OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward Fredonia trustee EvaDawn Bashaw.

Helen Ihasz, a concerned resident, spoke at the recent Fredonia Village Board meeting. Her issue was with the appointment of EvaDawn Bashaw as a village trustee.

“I’m confused by the process that was used to appoint EvaDawn Bashaw to the village board on Jan. 13,” Ihasz began. “I have nothing against this board trustee. It is my hope that she does an awesome job. But I do not understand why no other candidates were considered. It would seem to make sense that Mrs. (Vicky) Cunningham, the person who got the next highest number of votes during the election, would at least be discussed as a possible candidate.”

Ihasz then went on to discuss that according to the board of elections there were 6,920 people in the village of Fredonia that voted and of that, 1,106 voted for Cunningham.

“Mrs. Cunningham went through the election process and made statements in public about her views, as did all those who went through the election process. The new trustee did not,” Ihasz continued. “Instead there was a motion by one trustee to avoid executive session and bring forth a nomination to appoint a new trustee without discussion of any other candidates. At least two trustees indicated that they were unhappy with the process that was ongoing. The only people of this village who voted for the new trustee were the three trustees in this room who approved her appointment on Jan. 13. Three trustees, as opposed to 1,106 village voting residents.”

Ihasz stated that it seemed “like a lack of true representation.” She also asked the question as to how Bashaw knew to be at the meeting that night.

“If there was a meeting among some village board members to arrange the new trustee’s candidacy and brief her on the business of the village board in advance of the Jan. 13 meeting this could possibly be a violation of the New York State Open Meetings law,” Ihasz added. “The way this entire process was handled could cause some people to think there was some other agenda at work here.”

Following the meeting Bashaw told the OBSERVER that she really had no response to Ihasz point, but did state that she had met with each member of the board prior to the Jan. 13 meeting.

“I understand that they might have not appreciated the procedure, but I met with every one of the trustees before I was appointed,” Bashaw said. “It wasn’t a surprise to them. The whole board knew. I spoke with Mayor (Doug) Essek the night before that meeting, so it wasn’t a surprise. It’s not to say that they weren’t happy, but it certainly was not underhanded.”

Bashaw went on the record saying that she understood the public’s feeling on the matter and that appointments are political no matter what.

“I think that because you had a board that had the majority of seats that it was going to be how they wanted it,” Bashaw stated. “They weren’t legally obligated to go with the highest vote getter, so they chose not to. I know that through the years, that’s happened before and it’s usually whatever the majority sits on is the appointed. I thought long and hard about it. I knew that there was going to be people who weren’t happy, but they convinced me that it would be a good thing because of my experience and that I could come in in the middle of something and take action and know what I was up to.”

Bashaw shared that she had served as a trustee before and knew the steps and what to expect. She’s just hoping in the long run that they’ll give her a chance and wait until they see some results before they make a decision as to whether or not this was a good choice.