Tom Logan

A Dunkirk man was escorted out of the Common Council meeting after his complaints about the city’s election system devolved into an attack on Councilman-at-Large David Damico.

Tom Logan was clearly agitated and hard to understand at times, but managed to convey his distaste for the fact that every Dunkirk voter can cast a ballot on all four ward representatives.

The trouble began when he talked about personally meeting Damico, after Logan’s request to address the issue at a council meeting went unanswered.

“The only thing I got out of the councilman at large was the fact that I know he wasn’t in the military,” Logan said. “I walk in his freaking small room over there, he’s got his feet up on the desk, hands behind his head like this and he wouldn’t look at me or basically talk to me.”

He added, “I wanted to slap him,” and Damico refused to even make eye contact with him like an adult.

Damico told Logan his time was up, but he continued speaking at the podium for a few more seconds. City Attorney Michael Bobseine then pleaded with him to step out into the hallway so they could converse about the issue. Bobseine cited a desire to let others from the public speak if they wanted to, though no one else ended up doing that Tuesday.

Joined by Police Chief David Ortolano, Bobseine escorted Logan out of the meeting room. Logan could be heard raising his voice out in the hall.

Bobseine told the OBSERVER that Logan “doesn’t think the current manner of having all voters elect council members by ward is fair or effective. He thinks that the current manner of electing council members dilutes accountability and hinders effective representation. If I understand him correctly, he believes that if each ward elected the councilperson to represent the ward, the elected councilperson would be most responsive to their constituents.”

Tuesday’s incident was not the first time Logan left a Common Council meeting in a huff.

In February 2020, he complained about water run-off from his neighbor’s shed roof. The councilman-at-large back then, Paul VanDenVouver, asked Logan if he had a specific question about something. Starting to yell, Logan claimed he was being discriminated against because of health and age, “and the city aided and abetted a felonious crime.”

VanDenVouver tried to tell him his three minutes was up, but Logan just got angrier. Ortolano rose and pointed Logan to the seating area, to which Logan replied, “I don’t want to talk to you! You have been the rudest, most unprofessional person I have ever dealt with.”

Ortolano again told him to have a seat, but Logan stormed out, declaring, “Kiss my (butt).”

VanDenVouver then said, “Make sure you mark that guy’s name down. He’s not allowed in here anymore if he’s going to act like that.”