Typically, I don’t respond to letters or articles in the paper. In fact I don’t often initiate letters either, but I am so insulted by some comments in the Aug. 12 edition of the Landmark (“Brookfield First backers remain a mystery”) that I would like to comment on some parts in the story.

I don’t really care who the author of the Brookfield First flier is, but I do feel that whoever the person or people are who choose not to give their name(s) do so for no other reason than they just don’t want people to know who they are.

Saying that they don’t speak out for fear of retribution is ridiculous. There is absolutely no one in Brookfield who has received any violations from the code department or police department for any other reason than what is stated on the citation.

I took great pride in running for election with people who had the same philosophy, in that we all agreed that politics in the Brookfield village hall had been out of control in the prior administration, and we did not intend to allow politics to have a role in any way once we were elected.

Professional people were hired by the village manager. The village president and the trustees had nothing to do with any employees who were hired other than the village manager. The well-educated, experienced and well-trained village manager made decisions based on people’s qualifications and for no other reason.

You can ask anyone who has been cited for something if they were cited because of politics or because of the reason stated on their violation. You can also ask me. Three years ago as a village trustee I was parked in front of the village president’s home during the day once and had forgotten about the street cleaning ordinance.

I was parked on the wrong side of the street, and when I came out my car had a parking ticket. The officer knew it was my car and that I was parked in front of the president’s home. I received the ticket anyway. Why? Because I was parked illegally. I then paid the ticket. Why? Because I was guilty. And that’s how the village has been run in everything since 2005.

Let’s see if one person can honestly say that they received a citation of some kind because they weren’t guilty and that it was just politics. And if you are following all the ordinances you would have nothing to be concerned about.

I have lived in Brookfield all my life, and those who know me know that I would not team up with people who want to have politics mixed in with the running of the village hall.

I am insulted by the statement “anyone who crosses the PEP board ‘gets visited by the blight police.'” I can tell everyone right now that he does not know us if that’s how he wants to mislead the public. If you want to spread stories around, you better stick with the truth because you will get caught in your lies and then your word will no longer be good.

Cathy Colgrass Edwards
Brookfield

Cathy Colgrass Edwards is a Brookfield village trustee.