Nichols Village Mayor Doug Horton did not have a good week last week.
    His attempted firing of Code Enforcement Officer Chris Williams failed miserably, prompting severe backlash from the members of the village’s board of trustees and the public.
    In addition, his attempted ouster of Dot Richter as the village’s planning board chairwoman and as the village’s representative to the Tioga County Rural Economic Area Partnership also failed — Richter will continue to serve on the village’s planning board until a replacement has been appointed and her successor on the REAP board was not approved by the village trustees, mainly due to the person’s lack of experience. Richter is currently in the middle of her term as the village’s REAP rep.
    Finally, Horton’s attempted firing of Barbara Crannell from the village planning board is being challenged by Crannell herself, who stated defiantly at the last trustees meeting that she is not resigning from that board. (Horton had cited a possible conflict of interest in a letter to Crannell as the reason behind her termination since she serves on the Nichols Town Council. Crannell disputes that fact, stating that she has case law examples that show there is no conflict of interest.)
    In the case of Williams, Horton — in a letter that Horton hand-delivered to Williams — gave no reason behind his attempt to fire the village’s long-time code enforcement officer. It was only when questioned by this newspaper that Horton gave the true reasons behind this attempted ouster — a supposed lack by Williams of the property state credentials and training to work as the village’s code enforcement officer. However, Williams disputed that claim, stating that he is up-to-date on all of his state certification.
    With regard to Richter, Horton said that her term on the planning board had expired on March 31. However, according to the state, if someone were to fail to re-take their oath of office once their term has expired — the person would continue to serve lawfully unless they are replaced, which she is continuing to do until the village board appoints a new person to the planning board.
    However, all this controversy brings about the real question that seems to be swirling around the Village of Nichols — why is Mayor Horton attempting to make these drastic changes?
    In the case of Richter’s two positions, he stated that it was within his authority as mayor and that “under a new administration, people can serve at my pleasure.”
We take issue with that comment. The appointees in question do not serve as the pleasure of one elected individual — they serve at the pleasure of the entire village board, which has a total of five votes, including the mayor’s.
    The attempted firing of two of these individuals who have done nothing but serve the Village of Nichols as volunteers — at a time when the volunteer base of many communities are drying up — and the lack of a valid explanation as to why these people can no longer serve is gross example of a mayor thumbing his nose at the constituency that elected him to office.
    But it gets even better.
    Under continued questioning as to why Horton was making the residents of the village — a significant number of whom filled the Nichols Town Hall during last week’s board meeting — upset with this flurry of firings, Horton said he wasn’t going to comment.
    That’s not good enough. Elected officials need to be held accountable for any of the actions that they take, regardless of whether it may be insignificant or not.
    In this case, Horton’s attempted coup-de-grace of the Village of Nichols government has brought the village nothing but bad press since he took office back in April.
    And why is he doing this? We don’t know. He refuses to explain himself. He has taken the position that he is the mayor of the village and he doesn’t have to explain himself to anybody.
    Wrong, Mr. Mayor.
    You need to explain yourself not only to your fellow government officials who you serve with — but to the residents that you swore to serve.
    The Nichols village government is not a monarchy and the mayor’s position is not a kingship. It is an elected position that is answerable to the voters in the village.
    You, Mr. Horton, need to explain your actions. Your continued refusal to do so will only further stain the office that you hold.