There is a resolution on Monday evening’s Lancaster Town Board sponsored by Supervisor Leary concerning the Boys & Girls Club that reads:

RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Lancaster hereby approves the Agreement, as presented, between the Town of Lancaster and the Depew Lancaster Boys' and Girls' Club, Inc., for the operation of a Youth Development Program for the benefit of the youth in the Town of Lancaster and hereby authorizes the Supervisor to execute this agreement, with approval from the Town Attorney, which will cover the period April 1, 2025 through December 31, 2027.

No agreement attachment, no details. This coming Monday one must assume that an agreement has been reached or that an offer was made by the town to fund Boys & Girls Club activities and programs that meet Municipal Law spending accountability and operational oversight obligations.

Supervisor Leary is being pilloried and branded by a few political hacks as solely responsible for defunding the Boys & Girls Club, then holding them ‘hostage’ while delaying it from receiving any funding until now. We are told by the few hacks that Leary hid the defunding from the board, residents, and Boys & Girls Club when the defunding happened in plain sight in his 2025 budget, where it was posted on the town’s website, where there was a public hearing, where the budget was approved by the entire board who then denied seeing the line item removal, and where the Boys & Girls Club did not become aware of the $245,000 fund removal until late January.

Hopefully, the full story becomes known Monday regarding:

• Has an agreement been reached?

• Is the town offering less than $245,000 in lieu of the Club’s inability to meet the town’s conditions?

• When the majority of the other 26 Western New York Towns do not budget for Boys & Girls Clubs in their community and where the next highest contributor funds below $100,000, Lancaster town taxpayers have the right to know how their money is spent and that there is oversight.

• Should the town offer less than the Club is willing to accept, can the town offer zero – and what recourse would the Club have?

• Who represented the town in the ‘negotiations’? Was it the Supervisor, Town Attorney and Committee Chair? Were negotiations also taking place between the Club and the remaining three board members?

• If there is this board schism as alluded to by the hacks (who call the three board members ‘their guys’ and the ‘adults in the room) and Leary’s resolution is voted down, what then?

• Shouldn’t this board work together to attain what’s best for the Boys & Girls Club and the taxpayers of Lancaster who are struggling to exist in this unstable economy.

The town of Lancaster is contributing far more than any other town to aid the Club and Supervisor Leary is the bad guy here asking to see the books and for holding the Club responsible for accounting for their spending and operation? Really?