A former Plattsburgh City Councilor has died unexpectedly. Democrat Becky Kasper is perhaps best known for her blunt criticism of the city’s current mayor when she resigned her seat last year.
Plattsburgh Mayor Colin Read emailed the community Wednesday evening announcing former city councilor Becky Kasper died at home.
Feisty and outspoken, Kasper had a rough relationship with the current mayor, disagreeing with several initiatives Read planned to implement including the elimination of four city departments. Her frustration peaked in February 2018 when she abruptly announced her resignation from the council. “My first three years of service I completely enjoyed the work I did. This past year I have not enjoyed this work and in fact I feel, and I have felt often, that I have been complicit in some kind of tyranny of despair that we don’t have a vision of joy anymore. So with that said I am effective with the end of this meeting resigning from the council.”
“What really struck me was how the department heads reacted.” Ward 1 Democrat Rachelle Armstrong was elected to the council at the same time as Kasper, in 2013. “She advocated fiercely for their needs. So they stood up and filed a line to go up and personally thank her for her service after the meeting was over. And I could just tell by the looks on their faces how much they admired her and appreciated the work that she’d done.”
Kasper began her second term when Ward 4 Independent Peter Ensel was first elected. He sat next to her and praises her dedication and concern for the city. “She a very good really kind of a deep cutting sense of humor. Without getting too specific there were times where I’d be sitting next to her at a council meeting and all of a sudden I’d hear a little remark come out and I’d have to put my hand over my mouth so that I couldn’t break out laughing.”
Kasper was also the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at SUNY Plattsburgh. Town of Plattsburgh Supervisor Michael Cashman worked at the Center for Student Involvement immediately following his graduation from the college. “Many people have been touched by both her hand and heart in ways that they’ll never know because Becky was not an individual that was looking for the limelight. What she was looking to do was to continue to serve her community and to be an advocate and to be a champion of things both large and small.”
Former Mayor James Calnon remained friends with Kasper after he left office and says they had recently talked about their summer plans. “She had a great joy-de-vivre. The joy she took in the little things. You know I mean she was particularly proud of her wildflowers in front of her house and when she came over to the house a few weeks back you know it was just to show me her new dog. Taking just great pleasure in living and that’s the tragedy.”
Again Rachelle Armstrong: “She was a really bright light but more than that she was an illuminating light. What she was able to do allowed us to see what is possible, what is wise, what is important. And so because of that we all are better because she lived. Let’s honor her memory by making the city she loved a better place. Because that’s what Becky tried to do in everything she did.”
City Police were called to Kasper’s home Wednesday afternoon and are investigating. Chief Levi Ritter says the circumstances are not suspicious.
