Hugh Butler will be running for his second four-year term this season as a class B Institution trustee with the endorsement of the Chautauqua Property Owners Association. The vote will take place during the CPOA’s meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11 in the Hall of Philosophy.
“It is an honor to serve. Being with the trustees as both a member and an observer has allowed me to meet some really amazing Chautauquans and develop both an inside and outside perspective.”
-Hugh Butler, Class B trustee, Chautauqua Insitution
“This project has been 10 years in the process,” Butler said, “beginning with actually defining Dark Sky Communities and working with the Bird, Tree & Garden Club to help get things on track.”
Butler later became vice president and then president of the CPOA.
“It is a professional association in which the work I did within the committees and the CPOA got the attention of the people who nominated me,” he said.
According to Butler, class B trustees who have served with the CPOA offer a different perspective when making decision on the board.
“We have a history with Chautauqua, and that matters when making decisions for the CPOA and the board,” Butler said. “The history forms the basis of our outlook.”
Butler was first elected a class B trustee in 2014 and during his term served on the Asset Policy and Program Policy committees and the task force that examined the Institution’s sale of alcohol policy. He currently lives at Chautauqua year-round with his wife and is actively involved with the county and village chamber of commerce. He participates in village planning and is chair of the governance committee of the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation. He also continues to serve the CPOA as a trustee.
As the Institution looks to the future with the development of a new strategic plan, Butler said that he backs President Michael E. Hill’s intentions.
“I really support (Hill’s) vision of expanding the Institution’s horizons both programmatically and throughout the calendar year,” he said. “All board members pretty much share that vision. This new strategic plan is ambitious, visionary and incredibly important.”