Brockport residents were tired of runaway tax bills, crumbling infrastructure and deep-rooted government cronyism that mocked and ridiculed anyone asking questions about village spending, village priorities, village accountability.
One year into the job I can report that my requests for information in order to make sound decisions for village residents have been met with cynicism, delay and misinformation. There’s always a reason: the staff is busy, someone is on vacation, I’m not allowed to have the information, it doesn’t exist, I didn’t ask the right question, the document is being updated and is therefore unavailable … the list of excuses is exhaustive.
I have been told not to speak during a public board meeting. Can you imagine any elected board member in any governing body anywhere being told not to speak, there is to be no discussion after a mayor’s statement? Only in Brockport. I was told the village would not pay for me to take the training that all elected officials are encouraged to take in order to understand their legal duties and authorities. I have been told I cannot ask department heads directly for information. Only in Brockport.
I wasn’t told, as a sitting village trustee, that the village had received a NY Forward Grant until after the photo op was held. When I questioned why I wasn’t told, the answer was “it was confidential.” I learned that three board members decided not to renew the Brockport Ambulance contract and when I questioned how they could do that without a public board meeting, I was told not renewing a contract was not a decision that required a public vote. Only in Brockport.
I am not giving up. The village government has become a beast that serves only the long-term elected officials and their hand-picked appointees. Brockport residents deserve to know how much the boathouse really cost, how much the court costs to operate, what employees’ job duties are and the compensation attached to those duties. We are the government, all of us who live in Brockport, not a select few who shut out the majority of us in order to protect the kingdom they have built.
Please do not give up. Come to village board meetings, speak, vote next week. It matters. We don’t have to have the highest taxes in this area. We don’t have to have crumbling sidewalks and sewers. We don’t have to cater to special interests and ignore taxpayer interests. We don’t have to tolerate being stonewalled and held in contempt for asking questions. Not in Brockport.
Joanne Bocach
