To The Editor:
Interesting articles in the paper. A couple of weeks ago, people were chastised for so many in a meeting questioning the select board’s position. Now this past week, it’s great that people are civil in meetings and the select board should listen to the people’s concerns. History has proven that we are not working together or listening to each other, much like our folks in Washington. Which came first the chicken or the egg?
Our water situation for example -- everyone knows the costs were to be borne by the users. Town officials suggested that perhaps now the rest of the town should be paying. This is all really to cover up a flawed decision that came about due to a lack of cooperation and respect. Many in the know are of a firm belief that it was not the town nor the water company that should have paid for the repairs. But we settled and the problem just went away. Or did it?
Some points.
1. Anybody on a backhoe for very long knows you’re supposed to have Dig Safe called before digging. No Dig Safe person was called or marked the areas. Had this simple thing been done, we wouldn’t have gotten into this trouble. Every supervisor knows this.
2. The Water Commission wasn’t involved, despite the fact that it’s their responsibility.
I could go on and on. But in one meeting where people were quite vocal about the mishandling of town money the following was brought to light. It was said, “Neil you’re just upset because you’re side didn’t win!” But as I said in the meeting, “It’s not about winning or losing it’s about working together.” It’s about having a goal and direction, being frugal and responsible with taxpayers’ money.
A case in point, while the Lovett Pocket Park is quite lovely, do you think $45,000 for engineering and permitting and a total $110,000 budget was a reasonable use of money? We could have worked together and saved vast sums of money. But like Washington we aren’t working together, we are playing games to win, rather than bring people together with peace, harmony and respect.
We fight neighbor vs. neighbor on the most trivial things. We do this at real estate closings now; it’s really crazy. When are we going to come together?
We need to come together as a nation and as a town; we need to give up the ways of Saul Alinsky and now would be as good of time as any.
Neil Johnson
Waitsfield, VT 05673
