OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Fredonia Trustee Roger Britz reads at the July 15 Board of Trustees meeting.

Fredonia Trustee Roger Britz fired off a response to what he called “a recent assassination of my character” by Mayor Athanasia Landis, during his report at the July 15 Village Board meeting.

“I was attacked as a result of my investigation on an illegal purchase of a vehicle. In the course of doing my job for which I was elected, I learned that the vehicle had been purchased and paid for without the votes of the trustees,” he said.

“The mayor’s recent attack on me is some sort of attempt to intimidate me or discredit me so her wrongdoing does not hurt her re-election efforts,” Britz added.

Landis reported at the May 6 board meeting that a Fredonia trustee, whom she did not name, recently harassed and intimidated village employees at Fredonia Village Hall and the Department of Public Works.

Britz said a vote on approval of minutes of an April 29 executive session, in which the board apparently voted to reprimand him for the alleged acts, was included late last week by Landis on Monday’s agenda.

He said he was notified of the addition Friday afternoon (July 12), even though the board passed a 2018 law in which items are supposed to be added to agendas no later than the Wednesday before the meeting.

“Why is this revised agenda as per Mayor Landis? Retaliation, harassment, bullying?” Britz said. “These terms have been used many times in the past four years under the current administration. I don’t need to get into details, you have seen and heard them yourself and the headlines.”

The trustee reiterated his concerns about Landis’ behavior.

“We must deal with these repeated character assassinations in our wonderful village,” he said. “How can we attract good candidates to run for office when they face this sort of risk?

“I certainly did not harass any of our village employees. I will continue to do the job that I was elected to do, in the face of this campaign,” Britz concluded.

Village Attorney Dan Gard used his own report time, later in the meeting, to come to Landis’ defense.

“For the record, the vote that found Trustee Britz committed acts of workplace violence was not the mayor’s vote. The mayor never voted, the mayor never had the opportunity to vote,” he said. “The board, including Trustee (Doug) Essek, voted that that be the case. If transparency is what is desired, then this is transparency. I honestly can’t believe anybody’s arguing against transparency. We can see the motivation.”