Bee Editorial
Place a moratorium on creating committees
Supervisor Satish Mohan said at Monday's work session that he never knew the town had a Citizens Advisory Committee on Privacy. He claims he doesn't know about it yet it was formed on Jan. 16, a meeting that he attended.

Council Member Dan Ward was the first to make an appointment to the committee on Monday - six months later.

According to the Town Clerk's office there are 26 boards and committees on record - although many of which meet once in a blue moon, or haven't in months, maybe years.

And still there are other committees that don't even know what they are doing. Town Clerk Susan Jaros has requested mission statements from committees that lack them in hopes of putting them on the right track.

Could it be that the Town Board's enthusiasm to create committee after committee has gotten out of hand when board members don't even know how many there are or what they are supposed to do?

Council Member Shelly Schratz admitted at Monday's work session that, as liaison to the schools, she doesn't know what the Town/School Consolidation & Sharing Citizens Advisory Board is supposed to do.

What is the difficulty in creating a committee complete with a mission statement? Take the idea from which the committee came and complete a thought - on paper.

Currently there are 16 committees listed on the Town Board's agenda as having vacancies - as of Monday there were 72 vacancies.

It appears the board members have no interest in filling these committees in 2007 as the year is half over and most committees adjourn, or reduce, their meeting schedule in the summer.

No one knows what they are doing, but the committees just keep being formed. Since the Town Board was once a fan of land moratoriums maybe it should consider passing a moratorium on the creation of committees until the current ones are functioning.

Council members take a look at the agenda prior to meetings, because sometimes it's hard to tell if you even know what resolutions you will vote on. At the very least open your agenda packet and see how many times your name appears for a vacancy on a committee and make an effort to fill it. Weren't these committees created for a reason? One can only wonder who is at the end of the line when the board members vote to send a resolution to a committee for review. If they don't know there is such a committee or what the committee is supposed to do, are these resolutions going to an empty mailbox?