Satish Mohan

Dr. Satish Mohan was Town Supervisor of Amherst, New York from 2006 through 2009.

Biography

Dr. Satish Mohan is an Associate Professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, and an entrepreneur who took leave from his position at the university to serve as the Supervisor of the Town of Amherst. Mohan was born in India and moved to the United States to study, and has since become a US citizen. He announced on March 13, 2009 that he did not intend to run for re-election, as he had promised when he was elected.^[1]

Supervisor's campaign

Unknown in local political circles, Mohan entered the Supervisor's election campaign by engaging in a primary election for the Republican nomination. He was opposed by the Amherst Republican Committee's endorsed candidate who was a member of the Amherst Board of Education. Mohan's campaign took out full-page advertisements in the Buffalo News and local weekly newspapers. Mohan won the Republican primary and faced the incumbent Democratic supervisor as well as a member of the Amherst Board of Education (who remained the race as the candidate of the Conservative and Independence Parties ) in the general election.

In March 2011 Satish Mohan interviewed for the Democratic party nomination for the 26th Congressional District but did not receive the nomination.

Town Supervisor

Following the October Surprise storm, Dr. Mohan negotiated one of the better local prices for storm cleanup contracts.^[2]

As Supervisor, Dr. Mohan kept taxes flat, ending several years of annual 7 to 10 percent tax increases under previous administrations.^[3] He found there was a lack of political will among other board members to lower the taxes 15% as he said he would do.^[1]

During his tenure as Town Supervisor, he became disenchanted with the Republican Party, and switched his party affiliation to the Democratic Party.^[4] He said of the Republicans, "They are supporting business blindly without care for the other 98 percentage of the population." ^[4] GOP Chair Marshall Wood said: "I'm not sure exactly what this means - time will tell - but he hasn't shown a willingness to work with anybody," adding that he doesn't expect that to change when Mohan becomes a Democrat

Police said Supervisor Mohan was involved in a minor hit and run car accident, where he sideswiped another vehicle, and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident in August 2009.^[5] He later pled guilty to two nonmoving violations, and paid a $75 fine. The judge dismissed the original charges.^[6]

Academic credentials

1978, Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

1975, M.S., Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas

1959, B. Tech. (Hons), Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

References