A recent article on a New York Coalition for Open Government report about public comment at meetings has irritated some local officials.

The article quoted the report as stating 27% of Chautauqua County towns don’t allow public comments at meetings. The towns were Busti, Charlotte, Cherry Creek, Clymer, Kiantone, Sherman and Villenova.

The attorneys for all seven towns contacted the OBSERVER to respond to the article.

Joel Seachrist, who represents Busti, Clymer and Sherman; Lyle Hajdu, Kiantone’s lawyer; and Dana Lundberg, Charlotte and Cherry Creek attorney, signed one letter. “Our towns are committed to fostering transparency, public engagement and open discourse,” they claimed. “We have consistently welcomed public comments during town board meetings as an integral part of our democratic process.”

The letter demanded a retraction of the earlier article.

Villenova town attorney Donald Michalak chimed in, in a separate letter. He also sought a correction, emailing a PDF of a paper copy of Villenova’s public meeting speaker regulations.

Annemarie Reeb of the New York Coalition for Open Government, who coordinated the report, responded, “In all of the seven towns there was no online information to support that the town allowed public comment. We did not instruct our (data-gathering) volunteers to contact public officials or utilize other means to gather this information other than the website link that they were provided.”

Reeb added: “Government transparency is important to taxpayers and the websites of our town governments should reflect that. The Coalition’s report is not just addressing the right of the citizens to be involved in their local town government, through public comment, but we are shining a light on the websites of the local town governments.”

Busti town Supervisor Jesse Robbins also expressed concerns about the article on the report, stating his town government meetings are open to citizen comment.

“If you look at the top of our minutes, it says everyone is allowed to speak at meetings,” he said. “Everyone and anyone is given a chance to speak. Even if you come in late, I will usually pause the meeting and ask why you’re there and give you a chance to speak.”

“I don’t mind being yelled at when I’m wrong, but I am bothered when I am yelled at for doing the right thing,” he added, calling the town “100% open.”

Robbins concluded, “We don’t push people away. They deserve to be heard. If I can’t help them, I will find a way to get them what they need. I want to make sure people are happy.”

Reporter Sara Holthouse contributed to this article.