Letter about Altamont meeting

On Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, I had the misfortune of attending a so-called Village Ordinance meeting in the village of Altamont.

In my 80 years on this earth, I have attended hundreds if not thousands of meetings in both business and other organizations, sitting with both the CEO’s of Ford Motor and Chrysler at different times. Never have I seen such a farce as the Altamont meeting.

The blatant misconduct of the so-called Chairman of the Board was not only rude, unknowledgeable and completely unacceptable that it approaches only one of two options: complete ignorance or complete stupidity.

I can’t count the number of times I heard the Chairman state, “We only have an hour for this meeting …I’m not getting paid for this.” Madam Chairman, if not getting paid for something you volunteered to do bothers you, then resign.

Toward the end of the meeting, the Chair asked for questions from the citizens at the meeting. One gentleman asked, “As you know, I do a lot of walking in this town. I keep getting chased by loose dogs. What is being done to correct this?”

The Chair’s reply was, “We are doing the best we can.”

The gentleman then said, “I thought we hired someone to take care of this problem. I was even chased by your dog!”

The Chair raised her voice to the level of a scream, and her exact words were: “You are a liar. I only have one dog and it is always on a leash.”

The gentleman then asked, “Why are you raising your voice to me? I’m not raising mine to you. I am only trying to get an answer to my question. The dog may not belong to you but it came off your property, and I assumed it belonged to you.”

The Chairman, still at a scream level, then stated “I am not putting up with this anymore. I’m leaving the meeting now. Better yet, I will call the sheriff and have you removed. I am adjourning this meeting for five minutes so I can call the sheriff.”

The gentleman stated, “Say ‘hello’ to him for me. I am only attempting to get an answer to my question. Why won’t you answer my question?”

The Chairman, still at a scream, said “Get out now!”

Finally, the gentleman, never getting an answer to his question, got up and left.

The Chair then stated, “I have never seen anyone so rude. He called me a liar. I don’t have to put up with that.”

No, Madam Chairman, the gentleman did not call you a liar. It was you that pointed your finger at him and screamed, “You are a liar.”

The meeting was adjourned at that time but that did not stop the Chairman’s ranting for the next 10 to 15 minutes about the incident. Not one board member said one word to the Chairman about her misconduct.

People of Altamont, why do we put up with this? Get rid of this bunch.

I keep hearing, “They are going to do what they want and not listen to the people.” If we want them to do what we want, we must vote them out! Then you hear, “My vote doesn’t count. They have too many friends and relatives voting for them.”

You are right; your vote doesn’t count unless you cast it. You must do three things:

1) register to vote

2) go to the polls and cast your vote

3) vote for a person that you believe has the people of Altamont’s interest at heart. If that person doesn’t do the job you want, then vote him/her out and keep voting until we get somebody on the board that will look out for the people.

This is how our government works. It will work if we make it work.

Sincerely,

Edward E. Miller, Altamont