Why Vote For Us?
Schaffer and the Town Board have caused massive problems, hurting the residents of Vestal – sky high assessments, substantial tax increases, inadvisable rezoning, unrestrained spending, all while doubling their own salaries and failing to help our residents and businesses in our vulnerable flood zones.
This must change.
It’s not enough to vote against something, though, you need to vote for something.
What we want to do, in essence, is very simple. Glenn, Robert and I want to make the Vestal Town Board truly democratic, with complete transparency and maximum resident input, in order to make concrete changes to improve the lives of all Vestal residents.
We will ensure that the Vestal Town government serves all the people of Vestal transparently, fairly and inclusively. We will not lie or mislead you.
Our basic belief is that the Vestal Town government must be based on:
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Respect
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Professionalism
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Transparency
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Communication
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Fairness
There is a lot of information on this site, including: what we believe in, what we want to do and how we will do it, as well as information about each of us, our backgrounds, our skills and why we’re doing this. We don’t just discuss the issues and problems, though, we discuss solutions. I hope that you will take the time to read the different topics.
You will also find many posts in “Maria’s Corner” about current topics, including: the assessments (multiple posts), the budget, salary increases (of a select few), flood mitigation, residential rezoning, the Town pool, as well as other topics. For each problem discussed, I talk about solutions. Every post is based on facts. All sources of information are cited and links to the original sources are provided. I hope that you will read them.
What we want to do is change the Vestal government to ensure that all Vestal residents know everything the Town Board is doing and have a real say in what is done.
How the Vestal government works would change drastically. At all times, you would be respected and listened to.
Major decisions would be made on the (informed) consensus of the people of Vestal:
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You would have all the information that we have (you would see everything that we see), including the costs involved.
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When possible, we would provide you with different options, including the different costs.
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We would have public, discussion-oriented meetings in which questions would be answered and different options could be discussed.
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You would then be asked to take an electronic survey at home, at your convenience.
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An in-person option would always be available, so that everyone would be included in the decisions.
Decisions would be made based on what a majority of the residents want. Quite simply, it would be a real, working democracy.
There would be transparency and inclusion in everything, though, not just big projects.
The Town meetings would:
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Be professional, respectful and productive.
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The website would have all the base information on it. (You would see everything that we see.)
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Questions, opinions and new ideas would be encouraged.
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The meetings would be videotaped and available on the website for viewing.
Everything that we would do would be transparent and inclusive.
Glenn, Robert and I believe that you, as a Vestal resident, have a right to know everything that the Town Supervisor and the Town Board are doing and have a right to have a say in what is done. We have the qualifications, a plan to make it happen and are willing to put in the hard work necessary to make it real.
It can be done, but only if you vote for it.
Please don’t allow Schaffer and the present Town Council to continue.
Tell them that their “business as usual” is not acceptable.
Make sure that you vote on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
Maria Sexton for Town Supervisor
Glenn R. Miller for Town Council
Robert Greene for Town Council
Please vote for all three of us. We can only make the changes that we want if we have the votes on the Town Board.
~ Maria ~