The Village of Montgomery’s October 17 board meeting featured significant public comments concerning the village’s police enforcement, upcoming meetings and preparations for this year’s local elections.

Jaquelin Williamson, a resident, recounted her experiences with the village police after someone recently robbed her shed and attempted to break into her house.

“About two weeks ago, I was away, and when I woke up in the morning, I looked at my ring camera at 3:19. Somebody was trying to get into my house from the back door. He was jiggling the lock, and then he realized he couldn’t get in, so he walked in the direction of my shed,” Williamson explained.

“It was my neighbor that came home that evening at five o’clock, went into my backyard, told me that my door was fine but my shed was broken into. All the stuff was just ransacked…I had some new gutters in there, all that was completely destroyed,” she continued.

When she saw the intruder on her camera, Williamson called the police and asked them to check on her house, but no officer had.

“I called village police to let them know that this was what had occurred and I sent them the video of the camera. Nobody appeared, nobody showed up to see if my house was protected or not…they told me that, when I come back, I should file a report, which I did. In the meantime, from the time I was gone to when I came back, no police checked my house,” she said.

Additionally, the police told Williamson that the intruder was likely intoxicated, a response that she felt undermined the situation.

“I’m hearing the person was intoxicated. A crime is a crime: you’re intoxicated, you’re not intoxicated, if you attempt to get into somebody’s house, you’re an attempted burglar. I don’t care if you’re intoxicated or not. I should not be left to feel like I’m the perpetrator when I’m actually the victim,” she said.

Williamson then described a similar incident that occurred earlier this year in which someone damaged her neighbor’s car, but when she reported it to the police, nobody helped them.

“Back in January this year, my neighbor had his car parked in the parking lot here. And his catalytic converter was cut, and I witnessed and heard it, and I called the village police. The phone rang, nobody picked up. I called again, the phone rang, nobody picked up,” she explained.

“So I got up in the morning, still startled, I went to the police around seven, eight o’clock. And when I went, I asked if there were cameras in the back of the village because I would be happy to recognize and identify the people that I saw. I never heard anything back,” she continued.

Using these two experiences, Williamson stressed that the village police cannot ignore cases like these and that her safety could have been jeopardized if she had been home during her own incident.

“So things are happening here and we just cannot sweep them under the rug. If this guy had gotten into my house, maybe I wouldn’t be here telling you that this had happened to me. I’m also the type that goes into my shed to do all my gardening, and I could have walked into my shed and came face-to-face with this guy, and he could have attacked me,” she said.

In response, Mayor Steven Brescia affirmed that he will speak with the police chief and get back to Williamson on the matter.

“I will certainly discuss this with the chief of police. We don’t normally entertain police matters, like speeding tickets or anything in the village board, but if this is a concern, we’ll look at it and we’ll get back to you,” he stated.

Following Williamson, fellow resident Don Berger questioned the current status of November 14’s public hearing on the building moratorium. Brescia stated that the board merged the hearing with November 21’s meeting.

“At the last meeting, you set a public hearing for November 14 at 7:15 for the water moratorium. It’s my understanding that the meeting was canceled,” Berger said.

“Hasn’t been canceled, it was moved to the 21st. We are going to have a public information meeting at seven o’clock, we’re going to have the public comment session on the annexation project, and after that we’re going to have the public hearing on the water,” Brescia responded.

Berger then raised concerns for the board’s future post-election, explaining that, if Brescia becomes the town supervisor of Montgomery, the board will be left with one less member to help it address the village’s current issues.

“Right now, as you’re very much aware, we’re three weeks out from election day, and you’ve canceled one meeting and moved it to the 21st. That leaves three meetings that this board has with you being the mayor,” Berger said.“My big concern, Steve, is that, as you see right now, you only have three members sitting up there right now. On January 1, it’s going to be the same thing. You’re going to have three members up there…the board is very, very light and very, very vulnerable at this time.”

Berger suggested that Bresica carefully consider an exit plan in the event that he becomes supervisor and that the village should hold a special election to fill in the board’s empty spots. Brescia responded that he and the trustees will think about it.

Brescia is the Republican candidate for Montgomery Town Supervisor. He is opposed by former Town Supervisor Susan Cockburn who is running on the independent line. The winner will replace current Supervisor Ron Feller, who was appointed this past January to fill the remaining year of the term of Brian Maher, upon his election to the New York State Assembly.