Lee Schroeder announced that he is running as a write-in candidate for Dayton Town Board.
Schroeder was not among the candidates nominated at the town caucus, so his name will not appear on the ballot.
“I’ve read all the brochures I’ve received from the candidates, and I believe the majority of them have an agenda,” Schroeder said. “They’re not worried about the town, they’re worried about their own group.”
Noting that he has never seen some of the candidates at town meetings prior to their being nominated, Schroeder said he began attending meetings prior to serving on the board in order to understand how town government works.
“You need to come to the meetings and get involved. You don’t just decide to run,” Schroeder said.
First appointed to the town board in 2009, Schroeder ran unsuccessfully for supervisor in 2011 and 2013.
He was appointed to the board again in May 2013, following the death of Bruce Golding.
Schroeder abruptly resigned from the town board during a contentious meeting on Jan. 28, 2014. He was subsequently replaced by Jim Peglow.
“I resigned from the town board because of Mr. Newsome and Mr. Klein,” Schroeder said. “Every time I brought something up, it was shut down. It was like beating your head against a wall.”
Schroeder noted that during his tenure on the Dayton Town Board, “I was the only one who brought up that the meetings were illegal.”
While serving on the town board, Schroeder was also on the Little Hope Lake District Board.
On three separate occasions, the Little Hope Lake District attempted to hold its first annual meeting in 2013. Each time, the meeting was found to be in violation of state laws governing lake districts.
“I don’t want the town taxpayers to be burdened with the cost of replacing it,” Schroeder said regarding the Little Hope dam. “If landowners around the mill pond want to pay to replace it, that would be up to them.”
He also noted that some of the residents who own property on the former mill pond do not want to be part of the lake district and oppose replacing the dam.