66.0°,
Mostly Cloudy We should give Barra a chance
To the Editor:
Recent comments in the Herald regarding the appointment of Bob Barra to be Valley Stream village clerk have encouraged me to make the following comments.
With the election of Ed Fare as our new mayor, Dermond Thomas as a first-time trustee and an open trustee seat to be filled shortly, finding the best qualified person to replace Vinny Ang as village clerk became critical. With three of the five Board of Trustees members new to their positions, it was necessary to appoint a village clerk who possessed a working knowledge of government operations, hands-on experience in village operations and a person capable of supervising a wide variety of department functions. From what I have read and heard from others regarding Bob Barra’s resumé, I believe that he is a perfect fit to accept the baton from Vinny Ang and carry us into the next leg of the race.
As far as finding a well-qualified person outside the village is concerned, that’s exactly how any well-run organization operates. You don’t limit the pool of candidates to fill critical positions by restricting your search to a narrow geographical area. To do so leads very quickly to becoming a second-class operation.
Time will tell if Bob Barra lives up to the high expectations Ed Fare has for him. As for now, I can only say that he appears to be a person who will be able to hit the ground running.
Albert J. Green
Valley Stream
