I’d like to take a moment of your time to address a recent Viewpoint printed in this paper. The writer asks, “How can we trust our town government?” And before I get in to it, I’ll be totally up front and admit that this letter really hit hard and I take it personally as someone that was elected to serve the town. I could fill this entire newspaper with my response, but I will do my best to keep it short and to the point.
Were the letter writer and her husband named as respondents to the civil suit which was asking for a declaratory judgment? Yes, they were, and here is why. First, the writer actually submitted Amendment 15 herself, and she and her husband were the first two signatures on it. The two were also members of the group that sued the town, looking to invalidate the protest petition that required the vote on 15 to be a two-thirds majority to pass. For that protest petition to be validated or invalidated, the original amendment must also be subject to the same scrutiny. Rather than name every person who signed 15 at an additional cost per person, it made sense to only name the first two. After all, you can’t name a piece of paper in a declaratory judgment. The Select Board does not sign everything filed with the court, the Town Administrator has that authority. The Board did in fact know there was a filing for a declaratory judgment and it certainly was authorized. Late at night on the 29th when the writer emailed telling us of a civil suit filed against her specifically, it naturally caught us a little off guard, she made no mention about the actual content of the suit. Rather than hastily spout off an answer, we got the facts and answered immediately after.
In the suit the town is not arguing that 15 be thrown out, only that a judge make sure it’s by the letter of the law. If it violates the single purpose rule, an issue raised first by the attorney representing the signors of 15, then it may not be valid. It seems only fair that everything be looked at by a judge.
Alleging that the Select Board is attempting to thwart the will of the majority is as sensational as it gets, and completely ridiculous. Everyone should keep in mind that neither the Board nor Town Administration submitted 15 or the Protest Petition that required a two-thirds majority. No matter how much anyone would like to spin the actual facts of the situation, no town employee or Board member stands anything to gain by such a conspiracy as alleged by the writer. I can assure everyone that the Board and Administration would much rather be focused on doing the business of the town and working for all of our residents, rather than engage in conspiracies that waste valuable time and resources. To suggest that the Board is not neutral on this issue is preposterous, if in fact we weren’t, why on earth would we go to such great lengths to create a task force to bring people together to shape the future zoning needs? As a Board we asked that everyone take it down a notch and work together as a community to address this complicated issue together, hardly a “lecture” as suggested.
The next several questions raised by the writer are inflammatory, misguided, and completely without merit. Suggesting that the town is attempting to thwart civic engagement by means of intimidation, bullying, retribution and payback would make for a great movie but let’s take a step back. The town and Select Board want harmony and peace so we can stick with moving forward and looking after the business of the town. And to address the topic of when and where the protest petition was submitted let’s stick with the reality of it. The protest petition was submitted by residents and the Board did not have the authority to reject it, any more than they could have rejected 15 when submitted. To suggest that if it were presented to the Board a little earlier in the meeting could have changed the outcome, is flat out wrong. It was not up to the Board to accept or reject it, only to acknowledge its submission. That fact seems to be ignored.
Who is actually running the town? That would be the Select Board in conjunction with the Town Administrator and Deputy Town Administrator. This team of people work tirelessly on behalf of every resident of the town, regardless of wild accusations and mistruths. I suppose it’s fair to mention that all 3 board members met personally and individually with the writer and her husband, and gave the answers to the questions they had raised. Our answers were not supportive of the conspiracy alleged in her Viewpoint and were disregarded entirely. It’s also important to mention that the Viewpoint was not on behalf of 15. Are the writers of the Viewpoint right to be upset? Absolutely. But when you sue the town to invalidate a legally submitted protest petition, it stands to reason that the questions raised in the suit need to be addressed. After all, 15 has to stand if the protest petition can be scrutinized. It’s easy to get emotional, what’s hard is to make sure that those emotions don’t cloud over the facts. Casting doubt on the Board of Selectman and Town Administration serves nobody. If someone wants to know something about the town they can come and ask. All three board members were elected. Speaking for myself, we would be lucky to have the other two run again when their terms are up. But I expect that all of the folks that find it appropriate to call into question the motives of the Board and Administration will be on the ballot as well.
So what’s the takeaway of this response? It’s that the town and its officials can certainly be trusted. We are open, honest, and in my view, go above and beyond to address the concerns of everyone. I have the least amount of experience on the Board because I’m the newest. I have come to love the job, despite the challenges. I learned extremely quickly that the Board and Administration are some of the most dedicated people I have come across, and this town is lucky to have them. I didn’t know what to expect starting on May 14 , but my experiences have exceeded my wildest expectations. And despite the drama surrounding zoning in town, we remain completely dedicated to making things better. None of us can change the past, but we can certainly work towards a better future, and you can count on us doing just that.
Bill Taylor was elected to the Peterborough Select Board in May.