Daniels brought needed planning to North Salem

Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter in support of Katherine Daniels’ candidacy for Supervisor of North Salem. There are many reasons I support her. This letter will focus on just one.

After seeing that planning and transparency was not the norm in town, Katherine formed a capital planning committee made up of town employees and community members. I have the privilege of serving on that committee.

As both founder and head of the committee, she has been instrumental in pulling together a full inventory of the town’s capital assets and a plan for moving forward for their preservation and enhancement. This was no easy task because the information needed was not readily available to the public or to Katherine as a member of the Town Board.

Because of Katherine’s efforts, we now know that substantial work needs to be done on the town’s major buildings. For example, what started as a $22,000 paint job turned into a $1,200,000 project for Delancey Hall after rot was discovered in the structural support beams following years of neglect. Could this have been avoided by better planning and preventative maintenance? I don’t know, but it could have been better anticipated and better executed with a well thought out plan.

Planning is not an answer to all issues, but what it does do is allow responsible town leaders to anticipate future expenses and to carefully weigh opportunities and timing to both spread out costs and to avoid disastrous financial consequences through knowledge and transparency. Our town board had no such transparent knowledge – and we owe Kathrine a vote of thanks for helping to make needed decision data available to our town leaders.

This is but one reason that I support Katherine for Supervisor and I hope you will consider the same. She will bring new energy and new ideas to Town Hall. It is time for new leadership.

-Bob Kotch, North Salem