We tend to forget that it takes dedicated people to run our local government institutions.

One of my earliest memories of politics was observing my Dad’s duties as Supervisor of the Town of Kiantone. It was not a job that he really wanted–he was plenty busy running the farm–but the Republican Committee asked him to run for the position, so he did.

After a couple of terms, a neighboring dairy farmer, a Democrat, Frank Bratt, decided to run for the job. My Dad’s reaction was: “Well, if he wins, he will do a good job.” Bratt did win, and I remember my father saying shortly thereafter: “I guess I’d better get the Town books over to Frank so that he can get familiar with things,”–and he took the Town record books that he had over to Frank’s house.

Recently, in this newspaper, there have been a couple of local government stories–one good and one not so good.

The “not so good” story dealt with the resignation of some local officials in the Village of Cassadaga over what seemed to be personal attacks or criticism of a project that had been undertaken by the Village. Some opposed to the project had made life so miserable for some village officials that they decided to resign. A sad tale indeed.

Yet, there was another recent story of a local government which had been through a lot of scrutiny and public criticism over a proposed project, and their approach was to continue to hold hearings and meetings to address concerns to try to find a solution.

That local government was the Town of Chautauqua, and the project dealt with developing the old and now abandoned golf course at Point Chautauqua.

Such projects are always contentious as many residents would prefer to leave things just the way they are.

Yet, local government has an obligation to do more than just block development–it needs to provide guidance for development…and the Town of Chautauqua has now done that. Not everyone will be happy, but town officials are doing their job as it was meant to be.

The Town of Chautauqua surrounds the northern end of Chautauqua Lake and, in 2025 had a total assessed property value of $1.5 billion–representing about13% of the total assessed value of the whole county. Growth in the value of real estate is happening there–and town officials should be given credit for taking on the important task of helping shape that development.

In many ways, being a locally elected official is not easy. Many of the calls that they get are from people complaining about things. At times, local government can seem like a thankless job.

Yet, local officials are doing important work, and we should be grateful when they are willing to “roll up their sleeves” and undertake the hard and challenging work of helping shape our future.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.