Sanborton selectman asked to step down

Town resident Curt McGee is calling for Selectmen Andrew Livernois to resign his position “so that someone can be appointed that will show up and perform the duties of a selectman.”

At last night’s Selectboard meeting in the town offices, McGee read a one-and-a-half page statement asking Livernois to leave the board because of his absence at several important public meetings since August. “Or at a minimum, I’m asking for Andrew to not accept his $875 check for the fourth quarter of 2006… The town is paying him $3,500 to show up and get involved in the government.”

In response, Livernois said that some things in his personal life had changed in the last year that he had not anticipated when he was elected in 2005. He admitted that he’s considered the idea of leaving the board himself in recent months.

“One (change) was taking a position as an assistant attorney general (for the state),” he said. “The job is very time consuming.” The other issue was personal and Livernois did not discuss it.

“My performance has not been what I hoped it would be in recent months,” the selectman confessed. “I haven’t been able to (give) the amount of time I’ve wanted to give to this job. My personal live has made it difficult.

“I took this position because I wanted to help the town. I was asked to run by people who wanted me to run. And I think I’ve done some things that have helped the town. But I will consider what you said and I will think abut it,” Livernois told McGee.

In his statement, McGee, who is also the chairman of the Trustees of the Trust Funds and a town employee, said he was speaking only as a resident who “wants accountability from all my elected officials.”

He noted several Selectboard meetings Livernois did not attend including Aug. 7, Aug. 9, Oct. 4, Oct. 30, Nov. 15 and Dec. 13. (The selectmen meet on a weekly basis and, during a break in the meeting, Livernois pointed out that some of the meetings McGee noted were not regularly scheduled meetings; he said at least one was an early morning meeting in which no action was taken by the board beyond signing checks.)

McGee also mentioned three meeting of the Planning Board, which Livernois serves on as the selectmen’s representative. The selectman did not attend any of the last three 2006 meetings, he said.

The Dec. 13 Selectboard meeting include a discussion with an attorney and Livernois’ input would have been extremely valuable, McGee said. And, he added, Livernois had accepted responsibility for producing a report about how public safety personnel’s response may have been faulty after a flooding incident on Maple Circle this past July — a report that has still not be issued. (During a break in the meeting, Livernois said he expects the report to be completed sometime in the next few weeks.)

McGee then focused his comments on Livernois’ role in the town’s controversial plan to build a nondenominational cemetery on Tower Hill. He noted that, according to Conservation Commission minutes of June 2005, some question was raised about whether the original deed from the non-defunct Sanbornton Agricultural and Mechanical Society had a “restrictive” clause that would only allow it to be used as a town forest, and not as a town cemetery. “Andrew Livernois said he would look into the legal issues of using part of a town forest for a town cemetery,” McGee said. “If Mr. Livernois had shown up and done his job this cemetery situation would probably be behind us.”

Sanbornton’s plans to build the Tower Hill cemetery on three of its 12-acres of town forest has disputed for some time now. Originally most members of the community appeared to be behind the idea and the land was cleared and a well dug, mostly by volunteers. Then several months ago, resident Helmut Busack began raising questions about the appropriateness of the cemetery site, noting internet reports of “cemetery pollution” of underground water supplies and questioning the town’s legal handling of the property. The selectmen have admitted that some aspects of the proposed cemetery actions were not handled correctly and have indicated that they’re trying to clarify those issues now.

At last night’s meeting, Livernois said he did not agree with McGee’s assertion that he had not gotten the needed counsel from Town Attorney Christopher Boldt back in 2005. “I recall having conversations with town counsel about that (issue) and whether there would be any problems with using the Tower Hill site,” he said. “He informed me that he did not see a problem. I may not have communicated that information back to this back to Conservation Commission but I did get that answer.”

Livernois added later that, as an attorney, he also did not see any “restrictive” clause in the deed that would prevent it from being used as a town cemetery. “A judge may not agree with me but that’s what I think.”

McGee ended his comments by noting that “our neighboring towns, Tilton and Meredith, have gone to a five-member Selectboards and we have essentially gone to a two-member Selectboard. Selectmen Steve Ober and Selectman Patsy Wells have been forced into having to carry the load themselves in the management of our town.”

McGee then showed Livernois a photograph from the front page of The Daily Sun showing the two of them together the day after the 2005 election. “I was glad you were elected,” McGee told the selectman. “You had a lot of energy then, but it’s gone now.”