NARROWSBURG, NY — Tusten Highway Department Superintendent Glenn Swendsen sent a letter of resignation on March 10. Recently, he has revoked that resignation. The reason he resigned was because of a conflict between him and Tusten councilmember Ned Lang because Lang could not get up his road on an icy night. Afterward, there was an exchange of emails between the two, which Swendsen said contained lies about him. At a recessed town board meeting, the two continued to argue and Swendsen said the board did not stick up for him. He said he resigned because, “I was mad at the town board. Every time he [Lang] told the story it was different. Nobody addressed the lies. If they’re not going to stand up for me now, they never will.”

However, Swendsen decided to stay with the job when he learned that many people, including members of the board, did not want him to leave. “Nobody wanted me to resign; a lot of people were upset. They understood the situation but they were upset by it. The biggest thing I heard was, ‘don’t let a bully run you out.’”

Under New York State law, he can withdraw and rescind his resignation, only with approval of the town clerk, which he received.

His resignation came after a tough winter. “During the winter my patience got thin,” he said. “Every two days we had a snow storm. I was out at 1:30 in the morning, and nights were on the late side.”

Although he wasn’t at the last town meeting, he said he watched the YouTube video of it and saw everybody’s positive comments about him and how they did not want him to resign. “That had a lot to do it,” he said.

Supervisor Carol Wingert is glad with Swendsen’s decision. “I am very happy that he is back and the township can still benefit from his fine fiscal leadership, honesty and integrity in the highway department,” she said.