Seeking town peace – observertoday.com

Jun 18, 2026
Supervisor Brian McAvoy

ARKWRIGHT — The May monthly meeting of the town of Arkwright was so contentious that the Town Board is changing how it handles public comments moving forward.
“I’ve joked in here before that our whole meeting is public comments because we’re all friendly and we all get along. Well, that’s over,” Supervisor Brian McAvoy said at the June monthly meeting.
McAvoy said public comments are a privilege that the Town Board is not obliged to provide. “You have a right to be here, a right to observe, but we don’t have to give you the time to speak,” McAvoy said. “We will, because it’s the right thing to do … but from now on, when we have a large crowd, we’re going to do it the way other places do.”
Residents were called upon to speak and asked to keep their comments limited to three minutes, as is the case in most municipalities and school board meetings in the region. Citing a desire to find solutions to problems, McAvoy acknowledged he often engages with members of the audience when they voice concerns or ask questions. He did so at times at the recent meeting, but cut off the discussion once it started to get out of hand again.
The need for restraint stems from the town’s proposed local law to change the elected Highway Superintendent position in Arkwright to an appointed role that the Board would choose. It would have given the Board the ability to decide on a candidate outside of the town limits, reevaluate the salary and duties of the role, and potentially change from a full-time to a part-time supervisory role.
OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen A group of residents look on as Brian McAvoy issues his report as Town Supervisor at the June monthly meeting of the Arkwright Town Board.
The public was not having it. After a lengthy discussion in April with members of the public opposed to the idea, the Board held a public hearing in May on the proposed change. The public outcry was overwhelmingly negative, and at times became highly contentious. After roughly an hour of discussion between McAvoy and the public, with both sides of the argument talking over each other while fighting for the chance to speak, McAvoy abandoned the idea.
“I don’t feel like I want to go forward with this,” McAvoy said. “It’s not worth fighting. I didn’t come to this job to be criticized, to be told how bad I am at it, it’s no fun. We’re not going to do it.”
To begin his report at the June meeting, McAvoy discussed the recent history of the Highway Superintendent role. He backtracked a bit from his previous comments and apologized for saying that nobody stepped up to take the job when it was vacant prior to Lisa Waldron’s appointment.
“It wasn’t a great choice of words, and the more I hear it repeated back, the worse they sound,” McAvoy said. He then singled out the support from several members of the audience in attendance at the recent meeting in his apology.
“I should have just said that when it came time to appoint a Highway Superintendent, we received one application,” McAvoy said.
McAvoy pushed back against claims that the change was eyed to pull back the town’s commitment to its Highway Department, as well as the claims of nepotism as the current Deputy Superintendent is married to a member of McAvoy’s family. McAvoy highlighted that recent building projects and purchases show the town’s commitment to its Highway Department, and that he is not involved in the negotiations regarding pay for the Deputy Superintendent, who is appointed by Waldron, not the Board.
McAvoy no longer wants to be the one to push the local law forward. He said, “I, frankly, did not want the controversy surrounding this idea to be the face of Arkwright for the rest of the year. There are many positive things going on, and it was never so important that I wanted it to be a distraction.”
Moving forward, the Highway Superintendent role will remain as an elected official. McAvoy wants the rest of the Board to decide whether to make any adjustments to the elected Highway Superintendent position as it currently stands. The three aspects for the Board to consider are the salary, term length, and residency requirement for the role. Currently, Highway Superintendent Lisa Waldron receives a salary of $55,702. Her position carries a four-year term, with a residency requirement in the town of Arkwright.
McAvoy said he will stay out of the discussion, and it will be up to the rest of the Board to decide whether the salary, term length, or residency requirement will be amended. Any changes would need to come this year, as the role is up for election next year. McAvoy objected to the idea of moving the goalposts on the position in an election year.
Also of note, the Town Board approved budget transfers and modifications to allow for the purchase of the new single axel truck for the Highway Department entirely with funds on-hand. The town initially planned to borrow funds to cover the purchase of the truck, but the bids for the new Town Hall came in lower than anticipated, leaving no need to borrow funds at this time.
The next Arkwright Town Board meeting will be on Monday, July 13 at 6:30 p.m.
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