Some want selectmen to heal Sanbornton's wounds

The Board of Selectmen’s meetings in this small town can give you a taste of schizophrenia. If you arrive early, you’ll find a group of about 20 or 30 people milling around the town offices building, chatting amicably about the day-to-day issues of small town life. Everyone knows each other by first name. And the atmosphere is laid-back and pleasant.

But once the meeting starts and a controversial issue comes up, you’d think a whole other group of people

had come in and taken over the meeting. The arguments can be cutting, the remarks unusually personal. And

the atmosphere is similar to being in a courtroom while a major criminal trial is taking place.

New Board Chairman Patsy Wells has done her best to keep this year’s meetings on a more cordial level. But at Wednesday night’s meeting in the town offices, Wells and her fellow board members again came under fire —

but this time, the reason was different.

This time, the residents were asking the board what it was planning to do to heal the deep divisions within

the community.

Town Moderator Don Foudrait especially pressed the point with Wells. “What are you going to do to deal with the deep divisions in this town? What specific plans do you have?”

Wells said that she and the current board were trying to focus on the specific issues facing the town — like

improving roads damaged by the recent rains — and not dwell on personalities. “What else would you have us

to do?” she asked Foudrait.

The moderator said it was up to the board to take some actions since they were the community’s leaders. He

also said that selectmen Andrew Livernois was elected in March because he pledged to try to end the town’s

divisiveness, but no actions had been taken so far.

It’s no secret that Sanbornton is a town with two sides. The “lake people” — that is, those who live by

Lake Winnisquam — have had major disagreements with the rest of the community for several years. Recently

the disagreements have erupted into political fights — some might say brawls — as the “lake people” became

more politically organized and challenged the older hierarchy. Last month the town clerk asked the selectmen to consider asking for a restraining order to keep a former selectmen away for “harassing” her over political issues.

Once the topic was brought up, other nagging concerns arose.

Former selectman Peter Dascoulias — a lake person — said the Selectboard refused to appoint him as an alternate to the Zoning Board of Adjustment because of political considerations. Wells responded that the selectmen wanted to keep zoning board “balanced” and that Dascoulias was asked instead to serve on the town’s new Capital Improvement Committee (CIP), which was an important job.

Then Matthew Laro, who recently resigned for the Department of Public Works, rose to announce that he

was leaving because he did not get a pay raise he requested and felt he deserved. In his resignation

letter, which he distributed, Laro said his salary was not competitive with others jobs in the area. “The

other reason is there is way too many town politics,” he wrote.

After a few more minutes of discussion, Moderator Foudrait suggested that the selectmen consider hiring

a consultant who could come in and study the town and the reasons for its divisiveness. He said until the

issue was dealt with, there would always be problems with running the town.

“Where will get the money to pay this consultant?” Wells asked.

“The same place you get money for any other kind of consultant,” Foudrait replied.

“It will be cheaper than paying for a lot of lawyers,” one wag in the back of the room said.

Wells replied that Foudrait’s suggestion was worth considering and the board would look into the issue further. She indicated that a good time for some kind of community meeting dealing with the town’s divisions

be at the annual Summer Forum, which is a kind of mini-Town Meeting that allows seasonal residents to

get more aquatinted with the community and its leaders.

The selectmen set a tentative date for the forum for Saturday, August 19, at the Sanbornton Central School.

The meeting typically runs from 9 a.m. to Noon, Wells said.