About

The Webster Ledger covers the decisions that shape life in Webster, New York — town meetings, school board votes, zoning applications, comprehensive plan hearings, the things that get decided in rooms most residents never set foot in.

I'm Morgan VanDerLeest. I started this publication because the regional paper covers a county of nearly a million people and Webster can't be the priority it deserves to be. That's not a complaint. It's just math. So I built this.

The Ledger is independent. It is not affiliated with any government body, political organization, or advertiser. Editorial decisions are made here, by me.

Why this exists

A lot is being decided right now about how Webster grows: a development moratorium, the comprehensive plan rewrite, zoning applications, a $227 million school budget on the May 19 ballot, cell-tower siting, fiscal choices that show up on tax bills two years later. Most of it happens in public meetings. Almost none of it gets covered.

Local news, when it shows up, changes that. It tells residents what's on the agenda before the vote, what got decided after it, and what's likely to come next. It links to the documents. It names the people. It does the math.

That is the work.

Editorial standards

How the journalism gets made

I attend the meetings, read the packets, and decide what is a story. I do the reporting. I write the drafts. I review and approve every piece before it publishes. The accountability is mine.

I use AI tools for drafting and research. They make me faster; they do not make decisions. Every sourcing call, every claim, every final edit is mine. Stories where AI was used carry a disclosure.

If a story is wrong, tell me. Corrections go on the article, dated, with what changed.

Conflicts of interest

I own my home in Webster. My wife and her family have real estate investments in the Monroe County area that occasionally intersect with the people, properties, and decisions this publication covers.

When I cover a zoning vote, a development application, a property transaction, or any other decision where I or my family have a financial interest, I'll say so on the article itself — not in a footnote, not on this page. Right now I am the only person editing the Ledger. When a conflict is significant enough that my involvement would compromise the reporting, the right answer is not to run the story until I can get it reviewed by someone independent or assign it to someone else. I'd rather hold a piece than publish one I shouldn't have written.

If you think the Ledger has published something affected by an undisclosed conflict, write to me. That feedback is part of how this works.

About the founder

I moved to Webster with my family and started showing up — Town Board meetings, Planning Board sessions, school budget hearings. I kept noticing the same thing: substantive votes, real money, decisions that matter, and almost no one in the room outside the people whose job it was to be there. There was no publication covering any of it seriously.

So I started one.

My family and I are here. We're invested in how this town grows. The reporting comes first. That's the rule.

How to reach the Ledger

For tips, documents, story ideas, public-records pointers, or anything else you think the Ledger should know about: news@websterledger.com.

If you attended a meeting, witnessed something newsworthy, or have expertise on something on a board's agenda, write to me. I read everything.

How to support the work

The Ledger has two reader tiers. Both are useful.

Reader (free). Everything the Ledger publishes is free to read. No paywalls, no metering. If you want the work to land in your inbox when it goes up, subscribe.

Neighbor (paid, $5/month or $50/year). You're not buying anything. You're choosing to fund a covering focused on Webster because you think it matters. Neighbor revenue is what keeps the publication independent and lets it grow.