To the Editor: 

On Feb. 4, the town of Knox held our first ever Meet the Candidates forum with candidates who responded to an advertisement seeking volunteers to fill two Knox Planning Board vacancies.  The Knox Town Board would like to thank the candidates — Todd Lagrange, Ernie Cupernall, Kenneth Saddlemire, Doug Roether, Daniel Driscoll, and Dee Woessner who participated in the well-attended forum.

You each did a fantastic job answering questions from the town board and a few residents.  

While many towns struggle to find residents interested and willing to serve their communities, Knox was fortunate enough to have seven (Mrs. Debra Nelson was out of town and arrangements are being made to interview her individually) who selflessly came forward to vie for two seats. 

This type of interest speaks volumes about Knox as a community.  Each of the candidates was well spoken, well informed, and did a masterful job answering questions volleyed in their direction.  The decision for the town board to choose only two candidates to serve will be an extremely difficult one.  There is little doubt, after witnessing the candidates’ performances, that any of them would do a great job serving the residents of Knox.

Additionally, I wish to personally thank my fellow board members for their support and thoughtful questions, the candidates for their willingness to serve, and the residents who attended last Thursday night's forum.

It is the purpose of local government to be of the people, by the people, and for the people and I'm proud of the step forward the town of Knox took last Thursday night in this regard.

Vasilios "Vas" Lefkaditis

Knox Town Supervisor


Editor’s note: See related story.