A Rindge resident protesting the Select Board’s decision to bring a police grant’s acceptance to a Town Meeting vote has resigned his volunteer post on a town committee.
Albert Lefebvre tendered his resignation from the telecommunications/technology committee to the Select Board in a letter dated Nov. 15. In the letter, Lefebvre said he doesn’t like how the grant was handled at the Select Board level.
“If this is the way the Board of Selectmen is going to conduct its business, it reflects poorly on Rindge and its people,” said Lefebvre, in his letter. “The board is clearly taking action that is counter to what the public, with the exception of only a few, said at the public hearing.”
The Rindge Police Department was one of four New Hampshire agencies to be awarded a $125,000 U.S. Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program grant this year, which would require the town to hire an eighth full-time officer for at least four years. The grant subsidizes a portion of the officers pay, with the fourth year being paid entirely by the town.
During its Nov. 9 meeting, the Select Board voted unanimously to bring the approval of the grant to Town Meeting vote in March, a process that hinges on whether the town can get an extension on the grant’s acceptance, which must be accepted by the end of the year.
Lefebvre said he was “disgusted” by the way the Nov. 9 meeting was handled, in part because of a lack of public input allowed by Select Board chair Robert Hamilton and also because the grant’s discussion was placed under the informational items/communication/updates section of the agenda, rather than general business.
“Anyone looking at the last item on the agenda would assume it would have been for the purpose of providing information that the board had gathered up to the meeting date on how they could proceed on the COPS grant,” said Lefebvre.
Resident David Drouin also voiced displeasure during a Nov. 16 meeting, saying had he known there was going to be a decision made on the Nov. 9, he would have moved his schedule around to make the meeting. Hamilton told Drouin during Wednesday’s meeting that the agenda was not a formal document.
Selectmen Hamilton and Jim Qualey both defended their stances at the Nov. 16 meeting, saying they feel it is prudent to bring the decision to a Town Meeting vote as it involves a financial commitment from the taxpayers, and that they are still unsure of the town’s ability to accept the grant right now under RSA 31:95-B, which deals with appropriations for funds made available during the year.
“I believe this is something we should send to the voters,” said Qualey. “It is still far from clear that we have the ability to accept the grant given we need matching funds.”
Regardless of what happens with the grant, the Select Board has already voted to bring on an eighth officer.
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235.
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