Some mistakes are irreversible. One misstep can lead to another, and then there is no way back to the path of righteousness.

The Knox Town Board, though, has a chance to right a wrong. We urge the board members to do so.

Over two years ago, The Enterprise broke the story about three town workers being summarily dismissed on New Year’s Day — two of them illegally.

The three laborers who worked at the town’s transfer station — the men who handle the town’s waste, seeing that residents get garbage and recycled goods where they should be — had no warning that they were to lose their jobs.

None of them had been through an evaluation process; none of them had been told their work wasn’t up to par. None of them had a chance to hear accusations against them or a chance to defend themselves.

The dismissal was political. The town board that New Year’s Day, the day when town appointments are made, was divided along party lines. The two Democrats on the board voted against replacing the workers.

The supervisor at the time, Vasilios Lefkaditis, and his Republican running mates voted for the new appointments, saying it was what the highway superintendent at the time, Gary Salisbury, wanted. Salisbury was also the town’s Republican chairman and had recently had his duties expanded by the board to oversee the transfer station as well as the highway department.

We printed letters at the time from residents who said the fired workers did their jobs well and, after our story ran, citizens upset about the firings packed the town hall.

“From years of observation and interaction, I know these men to be courteous, hardworking, and dependable,” wrote one resident. “All three did the job far better than anyone could expect,” wrote another resident, “with hours spent outside in all weather and low pay.”

We editorialized at the time on the need for the town to have a system in place to evaluate workers, so they could be given a chance to improve if there were problems. We also editorialized on the importance of Civil Service Law to ensure workers keep their jobs based on merit rather than losing them because of politics. The two workers who were protected by that law, because they had worked their jobs for more than five years, pursued the matter and won a settlement.

Then, exactly two years after the original debacle, the town’s newly elected supervisor, Russell Pokorny, a Democrat, proposed on Jan.1, 2022 that the three fired workers be hired back as alternates.

This provoked Jeremy Springer, who was among those who had been hired in 2019 to replace the dismissed workers, to speak from the gallery, saying that rehiring the workers would not be a “wise decision.”

He alleged — without evidence — it had “been proven” a lot of funds were missing and that people had been bullied at the transfer station.

When our Hilltown reporter Noah Zweifel reported on these unfounded allegations, made at a public meeting, Lefkaditis confirmed that accusations of theft and bullying had “factored into” his decision to replace the workers. Apparently, the other board members had been led to believe they couldn’t look into the allegations or discuss them, even with the men being accused.

While Lefkaditis in January dismissed the matter as “ancient history,” it’s not ancient history for the men who were hurt by the dismissal. Not only have they suffered financially but they have suffered because their reputations were damaged. They live every day with the hurt that the false claims caused.

Some residents haven’t forgotten either. We received letters from several of them last week. One letter focused on how the lies have hurt finances not just for the three men but for Knox taxpayers as well. Another letter stressed that the men deserved their jobs back.

Pokorny, to his credit, went on to investigate the matter further. He reported back to the town board in March. “It goes back to a feud between the transfer station and the town garage regarding management and transportation of the garbage,” he said.

He continued about the firing, “There have been justifications made for this action, but the only real explanation I have found is that the participants, both management and labor, just weren't getting along. One justification has been that there was some mishandling of money or property, but I have looked at all the evidence, some of which is private, by virtue of personnel files. I can say unequivocally that there is no evidence of this.”

He also noted that no wrongdoing by the three workers was found during the legal proceedings that followed their dismissal.

Pokorny concluded by asking for an apology from the board to the three men and their families “who have suffered so much stress.”

No apology was forthcoming. Nor was there any motion, as proposed in January, to hire the workers back as alternates.

We fully realize that all of the board members, except for Pokorny, ran on a slate with Lefkaditis but their loyalty should be not to the supervisor — whether it is Pokorny or Lefkaditis — but rather to serving fairness and justice.

All of us, as human beings, make mistakes. It can be easy to be misled, to believe that someone has stolen or bullied. But when accusations are finally made known and there is no evidence to support them, the board members now have a chance to make things right.

Not only would this be good for the three wrongly maligned men but it would be good for the town as a whole. Local governments are close to the people they serve and should reflect their values.

We believe the citizens of Knox value honesty and fairness and would admire the courage of board members willing to admit a mistake and move forward for the good of all.