James Foster
Republican
Occupation: Attorney
Question: Why are you running for town supervisor?
Answer: I am running for Town Supervisor because it is imperative that we restore responsive and responsible leadership to Town Hall. Bethlehem also needs a leader who is open and available to residents, and is able to energize our town employees and community.
Q: How will your experience serve you as town supervisor?
A: As a third generation resident of Bethlehem, I have deep roots here and know the community and its residents well. My experience working for the Town Highway and Parks and Recreation Departments, as well as my service with the Elsmere Fire Company have familiarized me with our town services and employees. During my career as an attorney at a large and respected international law firm, I was responsible for staffing and leading a team of 50 attorneys and industry experts. The combination of my professional experience, skills, and knowledge of the town make me well-suited to the position.
Q: What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the town?
A: The biggest challenge facing the town is the need to restore responsive and responsible management to Town Hall. Without that, everything else is a non-starter. Because of mismanagement, the town is potentially liable for millions of dollars of remediation work relating to the preventable Normans Kill landslide. This is a huge challenge, with potentially large financial impacts for the town, which emphasizes the need to avoid causing similar situations down the road. Poor planning and management have also lead to the erosion of town services which must be addressed. The services themselves haven’t been cut, but the quality in delivering those services has. For example, fall leaf collection does our residents little good when it doesn’t take place until spring. Another challenge facing the Town is the ongoing dispute between Town Hall and the Police Department.
Q: What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
A: Only the voters are able to restore responsive and responsible management to Town Hall. If elected, I will better manage the town by taking a proactive rather than reactive approach to problems and resident complaints.There is no greater measure of how we are performing as a town than our residents’ feedback, and we need to start listening. If we do so, we can get out ahead of problems before they become much bigger and more costly issues.
I will restore diminished town services by seeking the input of our town employees — “the boots on the ground” if you will — to not only energize our workforce, but identify better and more efficient ways to deliver the quality services our residents expect.
Finally, I will work with the police department to reach a resolution that is in the best interests of the residents and adequately provides for public safety.
