Sutcliff removed from mill committee
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

The Mill Restoration Committee's nominated chairperson, Sarah Sutcliff, was removed from the committee by a Williamsville Village Board vote of 4-1 at Monday night's board meeting.

In an e-mail sent on Dec. 31 to mill committee members as well as to Village Board members, Sutcliff, on behalf of the committee, requested that board members "refrain from Mill-related media comment for purely political purposes," due to articles recently published in a local newspaper.

She noted the party schism between committee and Village Board members and cited it as the reason she had not been appointed chair, despite being nominated three times by the committee. She also accused the Harmony Party of using the mill as a "political weapon."

"The mill is a sensitive topic that symbolizes passion," said Trustee Jeff Kingsley, board liaison to the Mill Restoration Committee. "But with that passion needs to come control and accountability."

Kingsley noted at the board meeting that rules had been set during a September 2007 meeting that politics would not be discussed in conjunction with the mill due to its sensitive nature and that Sutcliff's e-mail violated those rules.

"The Mill Restoration Committee disapproved nearly unanimously of that e-mail but wanted to keep Sarah Sutcliff as chair," he said. "If we do not remove the issue, it will be a cancer on the Mill Restoration Committee moving forward. If we don't address the partisan politics now, it would set a horrible precedent."

Sutcliff had sent another e-mail apologizing for speaking on behalf of the committee after the committee voted, with one exception, that the e-mail was not indicative of members' sentiments toward the Village Board, and she promised to direct all correspondence to the board through Kingsley, as well as not use her position as chair of the committee for political activity.

However, she did not address the political accusations in the e-mail, a matter of contention with Kingsley - who said she was given "ample" opportunity to do so - and other board members, after Trustee Brian Geary e-mailed her and asked for clarification on that matter.

Mayor Mary Lowther voted against Sutcliff being removed from the committee, noting that she would be removed without her knowledge. Sutcliff was not present at the board's work session or meeting Monday night.

"When we sit here as a board and determine what's political, I think that's inappropriate," Lowther said, noting that the firing of a volunteer could also set a bad precedent for village committees.

Sutcliff, in a phone interview Tuesday, agreed.

"People who volunteer usually intend to do something pleasant," she said. "People who want to be treated like this run for office."

Sutcliff maintains that she was unaware of Kingsley's intentions to bring a resolution for her removal from the committee before the board Monday night, a claim he says is false.

"The sad thing is that this will have done long-term harm (to the committee's efforts)," Sutcliff said. "And also the wear and tear it will cause on the volunteer population in the village."

Though she is no longer on the committee, Sutcliff said that she is confident that work on the mill will continue.

"All organizations in the world carry on. All people are replaceable," she said. "A new leader will be found - someone more compliant."