Abusing the option to table
Enough with the excuses. Town Board members claiming they have not had

enough time to review a document or a resolution is a poor excuse for not taking care of business. If a department, board member or the supervisor is not keeping to deadline, be proactive and make it known. But pushing more and more items into old business because more review is needed is lazy procrastination.

Stay on top of your work, know what is coming up, know when you want to see a report and be ready to take action. This week's Town Board meeting agenda was posted by Friday morning when The Amherst Bee logged on to view it. By early Friday morning the Bee was already receiving complaints about Council Member William A. O'Loughlin Jr.'s resolution, "Amherst Rezoning Requirements - To rectify a financially harmful omission of information deliberately not provided to residents regarding their property rights and values."

At Monday's meeting there were 53 items on the old business section of the agenda dating as far back as January. Get to work.

There is no reason why when it is time to take a vote, the board member then suggests sending it to half a dozen committees for further review. If a committee could benefit the decision in any way, the item should have been brought to them before.

The Village of Williamsville Board of Trustees recently was faced with a question regarding having a tree cut down. Did they wait until the meeting to ask this department or that committee what was going on? No. The members had each been out to inspect the tree suspected of decay and had formed their opinions on how to vote. Where items are rarely tabled during village

meetings, the same can't be said next door. Tabled items are becoming the norm at board meetings. If the public and the media can be prepared for a meeting without having the same advantages as to access of information then there is no excuse for the postponement of action by a board member.

If resolutions can't be voted on, what were board members elected for? Your job, which you take a considerable payment for, is to keep this town on track, approve or deny resolutions in the best interest of the town and do so in a timely manner.

How many residents need to make that statement at the meetings before some change is made? How many times do the residents have to hear, "When was this submitted?" or "I'm not comfortable with voting tonight." Start knowing what is going on in the town without being spoon-fed.