Gissal waiting for apology
Not much has been resolved since a Lannon public safety meeting on Feb. 23 at which Trustee Diane Daily threatened Trustee Terry Gissal, saying, "You'd be the first one I'd kill."
The meeting got heated over proposals by Daily to put the charge of hiring and firing the fire chief in the Village Board's hands. Since the Lannon Fire Department's inception nearly three decades ago, Fire Department membership has selected the chief. Current Chief Gary Georgenson has led the department for 30 years and recently announced his retirement, effective January 2011.
The proposals led to heated exchanges between members of the audience - many of them Fire Department members - and village officials, including Gissal, asking Daily to answer questions being asked of her during the public comment period. The situation turned into Daily losing her cool, and grabbing a light-up pen out of Gissal's hand she claimed he was shining in her face and threatening him.
Police Chief Mark Flessert said the entire group had gotten out of order and warned everyone to calm down. Flessert said the meeting was over at this point, he said he pulled Daily aside to talk to her about the inappropriate behavior and said she showed remorse.
However, when the story following this meeting was printed in the Sussex Sun entailing that Daily apologized, Gissal called to ask who she apologized to.
"She didn't apologize to me," Gissal said. The trustee said Daily should not only apologize to him, but to the board and public for her behavior at the meeting. He said the next Village Board meeting would be the best opportunity, however, during public comment Monday, two people commented on the Feb. 23 meeting, but Daily did not.
"There's been a lot of articles about what's going on and I think people deserve an apology," said Lannon Fire Department member Amy Martin, who is also running for trustee in April. "No one should be threatened. Not only Trustee Gissal, but all should be given apologies."
"If it's not broke, don't fix it. And it's not broke," said Marge Messner in response to making changes in the public safety departments. Messner said she's disgusted by the behavior and wants everyone to move on with issues and leave the pettiness behind.
Howard Hadley, who is also running for a trustee seat in April, set up a video camera to record Monday's board meeting. "You never know what's going to happen," he said. However, no more public comment was heard on the issue and neither Daily or Gissal were unavailable for comment following the meeting to see if Daily has apologized to Gissal.
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